Ernesto Cisneros is the author of two middle grade novels. His first, Efrén Divided, about the challenges a boy faces after his beloved mother is deported, won the ALA’s Pura Belpré Medal, The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Crystal Kite Award, the California Independent Booksellers Alliance’s Golden Poppy Award, and two International Latino Book Awards. Falling Short is his second novel. Like Efrén Divided, this novel focuses on family, friendships, and the struggles of young, Latino protagonists.

Cisneros works at Gonzalo Felicitas Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School, a STEAM school in Santa Ana, California, where he teaches middle school language arts. As Cisneros explains in an interview with the Voice of the OC, he grew up in Santa Ana, playing basketball in a local park and feeling as if everyone else was better at things than him. He loved basketball but was terrible at it, and he was always searching for ways to make his parents proud of him. Watching his students struggle with feelings of inadequacy inspired him to draw on his own experiences to write Falling Short; he hoped to inspire his students to see their greatness.