Wendy Watson is the author and illustrator of Hurray for the Fourth of July. She was raised with seven brothers and sisters on a farm in Vermont, where she received her early education and art training from her mother and father. She studied painting in Truro, Massachusetts and at the National Academy of Design in New York City. She is the author-illustrator of more than a dozen children's books, including Thanksgiving at Our House, A Valentine for You, and the Clarion edition of Clement C. Moore's The Night Before Christmas. She lives with her family in Vermont.