Mark Parisi is the award-winning cartoonist of the long-running newspaper comic panel Off the Mark. Parisi has won Best Newspaper Panel Comic from the National Cartoonists Society four times and Best Greeting Cards once. More recently Parisi authored and illustrated the HarperCollins middle grade book series Marty Pants. Mark lives on the east coast of Massachusetts and is currently covered in cat hair.

"Charlotte 'Charli' Wilson thought Alex Andropov would always be her best BFF in the whole wide world. From crushes to butterfly phobias to secret hidden blankies, there's never been a secret they couldn't share. Charli even showed Alex the supersecret hiding spot for her diary. But when school starts and Charli learns that Alex has betrayed her by sharing her biggest, most secretest secret, she realizes that maybe her bestie isn't so great after all"--