TARA LAZAR taught herself to juggle at age ten in hopes of launching a career as a clown. Instead, she was voted class clown in school. Eventually she decided that writing silly stories like The Monstore , Little Red Gliding Hood and most recently, 7 Ate 9: The Untold Story , was better than riding silly unicycles. Tara lives in New Jersey with her acrobatic daughters, strongman husband and hoop-jumping hamster. MELISSA CROWTON once dreamed of performing acrobatic feats as part of an international troupe of circus stars. She still hasn't nailed that backwards handstand with rotating plates, so in the meantime, she illustrates books such as Mousie, I Will Read to You , as well as the Baby Code! series of board books. She has created doodles for Google's homepage, and her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, Creative Quarterly and American Illustration . Originally from Utah, she currently lives in Northern California where she tries not to break all of her dishes.