Kate DiCamillo is one of America’s most beloved storytellers. She was the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and is a two-time Newbery Medalist. Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week.

Katherine Applegate is the author of The One and Only Ivan, winner of the Newbery Medal. Crenshaw spent over twenty weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and her first middle-grade stand-alone, Home of the Brave continues on state reading lists, summer reading lists, and class reading lists. Katherine Applegate lives in Tiburon, California, with her family.