Judith Byron Schachner was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on August 20, 1951. Talented at art from a young age, she graduated in 1973 from the Massachusetts College of Art with a BFA in illustration. After designing greeting cards for companies including Hallmark and giving birth to two daughters, Schachner wrote and illustrated her first picture book, Willy and May, in 1995. She writes and illustrates the popular Skippyjon Jones series for children about a dynamic Siamese kitten.