Bonnie Lou Risby grew up in the Illinois woodlands atop the limestone bluffs across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. These woods were her playground where she and her siblings camped out, played detective, and enjoyed the beauty of the outdoors in every season. After attending college at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, she taught school in Columbia, IL, for 13 years. She has taught elementary school, middle school, and high school, concentrating on the subjects of French, English, and gifted education. When Risby helped write the grant to establish Columbia's Gifted Program in the early 1970s, there were few materials readily available that fit well with a one-period per week pullout program. Rob Risby is a college student attending the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

He grew up in Ballwin, Missouri and attending Parkway schools and graduated from Country Green Home School. He attended Westminster College in Fulton for his freshman year and then returned closer to home to work and study. Rob always showed an unusual aptitude for logical thinking and became a published author at the age of 6 when he co-authored a thinking skills book for pre-readers, Lollipop Logic.