Armstrong Sperry was a beloved author and illustrator of children’s literature. As a child, he was fascinated by adventure novels such as Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island, which led him to embark on a year-long tour of the South Pacific that would inspire much of his work. He won the 1941 Newbery Medal for Call It Courage, a novel about a young boy on the island of Hikueru in Polynesia, and wrote or illustrated dozens of other books for young people. After many adventures, he moved with his family to Hanover, New Hampshire, where he lived until his death in 1976. William McFee was one of the twentieth century’s most beloved authors of sea stories. He spent a large portion of his own life at sea, including its first moments; he was born on his father’s three-masted ship Erin’s Isle.