Our Story Begins

Tom Angleberger ("Rise of the RoboShoes™") began writing his first novel in eighth grade, but never completed it. Since then, he’s been a newspaper reporter and columnist, a juggler, a weed boy, a lawn-mower-part assembler, and a biology research assistant. This bestselling author insists he’s not really all that creative—"I’m more of a puzzle-putter-together."

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.

Chris Grabenstein is the multiple award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, Haunted Mysteries, Welcome to Wonderland, Smartest Kid in the Universe, and Dog Squad series. He also wrote The Island of Dr. Libris, Shine! (with his wife, J.J.), the picture book No More Naps!, and many, many other books, plays, and audiobook originals. Chris and J.J. Grabenstein live in New York City with two cats and lots of ideas. You can visit Chris at chrisgrabenstein.com.

Gordon Korman published his first book at age fourteen and since then has written more than one hundred middle grade and teen novels. Favorites include the New York Times bestselling Ungifted, Supergifted, The Superteacher Project, The Unteachables, Pop, Notorious, Unplugged, Operation Do-Over, Slugfest, and the Masterminds series. Gordon lives with his family on Long Island, New York. You can visit him online at gordonkorman.com.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka, known since boyhood as “JJK,” is the New York Times bestselling author-illustrator behind more than forty books for young readers, including his wildly popular Lunch Lady graphic novels, select volumes of the Star Wars: Jedi Academy series, and Hey, Kiddo, which was a National Book Award finalist. In addition to his work in print, Krosoczka produced, directed, and performed in the award-winning, full-cast audiobook adaptations of his graphic novels. Krosoczka has delivered three TED Talks, which have accrued millions of views online. Krosoczka has garnered millions more views online via the comics tutorials he has produced for YouTube and TikTok. As well as working on his books’ film and television adaptations, Krosoczka has written for The Snoopy Show (Apple TV+) and served as a consultant for Creative Galaxy (Prime Video). Krosoczka lives in western Massachusetts.

Peter Lerangis is the author of more than one hundred and seventy books, which have sold more than six-and-a-half million copies and been translated into thirty-five different languages. These include the five books in the New York Times bestselling Seven Wonders series, The Colossus Rises, Lost in Babylon, The Tomb of Shadows, The Curse of the King, and The Legend of the Rift; two books in the 39 Clues series; and the Max Tilt and Throwback trilogies. He lives in New York City with his family.

Gail Carson Levine's first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a Newbery Honor Book. Levine's other books include Ever, a New York Times bestseller; Fairest, a Best Book of the Year for Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and a New York Times bestseller; Dave at Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; A Tale of Two Castles; Stolen Magic; The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre; Ogre Enchanted; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction books Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly and Writer to Writer: From Think to Ink, as well as the picture books Betsy Who Cried Wolf and Betsy Red Hoodie. Gail Carson Levine and her husband, David, live in a two-centuries-old farmhouse in the Hudson Valley of New York State.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has written more than 135 books, including the Newbery Award-winning Shiloh and its sequels, three of which were made into movies; the Alice series; Roxie and the Hooligans; and Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard's Roost. She lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. To hear from Phyllis and find out more about Alice, visit AliceMcKinley.com.

Linda Sue Park, Newbery Medal winner for A Single Shard and #1 New York Times bestseller for A Long Walk to Water, is the renowned author of picture books and novels for young readers. She lives in Western New York. Learn more at lindasuepark.com.

Dan Santat is a #1 New York Times bestselling author-illustrator of more than one hundred titles, which include The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, which won the Randolph Caldecott Medal in 2015. He is also the creator of the Disney animated hit The Replacements. Dan lives in Southern California with his wife, two kids, and various pets. You can visit him online at www.dantat.com.

Brian Selznick is the illustrator of many books for children, among them the Caldecott Honor book The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, as well as his own The Boy of a Thousand Faces and The Houdini Box. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Cynthia Leitich Smith is a bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Here Come the Aunties!, Firefly Season, Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, On a Wing and a Tear, Sisters of the Neversea, Blue Stars: Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem (with Kekla Magoon), Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Harvest House, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. Cynthia is also the anthologist of Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, and Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, which won the Michael L. Printz Award and the American Indian Youth Literature Award. She has been honored with the American Library Association’s Children’s Literature Lecture Award and has been named the NSK Neustadt Laureate. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children's Books, and served as the Katherine Paterson Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Denton, Texas.

Rita Williams-Garcia's Newbery Honor Book, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The two sequels, P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama, were both Coretta Scott King Author Award winners and ALA Notable Children’s Books. She is also the author of the NAACP Image Award–winning and National Book Award finalist Clayton Byrd Goes Underground; A Sitting in St. James, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner and Los Angeles Times Book Award winner; Like Sisters on the Homefront, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; Blue Tights; and four ALA Best Books for Young Adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here; Every Time a Rainbow Dies, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book; and Fast Talk on a Slow Track. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, with her husband and has two adult daughters. You can visit her online at ritawg.com.

Eric Rohmann was born in Riverside, Illinois in 1957. He grew up in Downers Grove, a suburb of Chicago. Eric won a Caldecott Honor Book award for Time Flies, and a Caldecott Medal award for My Friend Rabbit., and has written four children's books: My Friend Rabbit, The Cinder-Eyed Cats, Pumpkinhead, and A Kitten's Tale. Visit his website at www.ericrohmann.com.