So it was we lost our lands to the strangers from the sky. We gave our souls to their gods. We took their speech into our mouths, forgetting our own. Our sons and daughters became their sons and daughters, no longer true humans, no longer ours.
That is why I, an old man now, dream no more dreams. That is why I sit here wrapped in a stranger’s cloak, counting the stranger’s bells on a string, telling my story. May it be a warning to all the children and all the people in every land.
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen (1939– ) has always loved writing. When she was a teenager, she started a newspaper for her neighbors. She interviewed them and wrote articles about them. As an adult, Yolen has written almost 300 books. Because she likes to study birds, Yolen often includes them in her stories, such as the dream birds in Encounter.
David Shannon
David Shannon (1959– ) grew up wanting to be an artist. After graduating from college, he illustrated his first picture book. Shannon says: “I was amazed at the quality and variety of children’s stories, and more and more I found myself drawing things I drew as a boy—baseball players, pirates and knights. I realized that children’s books were what I had been working toward my whole life.”