Ellen Blance grew up in the northeast of England. She moved to London in 1964 and attended the University of London in order to study alternative methods of developing language and reading skills for children. In 1970 she was invited to work with New York City teachers. She taught classes at the New School and at City College. Ellen joined the staff at Bank Street College where she worked on the desegregation of the Stamford, Connecticut, schools. She also worked with teachers in Mamaroneck and Rye Brook, New York. Now retired, Ellen spends some time in New York City and Connecticut schools reading the Monster books and talking about writing to enthusiastic young writers.

Ann Cook works with children and teachers in New York City public schools. She directs a consortium of schools that have replaced standardized testing with performance assessment, allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. She is the author of three series of books for beginning readers and of numerous articles for adults about child-centered education and teacher collaboration. A collector of children’s books, she particularly enjoys reading to her five grandchildren.

Quentin Blake is one of the most celebrated children’s book illustrators working today, having illustrated more than three hundred books by such authors as Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, and Roald Dahl. A prolific writer of books for children himself, he was appointed the first Children’s Laureate of England in 1999.