James Thurber (1894-1961) was one of the preeminent American humorists and cartoonists of the twentieth century. Most famous for his widely anthologized short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," he was a contributor to
The New Yorker for more than thirty years and wrote nearly forty books--collections of essays, short stories, fables, and children's stories, including
The Wonderful O and the Caldecott Medal winner
Many Moons. Marc Simont (illustrations; 1915-2013) illustrated nearly a hundred books, among them James Thurber's
The Wonderful O and a 1990 edition of Thurber's
Many Moons. He worked with such authors as Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (on the Nate the Great series) and Margaret Wise Brown and won both a Caldecott Honor and a Caldecott Medal for his illustrations of children's books.
Neil Gaiman (introduction) is the #1
New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books for readers of all ages, including
American Gods,
The Ocean at the End of the Lane,
The Graveyard Book,
Coraline, and the Sandman series of graphic novels. He is Professor in the Arts at Bard College.