Don Wood was was born and raised on a farm in the great Central Valley of California. His family raised peaches, sweet potatos, almonds, grapes, and oranges. By the time Wood was in the sixth grade, he had forty acres of potatos to take care of by himself. During the summer, he and his brothers worked twelve to sixteen hour shifts, seven days a week. They were paid wages and were expected to pay for their own clothes and entertainment, and eventually, college educations. Wood knew by the sixth grade that he wanted to be an artist. Wood attended the University of California at Santa Barbara and did graduate work in art at the California College of Arts and Crafts. He was illustrating… magazines when his wife Audrey decided to try her hand at writing children's picture books. They collaborated together on Moonflute and Wood enjoyed it so much that he has been illustrating kids books ever since.