Author J Bean Palmer calls upon her family's history in New England including a Revolutionary "Green Mountain Boy," Cape Cod cranberry farmers and artists, and an oft-told family legend that as her grandmother's ancestors stepped off the Mayflower, her grandfather's relatives were there to greet them. With a degree (summa cum laude) in Environmental Science, the author's ElsBeth stories reflect a passion and respect for the natural world and its magical kinship.
Co-author Chris Palmer makes some use of his education in philosophy and experience as a short-order cook on the Cape, a Boston cab driver and Internet services sales executive in California in contributing the poems that are sung or spoken by characters in the stories. He is a 14th generation Cape Codder and a published poet.
Both are members of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. J Bean is also a member of the National League of American Pen Women and a former board member of the Cape Cod Writers Center. They currently live in a converted barn on the banks of a western Maine river.