Floca is the author and illustrator of the children’s books Locomotive (winner of the 2014 Caldecott Medal), Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (recently revised and expanded), Lightship, and The Racecar Alphabet, among others. His latest book, Keeping the City Going, a tribute to healthcare and other essential workers who stayed on the streets and on the job during the Covid-19 pandemic, was recently published.

Floca has illustrated Avi’s Poppy Stories series, including the recently published volume Ragweed & Poppy; Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan’s Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring; Laura Amy Schlitz’s Princess Cora and the Crocodile; and Hawk Rising by Maria Gianferrari.

In addition to the Caldecott Medal, Floca’s books have received four Robert F. Sibert Honor awards for distinguished informational books, an Orbis Pictus Award and Orbis Pictus Honor, and a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators, and have three times been selected for the annual New York Times Best Illustrated Books list.

Floca was born and raised in Temple, Texas, and now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.