Jean Marzollo was born in Manchester, Connecticut in 1942. She graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1964, and received a Masters in Teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1965. After graduating, she taught for several years and then became involved in educational publishing. For twenty years she was the editor of "Let's Find Out," Scholastic's kindergarten magazine. She has written over a 130 books for children and has illustrated some of her own children's books starting in 2003. Her works include the I Spy series; Soccer Sam; Mama Mama/Papa Papa; Close Your Eyes; Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King; and the Shanna Show books. She was the recipient of the 2000… Rip Van Winkle Award presented by the School Library Media Specialists of Southeastern New York. She is married to Claudio Marzollo, a retired sculptor who has co-authored some of her children's science fiction and fantasy books. She resides in Upstate New York.