Brenda Z. Guiberson has written many books for children, including Spoonbill Swamp, Moon Bear and Disasters. As a child, Brenda never thought she wanted to be a writer—her dreams tended more toward jungle explorer. She graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in English and Fine Art. She started thinking about writing for children when her son went to elementary school, and she volunteered in his class and in the school library. After taking exciting trips that involved a fifty-foot cactus, hungry alligators and sunset-colored spoonbills, she wanted to create books for children that would be like a field trip. Her books are full of well-researched detail, and Brenda sees this research as an adventure—one that allows her to be a jungle explorer at last. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

Megan Lloyd read the manuscript for Cactus Hotel and went to the Saguaro National Monument in Arizona herself. "I like to see what I am going to illustrate rather than make it up," she says. Ms. Lloyd is the illustrator of many picture books, including Brenda Z. Guiberson's Spoonbill Swamp. She lives in Pennsylvania.