Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American author, essayist, interfaith activist, and author of the Yasmin books, an early reader series about a Pakistani American girl. She lives with her husband and children in Houston, Texas, where she is editor-in-chief of
Blue Minaret, a magazine for Muslim art, poetry, and prose.
Laura Shovan is the author of two previous middle grade novels,
The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary and
Takedown. She lives with her family in Maryland, where she is a longtime poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council.