Jane Yolen is one of the most prolific contemporary writers of children's stories. Since 1963, she has written well over sixty books, including poetry collections, realistic stories, animal tales, ABC books, and fantasies. Her special talents, however, lie in the writing of literary folktales, noted for their beauty of language and imagery and their abstract, philosophic mode. These tales tend to appeal to older children; Yolen has commented that her stories "are better known to more sophisticated and romantically-inclined young people and college students."

Born in New York City on 11 February 1939, Yolen grew up in an atmosphere conducive to her becoming a writer, for, in her family, reading and writing were always considered valuable. An interest in stories and story telling seems to have been traditional, for Yolen's paternal great-grandfather was a Reb, a storyteller, in his village in Fino-Russia. Her father, Will Hyatt Yolen, besides being a champion...