Lyman Frank Baum, born May 15 1856, was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He wrote thirteen novel sequels, nine other fantasy novels, and a host of other works (55 novels in total, plus four "lost" novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings), and made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen.

His works anticipated such century-later commonplaces as television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), women in high risk, action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country), and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work).

On May 5, 1919, Baum suffered from a stroke. He died quietly the next day, nine days short of his 63rd birthday.His final Oz book, Glinda of Oz, was published on July 10, 1920, a year after his death. The Oz series was continued long after his death by other authors, notably Ruth Plumly Thompson, who wrote an additional nineteen Oz books.

Júlia Sardà has illustrated everything from classic children's books to concept art for merchandise and video games, and covers for the likes of The Clockwork Sparrow, Rose Campion and the Stolen Secret and Beetle Boy by M. G. Leonard.

She is the illustrator of the acclaimed The Liszts, Sweep and The Problim Children, and she illustrated One Day in Wonderland: A Celebration of Lewis Carroll's Alice by Kathleen Krull. Her illustrations of classic stories include Oliver Twist, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.