One of the first American writers to gain acclaim in Europe, Washington Irving was also an essayist, a biographer, an historian, and a diplomat. He is best known for having written the short stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, both of which appeared in the collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Though he is best known for his short stories, Irving s written works include social and political commentary for the literary magazine Salmagundi, which he helped found, as well as biographies of a number of historical figures including George Washington and the prophet Muhammad. Irving died in 1859 at the age of 76.

Tod Smith grew up in Rhode Island, where he attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. He started working in comics in the 1980s, and has been an illustrator for comics and books ever since. He loves to play music in his free time, and when he was in middle school, the Beatles inspired him to start to play the guitar. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Candace.

Blake A. Hoena grew up in central Wisconsin, where, in his youth, he wrote stories about robots conquering the Moon and trolls lumbering around in the woods behind his parent s house and the fact that the trolls were hunting for little boys had nothing to do with Blake s pesky younger brothers. Later, he moved to Minnesota to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Since graduating, Blake has written more than forty books for children, including retellings of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and the Perseus and Medusa myth. Most recently, he s working on graphic novels for Sports Illustrated Kids and writing stories about superheroes.