Margaret J. Anderson was born on Christmas Eve in a small Scottish mining town where her father was the Presbyterian minister. Margaret has co-authored three Nature Discovery books, written biographies with her daughter, Karen Stephenson, and collaborated on a book with archaeologist Gwinn Vivian. Margaret lives in Corvallis, Oregon, with her husband Norm and four children, Richard, Judith, Susan and Karen.

Nancy (“Nan”) Field organized the first Earth Day events at South Dakota State University in Brooking, where she was finishing a master's degree in wildlife biology. Having one day a year to celebrate and call attention to the environment was a good start, but Nan wondered how to reach more people. Children’s books seemed to be the perfect place to start.

Nan taught biology and environmental science at Bellevue Community College, Western Oregon State College and Oregon State University. She and her husband, Donald, a forestry professor at the University of WI, Madison, have three children.