American Us!

Dona Herweck Rice is the prolific author of books, stories, and poems for children of all ages. She's written hundreds of books and more on just about every topic under the sun, from acrobats to zucchini and everything in between. She has also written award-winning books and curriculums for educators, especially on the subjects of writing and language arts. In fact, her first publications were a series for teachers on how to teach writing in the classroom. She spearheaded the development of Write TIME for Kids, which earned the Golden Lamp award for curriculum from the Association of American Publishers. Her writing is featured heavily in such acclaimed series as Focused Phonics, Untold Stories, Fiction Readers, Nonfiction Readers, Learn and Create, and more.

Dona's best-selling children's title with more than 13,000 copies is How Plants Grow, and her most recent titles include dozens of books for the Exploration Storytime series, two titles in the Curious Me! (TM) board book series, and Ride with Rampage in partnership with the Los Angeles Rams. When Dona visits classrooms to talk about being an author, the most requested titles include History's Mysteries, Bad Guys and Gals of the Wild West, and Oh, Rats!--the latter being one of Dona's particular favorites.

Dona is the creator of Cam E. Chameleon, the enchanting little reptile featured in her books The Adventures of Cam E. Chameleon and Cam and Sam's Colorful Adventure. Observant readers can also find Cam singing and dancing throughout the illustrated retelling of If You're Happy and You Know It.

Writing is Dona's passion, but she also loves reading, live theater, and handmade arts and crafts, with many artists and creatives in all mediums among her extended family. Dona was a preschool and middle school teacher and is an acting coach for all ages. She lives in southern California with her husband, son, and one cute, silly, and loveable little dog.


Guy Wolek grew up just outside Chicago. He drew constantly; if his parents took away his paper, he would draw on newspapers, inside the covers of books, wherever there was blank space. To this day, some of his parents' books still have his art-so he can say his art has been in books since he was four!

While growing up, Guy was focused on things other than art, until his first job after graduating high school convinced him to go to art school. He attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago and landed his first job as a professional artist with a portfolio he put together in a weekend. Over his thirty-five-year career, Guy has done everything from working as a courtroom sketch artist, to illustrating children's books, to developing characters for animation.

A father and grandfather, he lives in Southern California with his wife of over thirty years.