Rachel G Payne

Rachel G. Payne is the coordinator of early childhood services at Brooklyn Public Library, where she leads the BPL's award-winning First Five Years initiative. She is a contributor to Reading with Babies, Toddlers, and Twos (Sourcebooks, 2013) and Library Services from Birth to Five: Delivering the Best Start (Facet, 2015). She has written for School Library Journal (where she coauthors the First Steps column), Library Trends, Kirkus, and the Horn Book blog Calling Caldecott. She served on the 2009 Caldecott Award Selection Committee and chaired the 2016 committee. She has presented on early literacy at ALA, PLA, Bank Street Infancy Institute, Young Child Expo, and at other professional gatherings, and regularly leads staff trainings on early literacy at BPL and beyond. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.

Jose Pimienta (Jo Pi) resides in Burbank, California, where they draw comics, storyboards, and sketches for visual development. During their upbringing in the city of Mexicali, Mexico, Jo was heavily influenced by animation, music, and short stories. After high school, they ventured towards the Savannah College of Art and Design. Jo Pi also loves to go on long walks as often as possible.