MATT JAMES has won many fancy awards for his picture books such as the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, the New Mexico Book Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature. The books he has written include Tadpoles, Nice Try, Charlie! and his author-illustrator debut The Funeral, which was named a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book. He has also illustrated When the Moon Comes by Paul Harbridge and The Stone Thrower by Jael Ealey Richardson. As a child Matt spent many hours admiring his reflection in the toaster — now he lives in Toronto and is much taller.