Beloved fantasist Jane Yolen has been rightfully called the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the twentieth century. She has over 370 publications to her credit, including adult, young adult, middle grade, and children's fiction; graphic novels, nonfiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, short-story collections, anthologies, novels, novellas, and books about writing. Yolen is also a teacher of writing and a book reviewer. Her best-known books include Owl Moon, the How Do Dinosaurs series, The Devil's Arithmetic, Briar Rose, Sister Emily's Lightship, and Sister Light, Sister Dark.

Among Yolen's many awards and honors are the Caldecott and Christopher medals; the Nebula, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, Golden Kite, and Jewish Book awards; the World Fantasy Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award, and the Science Fiction Poetry Grand Master Award. Six colleges and universities have given her honorary doctorates.

Yolen lives in Western Massachusetts most of the time, but spends long summers in St. Andrews, Scotland.

About the Illustrator: Born in the small town of Monson, Massachusetts, Ruth Sanderson (b.1951) has been a professional illustrator since 1975, with over eighty published children's books, in addition to illustrated book covers, fantasy art, collector's plates, animation concept art, and product design. Her illustrations projects include a famous edition of Heidi with one hundred full-color oil paintings, as well as editions of The Secret Garden, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and many more. Sanderson teaches writing and illustrating for children in a summer graduate program at Hollins University, in Roanoke, Virginia, and is a longtime member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.