Nancy Shaw was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and two children. She is a freelance writer and a homemaker. She received her B. A. with high distinction and highest honors in English from the University of Michigan, where she was named to Phi Beta Kappa and won the prestigious Hopwood Award. She received her M.A.T. from Harvard University. Ms. Shaw came up with the idea for the Sheep books during a very long car trip with her husband and two children.

Margot Apple was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a musician father and an illustrator mother. She now lives in Shelburn Falls, Massachusetts, with her husband and their pets, a dog and a cat. Ms. Apple earned her degree in art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She is now a full-time freelance illustrator, collaborating with other authors, illustrating her own picture books, and producing illustrations for Cricket and Ladybug magazines. She has illustrated more than fifty books for children and is best known for her collaboration with Nancy Shaw. Ms. Apple enjoys sewing, knitting, and working in her vegetable garden when not illustrating. She also enjoys going to flea markets and tag sales where she collects junk -- "otherwise known as antiques and collectibles."