Frances Hodgson Burnett was born in Manchester in 1849 and moved to America in 1865, where she launched a literary career in which she produced over forty books including A Little Princess (1905) and The Secret Garden (1911). Frances died in 1924.

Scott McKowen is a renowned and prolific artist, chiefly known for his scratchboard illustrations, which have been featured in hundreds of books, magazines, theater posters and comic books. He may be best known for illustrating Neil Gamain's Marvel Comics series 1602 and for several titles in the Sterling Unabridged Classics children's book series, as well as theater posters that capture the essence of plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Molière and other great playwrights. He was selected as one of the jurors for the 53rd Communication Arts Illustration Annual.