After teaching in elementary- and middle-school classrooms for a number of years, Lee Galda received her Ph.D. in English Education from New York University. She is the Marguerite Henry Professor of Children’s Literature, Emerita, at the University of Minnesota where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in children’s and young adult literature. Dr. Galda was a member of the International Literacy Association and the United States Board on Books for Young People, working on various committees related to literature. She was children’s books department editor for The Reading Teacher from 1989 to 1993; a member of the 2003 Newbery Committee; a member of the International Literacy Association Book Award Selection Committee for five years, co-chairing that committee in 2010−2011 and 2011−2012; and a member of the USBBY Bridge to Understanding Award Committee in 2008 through 2011, chairing that committee in 2011. She sat on the review boards of several professional journals and on the editorial boards of Children’s Literature in Education and Journal of Children’s Literature. Author of numerous articles, books, and book chapters about children’s literature and response, she was lead author of the first chapter on children’s literature appearing in the HANDBOOK OF READING RESEARCH (VOLUME III). In 2011, Dr. Galda received the International Literacy Association Arbuthnot Award for excellence in teaching children’s literature.

Lauren Aimonette Liang is an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Utah. She teaches courses in children’s and young adult literature, including a course on international children’s literature, and was awarded the University of Utah’s Early Career Teaching Award in 2010. Dr. Liang’s research in children’s literature and comprehension has been published in journals such as READING RESEARCH QUARTERLY, JOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE, READING PSYCHOLOGY, and THE READING TEACHER, as well as in both professional and practitioner books. She serves on editorial boards and committees for the International Literacy Association, the American Library Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the United States Board of Books for Young People (USBBY), including serving on the leadership boards for both USBBY and the Children’s Literature Assembly. She was a long-time reviewer for The Horn Book Guide and other review publications. Dr. Liang has served on the International Literacy Association’s Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards committee since 2009, and has been chair of the award committee for the past four years.

Bernice E. Cullinan was known both nationally and internationally for her work in children’s literature. She wrote more than thirty books on literature for classroom teachers and librarians, including LITERATURE AND THE CHILD, POETRY LESSONS TO DAZZLE AND DELIGHT, and THREE VOICES: INVITATION TO POETRY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM. She authored a book for parents, READ TO ME: RAISING KIDS WHO LOVE TO READ. Dr. Cullinan was editor in chief of WORDSONG—the poetry imprint of Boyds Mills Press, a Highlights for Children Company—and collected poems written by the recipients of the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Poetry in A JAOF TINY STARS and subsequent volumes. She served as president of the International Literacy Association, was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame and The Ohio State University Hall of Fame, and selected as the recipient of the Arbuthnot Award for Outstanding Teacher of Children’s Literature. Dr. Cullinan died in February of 2015.