Arnold Stark Lobel was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lucille Stark and Joseph Lobel, and raised in Schenectady, New York, the hometown of his parents, by his German-Jewish grandparents.[1] Lobel was frequently bullied in his childhood and often read picture books at his local library.He attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. In 1955, after he graduated, he married Anita Kempler, also a children's writer and illustrator whom he'd met while in art school. The two worked in the same studio and collaborated on several books together. They had a daughter, Adrianne, and a son, Adam, followed by three grandchildren. Adrianne and Adam have donated more than 600 of their father's artworks to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Lobel loved his work and once said, "I cannot think of any work that could be more agreeable and fun than making books for children"; rather than a writer or author, he called himself a "daydreamer".

Amanda Wansa Morgan is an Atlanta-based director, music director, composer/arranger, and educator who serves as the Artistic Director of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University, where she is also Coordinator of Musical Theatre & Associate Professor, teaching various musical theatre courses. She also served on faculty at The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Amanda has music directed at The Alliance Theatre, Six Flags Over Georgia, Atlanta Lyric Theater, The Jennie T. Anderson Theater, Actor’s Express (2018 Suzi Bass Award for The Color Purple), Synchronicity Theater, Buicentennial Productions, Wallace Buice Theatre Co., Charleston Stage, Playhouse on the Square, and Post Playhouse. She has served as director for the Jennie T. Anderson Overture series productions of Next to Normal (2022 & 2023; Suzi Bass nomination); and The Light in the Piazza (2023). Her original musicals compositions have been seen at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Charleston Stage, and at various universities. MFA in Acting from The University of Central Florida and undergraduate degrees in theatre and music from The Florida State University. She is the author/editor of Conversations with Women in Musical Theatre Leadership (Routledge, 2023). Amanda proudly serves as the Co-Chair of Regional & Affinity Groups for Maestra Music Inc, providing support, visibility, and community to women in musical theatre music. Check out more information at: www.amandawansamorgan.com