Joanna Cole was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 11, 1944. She attended the University of Massachusetts, Indiana University, and City College of New York where she earned a degree in Psychology. Ms. Cole has worked as an elementary school teacher, a librarian, and a children's book editor. As a child, she loved science and explaining things and this is why she started writing children's books. She writes fiction and non-fiction titles. Her most well-known series are the Magic School Bus and the "Body." Cole's books have received a number of honors. A Horse's Body and A Snake's Body were both named Outstanding Science Trade Books for children by the joint committee of the National… Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council. In 1982, A Snake's Body was named a Children's Choice Book by the joint committee of the International Reading Association and the Children's Book Council. Both A Cat's Body and A Bird's Body were Junior Literary Guild selections. In 1991, she was awarded the Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Nonfiction award.
Author and illustrator Marylin Hafner was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 14, 1925. She received her B.S. degree from the Pratt Institute in 1947. Before becoming a children's book illustrator, she worked in the advertising department of a store, was an art director at McCall's, and an art instructor at Famous Schools, Inc. in Westport, Connecticut. She won the New York Herald Tribune Children's Spring Book Festival Award in 1949 for her work on Bonnie Bess: The Weathervane Horse and the National Jewish Book Award for her work on Hanukkah! She was the author and illustrator of the Molly and Emmett series and also worked as a graphic artist. She died on October 31, 2008 at the age of… 82.