George Stanley was a Professor of African and Middle-Eastern Languages and Linguistics at Cameron University. In between prepping class lectures and grading papers, he found the time to write for children. He was also the author of Night Fires and the Third-Grade Detectives series. Salvatore Murdocca has illustrated more than 200 children's trade and textbooks. He is also a librettist for children's opera, a video artist, an avid runner, hiker, bicyclist, and a teacher of children's illustration at the Parsons School of Design. Sal lives and works in New York with his wife, Nancy.