ALETHEA K. HELBIG is Professor of English Language and Literature at Eastern Michigan University. For more than 20 years she has been teaching mythology and hero tales, as well as Native American literature and the Bible as literature to prospective teachers. A former president of The Children's Literature Association, she has received the State of Michigan Award for Outstanding Teaching and Publication. She is coauthor of This Land Is Our Land: A Guide to Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults (Greenwood, 1994) and Dictionary of American Children's Fiction, 1990-1994 (Greenwood, 1996), plus a number of other critical reference books. She has published more than 100 articles in professional journals and reference books.
AGNES REGAN PERKINS is Professor Emeritus of English Language and Literature at Eastern Michigan University. She is coauthor of This Land Is Our Land: A Guide to Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults (Greenwood, 1994) and Dictionary of American Children's Fiction, 1990-1994 (Greenwood, 1996), plus a number of other critical reference books and poetry anthologies. She has published many articles in professional journals and reference books.