Paul O. Zelinsky Paul O. Zelinsky was born in Evanston, Illinois and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. He received his B. A. from Yale and his M. F. A. from the Tyler School of Art, and from there went on to become an award winning illustrator. Zelinsky is the illustrator of three Caldecott Honor books, including "Hansel and Gretel" published in 1985, "Rumpelstiltskin" in 1987, and "Swamp Angel" by Anne Isaacs in 1995. He is the adapter and illustrator of "The Maid and the Mouse and the Odd-shaped House," "The Lion and the Stoat," "The Wheels on the Bus," and the illustrator of a trio of books by Beverly Cleary.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in 1785 and 1786 near Frankfurt, Germany. In their early twenties, they began the linguistic studies that would culminate in their collected editions of folk- and fairy tales. They got their stories from peasants and villagers, and sometimes from already-published works from other cultures. Jacob did much of the research; Wilhelm put the stories into literary form.