PATRICIA C. MCKISSACK was the author of many lauded books for children, including, The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural, a Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Award winner, and its companion, Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and other Wily Characters, an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book; Never Forgotten, a Corretta Scott King Honor book; and The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll, an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book and winner of the 2008 Parents Choice Award. Ms. McKissack passed away in the summer of 2017.

Sanna Stanley spent many years in her youth living in what was, at the time, considered the Belgian Congo. She was deeply influenced by living in the bush, and enjoys depicting village life in her art.