Susan Campbell Bartoletti is best known for her award-winning non-fiction for children and teens. In 2009, she won the Washington Post‐Children’s Book Guild Award for Body of Nonfiction Work which is awarded annually for distinguished writing, clarity, accuracy, and literary distinction in nonfiction. Bartoletti’s non-fiction titles include: Growing Up in Coal Country (Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction), Kids On Strike! (Jane Addams Children’s Book Award), Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 (Sibert Award, Orbus Pictus Award, Golden Kite for Nonfiction), Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow (Newbery Honor, Siebert Honor, Orbus Pictus Honor) and They Call Themselves the KKK (YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist).
Brian Pinkney has won numerous awards for his illustrations, including two Caldecott Honors. His body of work includes The Faithful Friend (Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King Honor), Sukey and the Mermaid, (Coretta Scott King Honor), In the Time of the Drums (Coretta Scott King Award), and Adventures of Sparrowboy (Boston Globe/Horn Book Award), which Pinkney both authored and illustrated. Brian and his wife, writer Andrea Davis Pinkney, have collaborated on over 15 picture books, including Duke Ellington (Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King Honor), Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggony-Po. Their latest collaboration,Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America, is their latest book.
Katherine Applegate was inspired to write her most recent book, The One and Only Ivan, after reading about the true story of a captive gorilla known as “Ivan, the Shopping Mall Gorilla.” The real Ivan lived alone in a tiny cage for twenty-seven years at a shopping mall in Washington before being moved to Zoo Atlanta, where he became a beloved celebrity. Ivan passed away in August 2012. Applegate has written over 150 books for children and young adults including Home of the Brave (Golden Kite Award, SLJ Best Book of the Year), The Buffalo Storm, early chapter series Roscoe Riles Rules and fantasy series Remnants. Applegate is most widely known for her long-running series Animorphs, written in collaboration with her husband Michael Grant. Most recently, the pair has authored a teen novel, Eve & Adam.
Michael Grant is the New York Times bestselling author of the Gone series for young adults (Best Children’s Novel for Hunger, SCBWI 2009) and the Magnificent 12 series for middle-grade readers. His thrilling, shilling book, BZRK, is a starred review, page-turner written for teens. Together with wife Katherine Applegate, Grant has authored over 150 books including the Animorphs and Everworld series. Most recently, the duo collaborated on a teen novel, Eve & Adam. His favorite cheese is Roquefort – the real stuff, from France.