Author James Buckley, Jr. has written more than 100 books for kids. Among his recent titles are Who Was Muhammad Ali? (Penguin, 2014), Scholastic Year in Sports (Scholastic, 2009-14), The Scholastic Ultimate Guide to Football (Scholastic, 2009), Eyewitness Baseball (DK, 2010 reissue), and Lou Gehrig: More Than Just a Ballplayer (Sterling, 2010). He has also written popular reference books and titles on nature, history, space, and cars.
Literacy consultant Stephanie Laird is an instructional coach at Mitchellville Elementary in Mitchellville, Iowa, and is currently serving on the International Literacy Association's (ILA) Board of Directors through 2019. She was the 2014 recipient of the ILA Technology and Literacy Award. Stephanie is the President-Elect of the Iowa Reading Association and was the 2017 Conference Chair of the Iowa Reading Association's annual conference. Along with being an ambassador and advocate for education, literacy, and teacher leadership across her state, Stephanie was a member of ILA's Literacy, eLearning, Communication, and Culture Committee and has contributed to the International Literacy Day Activity Kit, Literacy Daily, and ReadWriteThink.
