Toni Yuly is the author of many books for children, including Early Bird, which won the ALA Notable and Texas 2x2, and Thank You, Bees, which won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. She studied painting at the University of Washington, where she worked with the great American painter Jacob Lawrence, and worked for many years as a librarian in the King County Library System. She lives in Bremerton, Washington, where she often drives to the shore to watch the brown pelicans.