American author of children’s books and young adult novels Deborah Wiles celebrates her birth date as May 5, 1953, in Mobile, Ala. Her dad was an Air Force pilot so she grew up around the world in an Air Force family. She has a sister, Cathy, and a brother, Mike, and her parents were both born and grew up in Mississippi, so that was home place. Her Grandmother still lived there so Deborah would go there for her summers.