Kathleen Benson is the author of several picture books, many of which she co-authored with her late husband, Jim Haskins, including John Lewis in the Lead, which won the NCSS Carter G. Woodson Award for the most distinguished social science book for young readers that depicts ethnicity in the United States. She lives in Manhattan.
Benny Andrews was a groundbreaking artist, author, teacher, and activist who is widely considered to be one of the finest African American painters of the twentieth century. His work is included in museum collections around the world. He illustrated many children's books, including Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes by David Roessel and Arnold Rampersad, for which he was posthumously awarded the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award; John Lewis in the Lead by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson, which won the NCSS Carter G. Woodson Award; and The Hickory Chair by Lisa Rowe Faustino, an ALA Notable book.