Chris L. Demarest received a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting from the University of Massachusetts. Before becoming an author and a children's book illustrator, he was a house painter and contributed illustrations to such publications as the Atlantic Monthly magazine, the Boston Globe, and Reader's Digest. He has contributed to more than 100 titles including Firefighters A to Z, I Invited a Dragon to Dinner, T. Rex at Swan Lake, and the Supertwins series. While researching the United States Coast Guard book, Mayday!Mayday!, he became an official artist for the Coast Guard and got to experience their work in the Persian Gulf.