Barry Varela worked in publishing before moving to Durham, North Carolina, where he became a researcher and writer at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. In 2006 Roaring Brook Press published his first novel for older readers, Palmers Gate. Ed Briant is the author and illustrator of Seven Stories, published by Roaring Brook Press, and A Day at the Beach, and the illustrator of Paper Parade. He was born in England but now lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with his wife and two daughters.