Karen Hesse (born on August 29, 1952 Baltimore, Maryland) is an American author of children's literature and literature for young adults. She studied theatre at Towson State College, and finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland in English, Psychology, and Anthropology. In 1998 she won the Newbery Medal for her young adult novel, Out of the Dust. Hesse lives in Vermont with her husband and two teen-aged daughters.
Wendy Watson is the author and illustrator of Hurray for the Fourth of July. She was raised with seven brothers and sisters on a farm in Vermont, where she received her early education and art training from her mother and father. She studied painting in Truro, Massachusetts, and at the National Academy of Design in New York City. She is the author-illustrator of more than a dozen children's books, including Thanksgiving at Our House, A Valentine for You, and the Clarion edition of Clement C. Moore's The Night Before Christmas. She lives with her family in Vermont.