Ellen Mayer is a writer with a background in early childhood and parent education. She has worked as a researcher at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, studying family engagement in children's learning. She has also worked as an early literacy home visitor with a diverse community of families, supporting young children in early language development through book sharing and play. Ellen currently holds a writing fellowship for Math Picture Book Authors, from the Heising—Simons Foundation, and is a visiting author with the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative of the Somerville, MA Public Schools. Her very first children's book, Tomasito's Mother Comes to School/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela, was published as an ebook by Harvard University. Ellen writes her children's books to entertain and educate both children and the adults who read to them. She holds an M.Phil. in Sociology from Columbia University.
Holly Meade has worked as an illustrator of children's books for almost fifteen years. She has illustrated more than twenty books, and written three. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in painting, Holly has also worked as a graphic designer and teacher. She has two grown children and lives on the coast of Maine. Holly won a Caldecott Honor Award for Hush! A Thai Lullaby. Rata—Pata—Scata—Fata is illustrated in Holly's distinctive style: a collage of torn and cut pieces of colored paper to which she adds detail by using ink, paint, or colored pencil.