Lloyd Alexander has been writing professionally for ten years and his books have garnered numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor for "The Black Cauldron" and the Newbery Medal for "The High King," Lloyd Alexander lives with his wife in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. Nancy Farmer has written three Newbery Honor Books: "The Ear the Eye and the Arm; A Girl Named Disaster;" and "The House of the Scorpion, " which, in 2002, also won the National Book Award. Other books include "Do You Know Me, The Warm Place, " and three picture books for young children. She grew up on the Arizona-Mexico border, and now lives with her family in Menlo Park, California. Meredith Ann Pierce is a recognized and well-known author among fans of the young adult fantasy genre and the cross-over adult market. The Darkangel, her very first book, was an ALA Best Book, a New York Times Notable Children's Book, a Parent's Choice Award Superbook, a Booklist Best Book of the Decade, and was honored with the IRA's annual Children's Book Award and the California Young Reader Medal. She has received the Jane Tinkam Broughton Fellowship in Writing for children from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and an Individual Artist Fellowship Special Award for Children's Literature b