Carlotta Hacker was born in England but was brought to Canada during World War II and went to school here. She later returned to Britain and graduated in history and English from St Andrew’s University in Scotland.#Carlotta wanted to be a writer from her earliest years, but it was not until she was in her 30s that she began to get published. Her first published work was a travel book describing the two years she had spent working her way around the world. On this trip she met the Canadian filmmaker Hector J. (Red) Lemieux, whom she later married. This led to more travels as they wandered the world together making films. It also resulted in the book Africa Take One about their adventures when making films in Africa.#Wherever they went, Carlotta wanted to know how each country and its people came to be the way they were. This meant finding out about their past — their history. She had always been fascinated by history, seeing it not as dates and politics but as stories about people. She couldn’t believe it when she heard people saying Canadian history was dull. “But it’s full of incredible people doing amazing things!” she said.#She was delighted when she was asked to write biographies and histories for young Canadians. One of the books she enjoyed writing most was The Book of Canadians because among the 700 brief biographies she could include villains and some very odd characters as well as heroes and pop stars. The Kids Book of Canadian History was another favorite.#As an editor under her married name Carlotta Lemieux, she has also tried to get others into Canadian history. She was Consulting and Contributing Editor for The Junior Encyclopedia of Canada, writing many of the biographies in it.

Robert Heidbreder was born on the wet, muddy banks of the Mississippi River in 1947 and in 1970 he moved to the wet, misty skies of Vancouver, British Columbia, to pursue his degree in Classical Languages.#In 1975 he became a Canadian citizen, and in the same year he completed his teaching degree at the University of British Columbia. Soon after he started teaching primary children in Vancouver, he began writing because he wanted the children in his class introduced to a liveliness of language that matched their natural bounce, energy, imagination and playfulness. #His first book was Don’t Eat Spiders, published in 1985, and his newest book is Lickety-Split, published in the fall of 2007. #In 2002 he won the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, and in 2005 he retired from teaching after 30 years. His presentations to children in the schools and at festivals help keep the child within him alive, awake, laughing and rhyming away.

Marilyn Helmer is the author of many books for children, including One Splendid Tree and Funtime Riddles. She lives in Burlington, Ontario.

Pamela was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario. She holds an Honors Bachelor of Environmental Studies and Biology from the University of Waterloo. During university, Pamela had several interesting summer jobs, including working for the mosquito control program with Alberta Environment in Edmonton. She spent every day dressed in chest waders, standing in marshes and studying the insect life that thrived there. She started her writing career as the education co-ordinator for the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. This role involved writing education kits about nature and the environment that were used by teachers in classrooms. Since going freelance in 1990, she has published over 35 nature books for children. In 1992, Pamela, her husband and their three daughters moved to Canning, Nova Scotia. Pamela now has four young grandchildren to further inspire her.#Through her books, Pamela tries to capture her readers’ interest in nature by finding the truly weird and wonderful aspects of plants and animals. She is very enthusiastic about the amazing creatures out there and hopes that enthusiasm comes through in her writing. Pamela is a big believer that creativity is an important part of writing nonfiction. It’s what you do with the facts that counts! Many of her books also focus on hands-on activities that involve the reader in nature discovery. Nurturing respect and fascination for nature and conservation are her ultimate goals.