Laura Beth Dean was born into a dairy farming family in Cooperstown, New York, and grew up relishing blizzard and sheep ranching stories told by her South Dakota relatives. When she was two months old, her parents took her on her first flight to Brazil. As a little girl, Laura loved flying in all sizes of airplanes, ranging from a Helio Courier propeller plane, to a Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet." After an adventuresome childhood in five countries on four continents, she earned a B.S. in Nursing before settling down with her husband and three children in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia. Surrounded by farms and ranches, Laura appreciates quiet and blizzard-free adventures as a home health nurse. She is the author of the children's book, Sweet Potato Moon.

Jeanne Bowman was born (more or less) with a crayon in her hand and never stopped putting marks on paper (or the walls, to her mother's chagrin). She grew up loving the mountains and forests but has spent the majority of her life on the plains of Montana and the desert of New Mexico. She has illustrated The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde and Charlie Russell and the Gnomes of Bullhead Lodge by Emily Crawford Wilson. Jeanne received the 2022 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Illustrator of the Year for her work on Charlie Russell and the Gnomes. She currently resides in Sidney, Montana.