Betsy Hearne is the author of several acclaimed books for teens and for young readers, including The Canine Connection: Stories about Dogs and People; Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs; and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book Seven Brave Women. She is a noted children's book reviewer and scholar who teaches folklore and storytelling at the University of Illinois. Betsy Hearne lives in Urbana, Illinois, but has spent every summer for more than twenty years in the village of Kilcrohane, County Cork, Ireland. These stories are partly drawn from that experience and partly made up out of very thin air.