Dr.Tamara Montgomery has fun when she goes to work at the University of Hawaii. What does she do there? She makes puppets-all kinds of puppets. She teaches her students how to make puppets, and how to put on plays with them. In summer Dr. Montgomery goes on adventures looking for ideas to share in books for children. She learned about TiQri, The Little Snow Fox, A Tale of the North Pacific, when she visited the Arctic Circle. In Indonesia and at the Honolulu Zoo she found inspiration for Kraken-ka, the Komodo Dragon, A Tale of Indonesia, and she first thought about telling the story of Cassowary and his colorful poop in Australia.
Professor Joseph Dodd draws, builds models, reads, makes a mess, causes trouble and explores just like he did as a kid. He does this with his students at the University of Hawaii while they learn to build sets and props for plays. Some things are different from when he was a kid. Instead of reading and drawing comics, Professor Dodd reads plays, and draws books. When the Cassowary Pooped is his third book drawn for Tammy and Jodi. He likes playing with them, because they usually let him get his way, which he also did as a kid. . . well, most of the time.
Jodi Parry Belknap edits, designs and sometimes writes books about her many adventures in the Pacific with her partner and best friend Buzz at their studio in the green hills above Honolulu, Hawaii. They are assisted by Buzz's perfect dog Poppy, who takes them on regular walks, especially at the end of the day when he hears the thwunk sound that means the computers have shut down.
