Two Friends

Dean Robbins is a journalist and children’s book author. His previous books include Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, illustrated by Sean Qualls and Selina Alko, and Miss Paul and the President, illustrated by Nancy Zhang. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his family. You can visit him at deanrobbins.net.

Sean Qualls is an award winning, Brooklyn-based, children’s book illustrator, artist and author. He has illustrated a number of highly acclaimed books for children, including Giant Steps to Change The World by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis-Lee, Little Cloud and Lady Wind by Toni Morrison and her son Slade, and Before John Was a Jazz Giant, for which he received a Coretta Scott King Illustration Honor. Sean also created the art for Dizzy by Jonah Winter and Skit Scat Raggedy Cat by Roxane Orgill. His work has received two Blue Ribbon citations from the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. Qualls has created illustrations for magazines, newspapers, and advertisements and his work has been shown in galleries in New York and across the country.

Selina Alko grew up in Canada and has been a painter since she was a child. She loves mixing materials together to create artwork for her award-winning children’s books. Besides working in her studio, Selina likes to travel, be involved in her community, and spend time with her children. Selina makes her home in Brooklyn, NY, with her family and their two parakeets, Sunny and Snowy.