Beverly Cleary is one of America's most beloved authors. As a child, she struggled with reading and writing. But by third grade, after spending much time in her public library in Portland, Oregon, she found her skills had greatly improved. Before long, her school librarian was saying that she should write children's books when she grew up.

Instead she became a librarian. When a young boy asked her, "Where are the books about kids like us?" she remembered her teacher's encouragement and was inspired to write the books she'd longed to read but couldn't find when she was younger. She based her funny stories on her own neighborhood experiences and the sort of children she knew. And so, the Klickitat Street gang was born!

Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, presented to her in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. Dear Mr. Henshaw won the Newbery Medal, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Ramona and Her Father have been named Newbery Honor Books. Her characters, including Beezus and Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ralph, the motorcycle-riding mouse, have delighted children for generations.

David Small is the illustrator of more than forty picture books. His drawings have appeared regularly in the New Yorker and the New York Times, and his books have been translated into several languages and made into animated films and musicals. David won a Caldecott Honor and the Christopher Medal for The Gardener, written by his wife, Sarah Stewart, and the Caldecott Medal for So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George. David and Sarah make their home in an 1833 manor house on a bend of the St. Joseph River in southwest Michigan.