Elizabeth Lorayne is an award-winning author and publisher (White Wave Press) of children's books. After the success of her series The Adventures of Piratess Tilly, whose heroine is a budding naturalist and the captain of her own ship, Elizabeth feels driven to continue working on producing books with themes of girl-empowerment, eco-consciousness, exploration, and science. She is also an artist and mother, most often inspired by nature, history, and the rhythms of her surroundings. She is a graduate of The New School in NYC and a current member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Elizabeth and her family live in Newburyport, MA, where she can often be found cycling and working on her artwork. You can read about the Piratess Tilly series at PiratessTilly.com or see her artwork at Elizabethlorayne.com.

Kendra Shedenhelm is an artist, mom, cat-lover and many other things. Born and raised in Nebraska, she graduated with her BFA in Chicago in 1995, and has since worked as a painter, printmaker, illustrator, and designer throughout the Midwest, Colorado, Los Angeles, and NYC. Visit the illustrator's website at http: //kendrashedenhelm.com/

Michael Barton is an independent historian focusing on the history of science with an emphasis on Charles Darwin and evolution. He received his Masters in History from Montana State University, and currently works as an editor on a project to transcribe and publish the correspondence of the Victorian physicist John Tyndall, who was a friend of Darwin's. Michael writes a blog called The Dispersal of Darwin (thedispersalofdarwin.wordpress.com), where he likes to share content about Darwin, evolution, and the history of science. He is also an advocate for getting children outside and connected to nature. He regularly takes his own two children on nature adventures where they live in Portland, Oregon and encourages other families to do so through a blog (exploreportlandnature.wordpress.com) and social media.