Jean Fritz was born on November 16, 1915 in Hankow, China. The only child of missionary parents, she lived in a French compound, attended a British school,and spoke fluent Chinese. She received her A. B. degree in 1937 from Wheaton College and also studied at Columbia University. Fritz has worked as a research assistant, a children's librarian from 1937 to 1941, a teacher for the Board of Cooperative Educational Service, a lecturer, and faculty member at Appalachian State University, from 1980-1982. She also founded the Jean Fritz Writer's Workshops and taught writing from 1961 to 1969. Fritz published her first book, Bunny Hopewell's First Spring, in 1954. Fritz was awarded the Regina… Medal by the Catholic Library Association, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award by the American Library Association, and honored with the Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature, presented by the New York State Library Association for her body of work. Other awards include Outstanding Pennsylvania Author, 1978; Honor Award for Nonfiction, Washington, D.C. Children's Book Guild, 1978-1979; Boston Globe Horn Book Honor Book Award, 1980, for Stonewall; American Book Award nomination, 1981, for Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold; Child Study Award and Christopher Award, both 1982; Newbery Honor Book Award, American Book Award and Boston Globe Horn Book Honor Book Award, all 1983, for Homesick: My Own Story; Boston Globe Horn Book Nonfiction Award, 1984, for The Double Life of Pocahontas; and Regina Award, 1985.
Ronald Himler was born in Cleveland Ohio, and attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he majored in painting and illustration. After graduation he attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He worked for a number of years at professionally related jobs in the arts, before traveling extensively in Europe. Once there, he conducted independent research at the major museums, including the Louvre in Paris, the Uffizi gallery in Florence, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In 1972 he illustrated his first children's book, Glad Day and Other Classical Poems for Children. In 1976 he authored and illustrated The Girl on the Yellow Giraffe. In 1979 he authored and… illustrated Wake Up Jeremiah, and co-authored and illustrated Little Owl, Keeper of the Trees. He went on to illustrate more then 100 picture books for children, and has painted hundreds of book covers for young adult novels which are displayed in bookstores and libraries across the nation. He has won the Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators, the Illustrator of the Year from the Arizona Library Association, The Christopher Award, the Parents Choice Gold Award. He was named a Reading Rainbow Selection, an ALA Notable Childrens Books, a Best Western Book Cover Art Finalist from the Western Writers of America, a Merit Citation from the Society of Illustrators, a Golden Sower Award Nominee, a Blue Bonnet Nominee and a Junior Literary Guild Selection. Himler has also won a Childrens Book Council Award, a Top Hand Award, a Childrens Choice Award from the International Reading Association, Best Childrens Book of the Year Award from the School Library Journal, New York State Charlotte Award Nominee, a Texas Blue Bonnet Award, a Colorado Childrens Book Award Nominee, a Maryland Blackeyed Susan Picture Book Award, and a Washington Childrens Choice Picture Book Award Ballot. Himler's books have been named a Notable Childrens Trade Book in Social Studies, a Books for Brotherhood from the National Council of Christians and Jews, a Children's Reviewers Choice from Book List, a Best Books of the Year Selection from the New York Public Library, a Notable Trade Book in the Language Arts, a Pick of the Lists from American Booksellers, a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Hornbook-Fanfare Selection, a Book List, Editor's Choice, a California Childrens Book Awards Selection, a Childrens Book of the Month Club Selection, and an Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children.