This book was published 1996 by Scholastic US .

Angela Johnson was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, but raised in Windham, Ohio; the only girl in a family of five. She now lives in Northeastern Ohio in a hundred year old house full of plants. When not writing she travels. On one of her trips to the California desert the inspiration for her first novel, Toning the Sweep came about. David Soman and Jacky Davis are a husband-and-wife creative team. They write the Ladybug Girl books together and Mr. Soman illustrates. The books are inspired by their own children and family experiences.