WILLIAM JASPERSOHN has written more than 20 children's books, including How the Forest Grew (a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner) and The Ballpark (a New York Times Best Book and American Book Award nominee). In 2000, Yankee magazine named his Family Heritage Series book, The Two Brothers, a Top 40 Classic New England Children's Book. Jaspersohn lives in Johnson, Vermont. VERNON THRONBLAD, a painter and illustrator, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. As a toy designer, he created Bendos(TM), an award-winning line of bend able, posable action figures. The Scrimshaw Ring is his first illustrated book for children. Thornblad lives in Bennington, New Hampshire, with his wife and daughter.