Andrea Cheng was born on September 19, 1957. After receiving a BA in English from Cornell University, she went to Switzerland, where she apprenticed to a bookbinder, attended a school of bookbinding called The Centro del Bel Libro, and learned French. Upon her return, she received an MS in linguistics from Cornell University. She taught English as a Second Language and children's literature at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. She was a children's author and illustrator. Her books included Grandfather Counts, Marika, The Key Collection, Honeysuckle House, Where the Steps Were, The Bear Makers, Brushing Mom's Hair, and the Year of... chapter book series. She died after a long illness on December 26, 2015 at the age of 58.
Abigail Halpin is the talented illustrator of several chapter books including Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, 2009), cover artwork for Emma Jean Lazarus Fell In Love (Puffin Books, 2010), The Melancholic Mermaid (Simply Read Books, 2010), Penny Dreadful (Random House, 2010) and The Grand Plan to Fix Everything (Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, Spring 2011). Both illustrator and graphic designer, she lives in New England, a stone’s throw from the Maine coastline. See her artwork at: http://www.theodesign.com/.