Barbara Brenner is an award-winning author of children’s fiction and nonfiction educational material for children featuring animals and nature. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1925. Brenner attended Seton Hall University and Rutgers University. She incorporates illustrations in her educational books for children to improve reading comprehension and sight vocabulary in young impressionable minds.   Catherine Siracusa, born in Long Beach, California (1947), is an author and illustrator of several children’s books, including a few from the Step Into Reading series. She received her BA in painting from Hunter College, The City University of New York in 1968 and attended the School of Visual Arts in 1979. Siracusa has been illustrating children’s books since 1986. She is a member of the Authors Guild and has been the recipient of the Children’s Choice Award in 1994 from the International Reading Association.