Scott David Westerfeld (born May 5, 1963)[1] is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of the Uglies and the Leviathan series.

He saw his father working with planes for Lockheed Martin, submarines for Electric Boat, and NASA's Apollo missions; these projects made his family move across the states frequently, and he developed a penchant for storytelling to his peers and teachers who often asked him about his hometown.

Westerfeld began his career writing novels for adults, but switched to YA literature with his Midnighters trilogy.

In Uglies, the protagonist Tally rebels against her society's rules first with harmless pranks and eventually by leaving the city altogether.

She finds a group of runaway uglies who refuse to conform to social norms that includes undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Because Westerfeld writes primarily for young adult audiences, his protagonists are usually teenagers who find themselves over the course of the novel or series.

Tally in Uglies, Cal in Peeps and Hunter in So Yesterday all struggle with finding where they belong until they come to terms with who they are.