Sarvinder Naberhaus is the author of Boom Boom and the forthcoming Lines. She was born in India and grew up in the heartland. The American flag provided the inspiration for the imagery in Blue Sky White Stars. She lives in Iowa with her family.

Kadir Nelson is an acclaimed artist and the illustrator of several New York Times bestselling picture books, including his authorial debut We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, which won a Coretta Scott King Award and a Sibert Medal. Kadir has received three additional Coretta Scott King Awards and five Coretta Scott King honors. He has also received two Caldecott Honors, for Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, and has twice received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work.