Peggy Parish was born in Manning, South Carolina on July 14, 1927. She attended the University of South Carolina and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. While visiting her brother in Kentucky, Parish was persuaded to enter the teaching profession. After teaching creative dancing to young children, she moved to Oklahoma and taught third grade in the Panhandle, in addition to teaching dance and producing community shows. Parish's first book, My Golden Book of Manners, was published in 1961, followed by Let's Be Indians in 1962. A parent of one of the students, who was an editor of adult books, found out she was trying to break into the writing field and introduced her to an editor… at Harper who helped improve her skills as a storyteller. This, of course, led to her biggest breakthrough, the creation of Amelia Bedelia in 1963. Parish eventually wrote 11 more Amelia Bedelia books as well as a number of mystery novels, and arts and crafts books. Among these other titles are Haunted House, Dinosaur Time, The Chimp That Went to School and Let's Celebrate: Holiday Decorations You Can Make. In addition to writing books, Parish did television pieces on preschool education and children's books, wrote book review columns and led a number of in-service training workshops for teachers. Parish died of an aneurysm on November 19, 1988. Her nephew, Herman Parish, continues to recreate new titles in the Amelia Bedelia series.
Arnold Stark Lobel (May 22, 1933-December 4, 1987) was a popular American author of children's books. Among his most popular books are those of the Frog and Toad series, and Mouse Soup, which won the Garden State Children's Book Award from the New Jersey Library Association. Lobel won the 1981 Caldecott Medal for his book, Fables. Lobel also illustrated the works of other authors. A notable example is Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley, which was first published in 1969. He was born in Los Angeles, California. When he graduated from art school, he married Anita Kempler, who also achieved fame as a children's book author and illustrator. Lobel died ion December 4,1987 due to… complications arising from AIDS. He was 54 years old.