Illustrator and children's writer Nancy Winslow Parker was born in Maplewood, New Jersey, on October 18, 1930. She graduated from Mills College in California. She continued her art education at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York. After a succession of varied jobs, she became art director for Appleton-Century-Crofts and, later, graphic designer for Holt, Rienhart and Winston. Her first book, The Man with the Take-Apart Head, was published in 1974. Other works include Willy Bear (1977) and My Mom Travels a Lot (1983), both winners of the Christopher Award. Winslow has won numerous other awards, including the American Library Association Notable Book, Honorable… Mention by the New York Academy of Science's Children's Science Book Award, and the New York Times Best Illustrated list.