Author Bio Coleen Paratore, Is a native of Troy, New York, and the eldest of six children. Her lifelong love of reading can be traced back to weekly trips with her mother to the Troy Public Library. Coleen's fascination with words has taken her from first place in a grammar-school poetry contest to a Master's Degree in English from Trinity College. After leaving the workforce in 1994 to become a full-time mother of three, Coleen spent her days introducing her children to the world around them. "I didn't know that I would one day write children's books, yet everything in my life was leading me that way." When her oldest son turned ten, the spark of writing burst into full flame. With more than 17 books to her name, Coleen knows the importance of believing in one's self. "Find what it is you love to do - because that is your gift - and then find a way to share it.

" A fan of travel, theater, and movies, Coleen recently moved back to Troy, where she intends to continue writing. Illustrator Bio: Having left her unversity with an illustration degree, and after fifteen years as a designer and studio manager in the UK greeting card industry, Clare, a mum to Ella (age ten) and Hope (seven), took the plunge and decided to follow her life-long dream to illustrate children's books. So having quit her job, Clare ousted her hubby from his beloved study, set deep in the English countryside, and promptly converted it to a rather messy studio filled with children's picture books, cats, cushions, pencils, and paint. Clare set to work carving out her new career as a children's book illustrator! Some two short years later, Clare is joyfully collaging the contents of her imagination into the pages of children's books, and loving every moment of it.