Mojdeh Hassani is a New York-based teacher with more than theirty-five years of experience. She holds two master's degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University in the fields of developmental psychology and early childhood special education. She has always felt that if you know a person you can't hate them, and this is what drives her to share stories from her homeland, Iran. Mojdeh's favorite people in the world are her family and students, and she loves spending time cuddling with her dog, Valentine.

Samira Iravani is a New York native, NYU graduate, and book cover designer. She has been a lover of the written word since she was as little as the Samira in this book, especially tales from Iran, her parents' homeland. When she's not designing or weaving her own tales, she also loves cuddling Valentine (and will not share his attentions with her mom, Mojdeh).

Maya Fidawi graduated from the Faculty of Art at the Lebanese University with specializations in painting and sculpting, and is one of the best loved children's illustrators in the Middle East. She has illustrated more than fifty children's books for publishers based in Lebanon, the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Italy, and has conducted workshops for professional illustrators throughout the Arab World and in Turkey, Italy, and Brazil. Her work has won national and international awards, and she is a two-time winner of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children's Literature, given at the Sharjah International Book Fair to the best children's books published in the Arabic language.

Silly grandmother/granddaughter adventure: Samira is sweet and playful, and we can see where she gets it-her grandma has just as big an imagination! It's a delight to watch these two play together.

Rhyming storytime text: The rhythm and rhyme here are so much fun to read aloud. Mojdeh is an elementary school teacher who has been playing with rhyme in her classroom, and it shines through here.

Mother-daughter author duo: The authors, Samira Iravani and Mojdeh Hassani, based this story on Mojdeh's own grandmother, the real Mama Shamsi, and Mojdeh's adventures with her growing up in Tehran, Iran.

Gorgeous, imaginative illustrations from a new artist: The artist, Maya Fidawi, plays with color to show the imaginary moments where Samira and Mama Shamsi turn into animals. A Beirut-based artist, this is her U.S. debut.

Playful storytelling with diverse representation: This funny story set in Tehran answers the call for more diverse books full of joy, laughter, and fun.