Flappy and Scrappy

Arthur Yorinks has written and directed for opera, theater, dance, film, and radio and is the author of over thirty-five acclaimed and award-winning books, including Hey, Al, a children’s book, which earned the Caldecott Medal in 1987. From the age of 6, Yorinks studied to be a classical pianist, under former Juilliard professor Robert Bedford. At 17, veering from a potential profession as a classical musician, Yorinks began over four decades of writing and working in the performing arts. In the field of opera, Yorinks was Philip Glass’s librettist for the operas The Juniper Tree and The Fall of the House of Usher.Through his forty years of picture-book making, he has teamed up with many famed illustrators including Maurice Sendak, William Steig, Mort Drucker, David Small, and Richard Egielski. His book, Mommy?, was a New York Times bestseller. Mr. Yorinks lives in New York City and continues to write and direct.

Olga and Aleksey Ivanov are renowned children’s book illustrators and classically trained commercial artists from Russia. This talented husband-and-wife team immigrated to the United States in 2002 and have been in high demand ever since. In all, the two have illustrated over 70 children’s books, three of which have sold more than 100,000 copies each.