Julius Lester is the author of the Newbery Honor Book
To Be a Slave, the Caldecott Honor Book
John Henry, the National Book Award finalist
The Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History, and the Coretta Scott King Award winner
Day of Tears. He is also a National Book Critics Circle nominee and a recipient of the
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. His most recent picture book,
Let's Talk About Race, was named to the New York Public Library's "One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing." In addition to his critically acclaimed writing career, Mr. Lester has distinguished himself as a civil rights activist, musician, photographer, radio talk-show host, and professor. For thirty-two years he taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He lives in western Massachusetts.
Karen Barbour has illustrated many books for children, including You Were Loved Before You Were Born; Fire! Fire! Hurry! Hurry!; I Have an Olive Tree; and Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems, which was a Parents' Choice Gold Award winner. She wrote and illustrated Little Nino's Pizzeria, a Reading Rainbow selection. Her paintings have been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Rome. She lives in Point Reyes Station, California.
