Content Warning: This section includes discussions of animal euthanasia.

Eve Bunting (1928-2023) was born in Northern Ireland and later lived in Scotland. In 1958, she and her husband moved to the United States, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Over the course of her career, Bunting published over 250 books. While they varied in subject matter and intended audience, many of them were written for younger readers. Her middle grade books often focused on guiding young readers through challenging personal experiences or teaching them about significant historical events. One of her notable novels, Fly Away Home, is about an unhoused boy who lives in an airport with his father. Another, Terrible Things, is an allegorical explanation of the Holocaust that features woodland animals as characters. The Summer of Riley aims to help younger readers understand and come to terms with several difficult issues of separation and loss, including parents divorcing, grandparents dying, and pets having to be relocated. William, the 11-year-old protagonist of this novel, learns to grow and accept the difficult changes in his life so that he can embrace his future.