Deborah Hopkinson is the author of many highly acclaimed picture books, including Annie and Helen; A Boy Called Dickens; Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book; and Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale, an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book. She lives in Oregon with her family.

Eugene Yelchin is the author and illustrator of Spring Hare, The Haunting of Falcon House, Arcady's Goal, and the Newbery Honor book Breaking Stalin's Nose. He has also illustrated several books for children, including Crybaby, Who Ate All the Cookie Dough?, and Won Ton. He lives in California with his wife and children.

Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author whose writing spans young readers, teens, and adults. Combined, her books have sold more than eight million copies. She has been twice nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

Two of her books, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists, and Chains was shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Text has previously published two of Halse Anderson's novels- Wintergirls in 2010 and The Impossible Knife of Memory in 2014. She lives in Philadelphia.

Christopher Healy spent years reviewing children’s books and media online and in print before setting off to write the hero’s guide to saving your kingdom, his first children’s book. He lives with his wife and their two children in New Jersey.

Jack Gantos has written books for people of all ages, from picture books and middle-grade fiction to novels for young adults and adults.

His works include Hole in My Life, a memoir that won the Michael L. Printz and Robert F. Sibert Honors; the Joey Pigza series, which include a Newbery Honor book and a National Book Award Finalist; Dead End in Norvelt, winner of the Newbery Medal and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction; and the Rotten Ralph series.

Sharon Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. She has won numerous awards including the Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler as well as the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons. Before beginning her writing career, Sharon taught English in England and Switzerland. She and her husband now live in Maine, near a farm where her teenage granddaugher raises sheep.