Known by many as "the teacher who dances on his desk," Eugene M. Gagliano (pronounced Galiano) is a retired elementary teacher whose author presentations are entertaining, informative, and inspirational. He has presented at 175 schools, and at IRA, teacher, SCBWI, and library conferences, and for libraries and festivals in Wyoming, Colorado, Missouri, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, and Hawaii. Gene was the recipient of the IRA's 2004 Wyoming State Celebrate Literacy Award and the 2001 Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award. Gene's book Dee and the Mammoth, illustrated by Zachary Pullen, won the 2010-2011 Wyoming State Historical Society Award for Best Fiction. Dee and the Mammoth represented the state of Wyoming at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C in 2011. His book Is It True? was selected as the State of Wyoming's Best Read for 2018 for the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.