Surrounded by shipyards, marinas and fog in the port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Jessica became fascinated by the rich history of her province while traveling up and down the coastline aboard her family’s boat and visiting museums in fishing communities along the way. There was one artifact in particular that recently caught her attention. It featured an arrangement of lobster claws glued to a plaque, surrounded by a rope frame, and must have been made by a former cannery worker. Jessica loved the idea of someone making artwork from modest materials in less-than-ideal conditions.#When asked what sparked her interest in giant lobsters, she noted that when fishermen came across them from time to time, the rare occurrence always captured the public’s attention. These huge crustaceans are not particularly attractive creatures, nor are they endangered, and yet they command a considerable amount of respect, given their extremely advanced age. In fact, the largest lobster ever caught was off Nova Scotia’s coast back in 1977. It weighed 44 pounds and was possibly as old as 100 years!#Jessica recognizes that featuring a giant lobster is unusual in the world of children’s literature. However, she’s quite fond of lobsters. Her husband makes delicious lobster bisque.#Considered an expert on what boys read, Jessica is best known for her award-winning and highly acclaimed eight-book series for boys called “Martin Bridge.” Having sold over 140,000 copies to date, these chapter books were inspired by the adventures of her husband and son.

Donna O’Meara has been hunting and photographing the world’s most dangerous volcanoes for almost 20 years. Many of her photographs have appeared in National Geographic.

Nadja was born on July 29, 1979. She was twelve when the war broke out in her native country Bosnia. Throughout the next three and a half years, she and all the citizens of the capital Sarajevo suffered from continuous shelling and the deprivation of basic needs. In 1992, Nadja was wounded by a bombshell. She still has seven pieces of shrapnel in her legs. During the war, Nadja began sharing her poetry and diary entries on the National Radio. Soon, she had her own radio show called “The Music Box”. In 1993, four of her poems were featured in the book Mom, I Don’t Want to Go to the Basement. A year later, at 14, Nadja’s diary Sarajevo Childhood Wounded by War was printed in Bosnia. She became known as the Bosnian Anne Frank, and the National Dutch Television created a documentary about her life. #In late 1995, Nadja escaped the war and came to live with a host family in the United States. She began learning English and finished three grades of high school in two years. In the summer of 1995, the sequel to her diary entitled Dreamer’s Insomnia was printed in Bosnia. In 1997, Nadja enrolled in Butler University majoring in Vocal Performance and Theater. She continued to speak and share her experiences around the world at events such as the Global Young Leaders Conference, the State of the World Forum and many others. She was recognized by her university with the first ever “Woman of Distinction Award.” In 1999, she was featured in the book Courage to Give by Jackie Waldman. In 2000, she was in Michael Collopy’s Architects of Peace along with the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa. Later the same year, her message was brought to American teenagers with her feature in Teen People Magazine. Upon graduating in 2002, she embarked on a nine-month speaking tour with the non-profit organization Free the Children, promoting peace and tolerance to over 70,000 students across 35 states and four Canadian provinces. Nadja currently lives in Canada and her first North American publication entitled My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary was published in February 2006 by Kids Can Press. Her book has been awarded the 2006 Best Book Award under Social Studies by the Society of School Librarians International as well as nominated for the Norma Fleck Award and the Golden Oak Award. A French translation was released in 2007.

Chieri is a second-generation Japanese Canadian who was born in Quesnel, British Columbia. By the age of one, she and her parents had moved to East Vancouver, where she and her two younger sisters grew up.#Chieri attended Sir John Franklin Elementary. Initially, she had to take English as a Second Language classes as she spoke mostly Japanese at home. An excellent ESL teacher and an inherited love of books helped develop Chieri’s skills quickly, and language arts became one of her favorite subjects.#After graduating from Templeton Secondary School, Chieri attended the University of British Columbia and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.#Chieri’s first picture book, Suki’s Kimono, was a result of losing two children’s writing competitions. She took a story she had written at UBC almost a decade earlier, rewrote it as a picture book and submitted it to a competition. After being shortlisted in that first competition, Chieri honed the story even more and entered a second competition. Again, Suki’s Kimono did not win. But as a result of being shortlisted, two publishers requested a copy of the manuscript, and Kids Can Press came back with an offer to publish.#Suki’s Kimono, illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch, was released in 2003. Chieri enjoyed the picture book experience so much that she decided to continue writing for children.#She has since written stories for Pearson Education, Chirp and Chickadee magazines, and has published three more picture books: Rosie and Buttercup; Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin; and Ojiichan’s Gift.#Chieri lives on the Sunshine Coast with her husband and two undertrained dogs. She wishes she had stuck with her childhood piano lessons and that she was a naturally gifted singer.