Derrick Barnes (DerrickDBarnes.com) is also the author of Like Lava in My Veins, Santa's Gotta Go!, New York Times bestsellers The Queen of Kindergarten and I Am Every Good Thing, which won the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award and the Kirkus Prize, and Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Honor, the Kirkus Prize, and the Ezra Jack Keats Award. He also wrote the bestselling chapter book series Ruby and the Booker Boys. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and their four sons.
Vanessa Brantley-Newton (VanessaBrantleyNewton.com) is a beloved storyteller and has illustrated numerous picture books, including New York Times bestseller The Queen of Kindergarten (by Derrick Barnes), Mary Had a Little Glam (by Tammi Sauer), One Love (by Cedella Marley), and The Youngest Marcher (by Cynthia Levinson), as well as the chapter book series Ruby and the Booker Boys (by Derrick Barnes) and Jada Jones (by Kelly Starling Lyons). Some of the picture books she’s written and illustrated include Shake It Off!, Just Like Me, Becoming Vanessa and Grandma’s Purse. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
