Marty Kelley is the author and illustrator of the children's books Fall Is Not Easy, The Rules, Winter Woes, Summer Stinks, Spring Goes Squish, The Messiest Desk, and Twelve Terrible Things. His career as an artist started when he began drawing historically accurate pictures of spaceships dropping bombs on dinosaurs. He has, in the past, been a second grade teacher, a baker, a cartoonist, a newspaper art director, a drummer in a heavy metal band, a balloon delivery guy, and an animator. Now he visits lots and lots of schools to show students how he creates his books. He is also a juried member of the New Hampshire State Council for the Arts Visiting Artist Roster. Originally from Somersworth, New Hampshire, Brian Benoit now listens for the roar of the surf deep in the woods of Cavendish, Vermont. His sea creatures were originally conjured up to entertain his brother during family trips on the Maine coast, and have since proven popular with his own children. Crustacean Vacation is his first children's book.