Susan Blackaby is the author of numerous books for young readers, including Sterling's Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox (praised in a starred review by School Library Journal as “particularly endearing . . . delightful”), and its sequel Brownie Groundhog and the Wintry Surprise, as well as a poetry collection, Nest, Nook, and Cranny (Charlesbridge), which won the 2011 Lion and Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry. She is the also the author of this season’s Sterling Biographies®: Alexander Hamilton. Susan lives in Portland, OR.

Carolyn Digby Conahan is the staff artist for Cricket magazine, responsible for drawing all the little bugs in the margins! She has illustrated several children’s books, and both wrote and illustrated The Twelve Days of Christmas Dogs (Dutton Children's Books) and The Big Wish (Chronicle), which received the 2011 Oregon Spirit Book award for Picture Book Literature by the Oregon Council of Teachers of English. Carolyn lives in Portland, OR. Learn more about her at carolyndigbyconahan.com.