Ferma Perullo-Kipnes was an Early Childhood Education major with a degree from the University of Massachusetss. She has taught for over twenty years in both suburban and urban settings. She has taught in child care, kindergarten, and grades one to fi ve and presently is a reading specialist in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a multi-cultural city just outside of Boston. She raised her daughter as a single parent and deeply values family relationships.

Barry D. Kipnes was a political Science Major at the University of Iowa. He holds a Master's Degree in Elementary Education. He has taught for thirty-one years in North Reading (MA) school system. His first eight years were spent as an elementary sc hool classroom teacher (grades for and five) and he has taught elementary school physical eduaction for twenty-three years. Except for one year on the collegiate level, he has coached boys high school basketball since 1967. He recently completed his fift eenth season as director of a summer basketball camp for boys entering grades five through ten. His background involves working with youngsters from grade one through senior year in high school. It is his experiences, observations and discussions with s tudents of all ages, parents, administrators, drug educators and school counselors that qualify Barry Kipnes to write such a booklet.

Barry Kipnes has written two other books. "Running a Summer Sports Day Camp" and "Skills and Drills: The Fundamentals of Basketballand Much More" have been published by Championship Books and Video Productions of Ames, Iowa.