Fonda Bell Miller was born in Greenville, North Carolina. She has degrees in elementary education and reading education and is a former Reading Recovery“teacher. After teaching for 18 years, Fonda decided to become a full-time writer. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband, their daughter, and four pets, which include one dog, two cats, and a bird.

Shadra Strickland earned her MFA at New York’s School of Visual Arts in the Illustration as Visual Essay program. She currently freelances as an illustrator and a graphic designer, and uses drawing as a way to interpret her world. Strickland lives in Brooklyn, New York, and can be found on the Web at shadrastrickland.com or at her blog, Living the Dream.