Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honoree, National Book Award finalist, PEN USA Literary Award-winning, and bestselling The Underneath, as well as the National Book Award finalist The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Keeper, and many picture books, including Counting Crows. She has two grown children and lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband. Visit her at www.kathiappelt.com. G. Brian Karas has written and illustrated several award-winning children's books, including On Earth and Home on the Bayou: A Cowboy's Story, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book. The picture books he has illustrated include Are You Going to Be Good?, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book written by Cari Best. Mr. Karas lives in Rhinebeck, New York.