Rick Riordan was born on June 5, 1964, in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a double major in English and history, he taught in public and private middle schools for many years. He writes several children's series including Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, and The Heroes of Olympus. He also writes the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults. His short fiction has been featured in Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He has won Edgar, Anthony, and Shamus Awards for his mystery novels. His title's, The Son of Sobek, The House of Hades, The Mark of Athena and Percy Jackson's Greek Gods made… The New York Times Best Seller List.
John Rocco grew up Barrington, Rhode Island. He studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and School of Visual Arts in New York City. John collaborated with actor/comedian Whoopi Goldberg on the picture book Alice. Shortly after the project was finished he moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a creative director. At Walt Disney Imagineering John designed many attractions at Disney's Epcot, including the Post-Shows for Spaceship Earth and Mission Space. He also served as the art director for DisneyQuest, an interactive theme park in Downtown Disney. At Dreamworks, John was the pre-production art director for animated film Shrek. In 2005 John shifted his focus to writing… and illustrating children's books and created Wolf! Wolf! which netted him the Borders Original Voices Award for best picture book. His next book was Moonpowder (May 2008) followed by Fu Finds the Way (Oct 2009). John continues to collaborate with authors and has illustrated Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System (Sep 2008) for Kathleen V. Kudlinski and The Lightening Thief (Dec 2009) for Rick Riodan. He also illustrates all the covers for Rick Riordan's bestselling YA series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. John lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.