 She has received the Golden Kite Award, ALA Notable Book Award, and Newbery Honor,

Greene was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Arthur Evensky and Sadie (née Steinberg), but was raised in the small city of Parkin, Arkansas, where her parents ran the general store.Her maternal grandparents were Hyman and Tillie Steinberg who had a successful general store in Wynne, Arkansas.As a Jewish girl in a town of Christian fundamentalists, she experienced discrimination and learned what it was like to be an outsider.