Susan and Denise Gonzales Abraham are daughters of Cecilia Gonzales Abraham, the title character of Cecilia's Year. The sisters were born and raised in El Paso, and they both graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a B.S. in Education. Denise Gonzales Abraham received a master's degree in reading education from Arizona State University. She has taught Spanish, English, reading skills, and English as a second language in Phoenix, Arizona, and El Paso, and is currently an elementary school librarian with the Ysleta Independent School District in El Paso. She lives with her son James Carlo and seven cats.