Brian Lies was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and went to Brown University after high school, where he studied Psychology and British and American Literature. After graduation from college in 1985, he moved to Boston to study drawing and painting at the Boston Museum School (also known as the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).
At the Museum School, Brian started getting paintings in exhibitions and won a few prizes, and then was able to get political illustrations published in the Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe.
In 1989, he illustrated his first book,
Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye, with Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston.
Since then, he has illustrated over twenty-five books, including the latest one,
Bats in the Band, which he also wrote. Other books he has written-and-illustrated include the New York Times bestsellers
Bats at the Beach and
Bats at the Library,
Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite, and
Hamlet and the
Magnificent Sandcastle.
He lives in a seaside town in Massachusetts with his wife, daughter, and two cats.
Brian writes about his dot, "The title of this one is "Make a Joyous Noise!," representing the sound version of making a Dot, creating music that pleases you, even if it’s not necessarily professional. Each of us has music inside, stemming—as a drummer I met recently told me—from our heartbeat. It can be viewed either this way or upside down, which I’d originally intended —except that when the bat’s inverted, you can’t understand its face as well, visually."
Lynda doesn't tend to write about kids who walk through time portals or use magic wands. She writes about really decent kids who find themselves in the middle of unthinkable circumstances but find ways to walk themselves out of it. As an author, one of the things that she is most eager to do is get out and visit readers to speak with them on writing, the use of the arts to enrich lives, and the tough decisions kids must sometimes make to ensure happy lives for themselves. Source
Hazel Mitchell is an award winning illustrator. From an early age she drew on every thing she could get her hands on and still can't be left safely alone with a pencil. Her most recent books include Imani's Moon, One Word Pearl, 1,2,3 by the Sea, How to Talk to an Autistic Kid (Foreword Reviews Gold Medal winner and Finalist in 'Books for a Better Life'), Hidden New Jersey and the All-Star Cheerleaders series by Anastasia Suen.
Brian Won is an illustrator, children's book author, and motion graphics designer. He lives in Eagle Rock, CA with his wife and young son, Charlie. His debut children's book is entitled, "Hooray for Hat." His next book as an illustrator will be "Outer Space, Bedtime Race" with author Rob Sanders, due out Spring 2015. 
Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. As a girl she danced ballet, raced through books, composed poetry on an ancient typewriter, and put on magic shows in a homemade cape. She’s taught both social studies and English in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Caroline’s the author of the ALA Notable book, May B. (2012), Over in the Wetlands, (2015), and Blue Birds (2015). 
Anne Belov has been drawing and painting since the time she could hold a crayon. After receiving a BFA from The Philadelphia College of Art, she moved west and, since she didn’t learn everything the first time, went to art school again, receiving an MFA in painting from the University of Washington. She now makes her home on Whidbey Island. Anne is the person behind the pandas of The Panda Chronicles (blog, four books and counting) and has recently released her first picture book, Pandamorphosis, a wordless adventure with pandas. There are, to her knowledge, no pandas in her backyard.
Matthew Cordell is an author/illustrator who grew up in South Carolina and now lives in a suburb of Chicago. Matthew's latest book "Hello, Hello" received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. See Matthew's 2013 Celebridot here.
Learn more about Matthew on his website.
