PATRICIA C. McKISSACK was the author of over 100 children's books, including The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural, which was a Newbery Honor book and a Coretta Scott King Award winner. She also received the Coretta Scott King Award for A Long Hard Journey: The Story of Pullman Porter and Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters. JERRY PINKNEY was one of America’s most acclaimed illustrators. He won the Caldecott Medal, five Caldecott Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five Coretta Scott King Honors, five New York Times Best Illustrated Awards, the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Society of Illustrators’ Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award, and many other prizes and honors. His long list of celebrated titles includes Mirandy and Brother Wind, The Little Red Hen, The Little Match Girl, and The Lion & The Mouse. His family includes a number of acclaimed children's book creators: his son, artist Brian Pinkney; his daughter-in-law, author and children's book editor Andrea Davis Pinkney; and his granddaughter, author-illustrator Charnelle Pinkney Barlow. Jerry Pinkney passed away on October 20, 2021 at the age of 81.