Children's author and poet Nancy Willard was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on June 26, 1936. She attended the University of Michigan, where she received a bachelor's degree in 1958 and a Ph.D in 1963 and Stanford University, where she received her master's degree. In 1982, she received the Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She teaches at Vassar College in the English department and currently lives in Poughkeepsie, New York with her husband.
Alice Provensen was born on August 14th, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois. Provensen attended the University of California. After college, she worked with Walter Lantz Studio, the creators of Woody Woodpecker. It was here where she met her future husband, Martin Provensen, as he was assigned to Walter Lantz Studio while creating training films for the American military. In 1944, Alice and Martin married. They relocated to Washington DC and later to New York City. In New York, they found their first illustrating job. They became known as an author-illustrator picture book team, creating many award-winning picture books including the 1984 Caldecott Medal book: A Glorious Flight: Across the Channel… with Louis Bleriot. They continued to write together at Maple Hill Farms in New York where they raised their daughter. They wrote about their simple life and animal friends in: A Year at Maple Hill Farm. Martin Provensen died of a heart attack in 1987. Alice Provensen's inquisitive nature and passion for research led her to continue writing. Her first publication after her husband's death was The Buck Stops Here: The Presidents of the United States.