MATTHEW FARINA is a painter and children's book author. His 2019 book, Lawrence in the Fall (also illustrated by Doug Salati), received an Ezra Jack Keats Honor for writing and a starred review from Publishers Weekly , and was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Matthew now lives in New York City and in the woods of Sullivan County, New York. DOUG SALATI is the author and illustrator of Hot Dog, winner of the 2023 Caldecott Medal and the Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award, and named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post , Publishers Weekly , Kirkus Reviews and the New York Public Library. He is the illustrator of Lawrence in the Fall by Matthew Farina, for which he received an Ezra Jack Keats Honor for illustration, and Words with Wings and Magic Things by Matthew Burgess, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2025, a Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade of 2025 and an ALA Notable Children's Book of 2026. A 2015 Sendak Fellow, Doug lives and works in New York City.