Katherine Applegate is the author of The One and Only Ivan, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal. Her novel Crenshaw spent over twenty weeks on the New York Times children's bestseller list, and her first middle grade standalone novel, the award-winning Home of the Brave, continues to be included on state reading lists, summer reading lists, and class reading lists.

She lives with her husband, the author Michael Grant, who she co-wrote the Animorphs series with, and their two children in Northern California.

Gennifer Choldenko's best known Tales from Alcatraz series, has been called 'A cornerstone series in contemporary children's literature.'

Al Capone Does My Shirts - the first book in the series - was a Newbery Honor Book and the recipient of twenty other awards. All four books in the series were Junior Library Guild selections and garnered many starred reviews. Gennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her loyal husband and naughty dog.