Francesca Lia Block was born in Los Angeles, California on December 3, 1962. She graduated from the University of California Berkeley and wrote her first book, Weetzie Bat, while a student there. It was published in 1989. Her other young adult works include Baby Be-Bop, Violet and Claire, How to (Un)cage a Girl, and The Waters and the Wild. She is also the author of the Weetzie Bat series. She has won several awards including the Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Library Association in 2005 and the Phoenix Award.
Victor Martinez was born in Fresno, California on February 21, 1954. He was the fourth of twelve children in a family of migrant farm workers. He attended California State University at Fresno and Stanford University. Before becoming a full-time author, he worked as a field laborer, welder, teacher, and office clerk. He wrote culture reviews for El Tecolote and published a magazine called Dinton. His poems, short stories, and essays have appeared in several journals and anthologies. His books include Caring for a House and Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 1996 and the Pura Belpr� Award. He died of cancer on February 18, 2011… at the age of 56.Steve Scott is the illustrator of Splish Splash by Joan Bransfield Graham and is a children's book designer. He lives in New York City.