Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet and anthologist and the acclaimed author of Habibi: A Novel and Sitti's Secrets, a picture book, which was based on her own experiences visiting her beloved Sitti in Palestine. Her book 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has taught writing and worked in schools all over the world, including in Muscat, Oman. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.

Paul B. Janeczko is the anthologist of almost fifty collections, including the award-winning A Poke in the I, A Kick in the Head, and A Foot in the Mouth, all illustrated by Chris Raschka.

He is also the author of Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto and Worlds Afire, a collection of poems about the 1944 circus fire in Hartford. Paul B. Janeczko lives in Hebron, Maine.