Jose Aruego was a lawyer before becoming a children’s book illustrator. . A native of the Philippines, he moved to New York City in 1956 to study at Parsons School of Design. His cartoons were published in the New Yorker and the Saturday Evening Post, and his illustrations can be seen in Five Little Ducks by Raffi, as well as in the 82 children's books he wrote himself. He died in 2012.