MARIKO TAMAKI is a Canadian writer of comics and prose. She is the co-creator with Jillian Tamaki of Skim and of Caldecott and Printz Honor book This One Summer. Mariko also writes about superheroes for Marvel and DC Comics. She lives in Oakland, California.

JILLIAN TAMAKI is a cartoonist and illustrator from Calgary, Alberta, who now lives in Toronto, Ontario. Her first picture book, They Say Blue, won the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, among many other accolades. She co-created the highly acclaimed graphic novels Skim and This One Summer with Mariko Tamaki, and she is the creator of the webcomic SuperMutant Magic Academy, and Boundless, a collection of short comics for adults. She has won many awards for her work, including a Caldecott Honor, a Printz Honor, the Eisner Award, the Doug Wright Award and the Ignatz Award. Her work has also been named to the list of New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books.

[T]he illustrations powerfully evoke the densely wooded beach town setting and the emotional freight carried by characters at critical moments . . . Fine characterization and sensitive prose distinguish the story. - Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

With a light touch, the Tamakis capture the struggle of growing up in a patchwork of summer moments . . . Wistful, touching, and perfectly bittersweet. - Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

Jillian and Mariko Tamaki . . . skillfully portray the emotional ups and downs of a girl on the cusp of adolescence in this eloquent graphic novel. . . . Keenly observed and gorgeously illustrated—a triumph. - Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

This captivating graphic novel presents a fully realized picture of a particular time in a young girl’s life, an in-between summer filled with yearning and a sense of ephemerality. - School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

Together, the Tamakis have created a quiet masterpiece. . . . Contrary to its title, This One Summer is timeless. - Quill & Quire, STARRED REVIEW

Mariko’s strengths as a writer lie in her subtlety and her ability to convey whole worlds of feeling within a few lines of dialogue. . . . Jillian’s full page illustrations are engrossing. - National Post

Even as the book grows darker, the fighting gets uglier and the inevitable loss of innocence draws closer, a sense of hope remains, and your empathy with the characters never falters. It’s difficult subject matter handled with grace. - NOW Magazine

A relentlessly unsentimental vision, built around the dawning recognition that there can be no escaping, that everything counts in large amounts. - Los Angeles Times

At its heart, This One Summer is a coming-of-age story about an observer. . . . Rose proves herself to be as quietly powerful as this moving, evocative book. - New York Times

The book is poignant and melancholy, and it will be swiftly recognizable to those who only recently hovered at the cusp of adolescence. - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, STARRED REVIEW

The tweens’ frank and often humorous conversations and their jubilant fun together provide a counterpoint to the turmoil around them. - VOYA