Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio on February 18, 1931. She received a B.A. in English from Howard University in 1953 and a master's degree in English from Cornell University in 1955 with her thesis on the theme of suicide in modern literature. She taught at several universities including Texas Southern University, Howard University, and Princeton University. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. Her other works include Sula, Tar Baby, Jazz, Paradise, Love, A Mercy, and Home. She has won several awards including the National Book Critics Circle Award for 1977 for Song of Solomon, the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1988, the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, and the… Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. She also co-wrote children's books with her younger son, Slade Morrison, including The Big Box, The Book of Mean People, and Peeny Butter Fudge.
Slade Morrison was born in Ohio and educated in New York City. He studied art at SUNY Purchase and collaborated with his mother, Toni Morrison, on five books for children.
JOE CEPEDA has illustrated many books for children, including What a Truly Cool World by Julius Lester and Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron. He lives in Whittier, California. DARCY PATTISON is the author of The River Dragon, illustrated by Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng, as well as the fantasy novel The Wayfinder. She teaches writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and reviews children's books for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas.