JILL ESBAUM has written a number of both fiction and nonfiction books for children. Her books for National Geographic include Explore My World Snow Leopards and Penguins; Angry Birds Playground: Rain Forest, Dinosaurs, and Animals; and five seasonal titles, including Apples for Everyone which was named a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best title in 2009. Today, she lives on a farm in Iowa, not too far from Iowa City, where she and her family raise corn, soybeans, and hundreds of pigs.

FRANS LANTING has been hailed as one of the great photographers of our time. His influential work appears in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. Born in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States to study and soon after, he began photographing the natural world. For three decades he has documented wildlife from the Amazon to Antarctica to promote understanding about the Earth and its natural history through images that convey a passion for nature and a sense of wonder about our living planet.