When Niki LeClair was 7 years old, she wrote a song about wanting a horse, and at 10 she wrote a poem abut her beautiful basset hound, Beulah. Half a century later, a best friend (and the amazing illustrator of critterstory), listened to the Beulah poem and suggested collaborating on a children's book. Though she had never before considered herself a poet, Niki agreed. Critters are the most important part of her life, and she wrote critterstory in part to remind young and old how essential critters are on this planet and in our lives.

One of Janet Murphy's fondest memories was watching her mother take a chair from the dining room table, turn it upside down, and use it as an easel for her oil paintings - just one example of several inspirational moments that got her hooked on art. These inspirations led her to a professional art career; absorbing all she could from graphic design, typography, hand lettering, and illustration. Each watercolor illustration in critterstory is meant to portray the personality and wonder that we all love about critters.