Lee Bennett Hopkins is an acclaimed poet and writer, and has created numerous poetry anthologies for young readers. He is the recipient of the 2009 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, which honors his body of work, and founder of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and the Lee Bennett Hopkins/IRA Promising Poet Award. Hopkins’s books have won many honors, including ALA Notable Children’s Books, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, Children’s Choices, American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, Christopher Award, and New York Public Library Best Children’s Books. He lives in Cape Coral, Florida.

Photo: Charles J. Egita

Chris Soentpiet is the illustrator of several highly praised picture books. Awards he has won include Original Art Show Gold Medal, NAACP Image Award, ALA Notable Children’s Books, Texas Bluebonnet Award Masterlist, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and Notable Books for a Global Society. Soentpiet also promotes children’s literature and the arts at schools, libraries, and conferences across the United States. In Amazing Faces, he has indulged his interest in painting faces of people of different backgrounds. Soentpiet lives with his wife and their two children in the New York City area. Visit him online at soentpiet.com.

Photo: Yin