Arlene Mosel (1921-1996)’s debut children’s book, Tikki Tikki Tembo, was an American Library Association Notable Book and won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In 1997, The New York Times named it one of the best 50 children's books of the previous 50 years. Mosel also wrote The Funny Little Woman, an Honor Book for the Hans Christian Andersen International Children's Book Awards.
Blair Lent (1930-2009) received the Caldecott Medal for The Funny Little Woman, and three Caldecott Honors. He is the illustrator of Ms. Mosel's Tikki Tikki Tembo, a bestseller since its publication in 1968, and Bruce Goldstone's The Beastly Feast.