Joanne Schwartz was born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Her first picture book,
Our Corner Grocery Store, illustrated by Laura Beingessner, was nominated for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. Her other books include
City Alphabet and City Numbers, with photos by Matt Beam, and two Inuit folktales with Cape Dorset elder Qaunaq Mikkigak --
The Legend of the Fog, illustrated by Danny Christopher, and
Grandmother Ptarmigan, illustrated by Qin Leng. Her most recent book is
Pinny in Summer, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant. Joanne has been a children's librarian for more than twenty-five years. She lives in Toronto.
Sydney Smith was born in rural Nova Scotia and has been drawing from an early age. Since graduating from NSCAD University, he has illustrated multiple children's books, including the highly acclaimed wordless picture book
Sidewalk Flowers, conceived by Jon Arno Lawson, which won a Governor General's Award and was shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. He is also the illustrator of
Grant and Tillie Go Walking by Monica Kulling and
The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart. Sydney has received the Amelia Frances Howard Gibbon Illustrator's Award. He now lives in Toronto and works in a shared studio space in Chinatown.