Wil Huygen was born in Amersfoort, Holland, in 1923, the seventh of ten children. A physician, children’s author, and oil painter, he lived in Holland with his wife until his death in 2009 at 86 years old. Huygen has five grown children of his own. Rien Poortvliet, born in 1932, was a Dutch artist and illustrator best known for his drawings of animals.