By day Rob is the award-winning art director of the Observer Magazine. By night he makes up silly stories for his three daughters, and draws pictures to go with them.He lives and works in London, and his first book was the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize-winning Blown Away, starring Penguin Blue. You can visit Rob, Fred and Penguin Blue at www.robbiddulph.com.

David O’Connell is a writer and illustrator living in London, UK. His favourite things to draw are monsters, naughty children (another type of monster), batty old ladies and evil cats! Francesca Gambatesa is an Italian illustrator and animator based in London. She is currently enjoying the English favourites of Pimms and bunting, and illustrating her very first picture book!

Michelle Robinson grew up in Gloucestershire. She worked as a copywriter for radio and TV adverts before becoming a full-time children’s author. She lives in Frome, Somerset. Emily Fox gained a first class degree in Illustration and was awarded 'Highly Commended' in the Macmillan Children's Book competition in 2012. Elephant's Pyjamas is her first picture book.

Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad in 1963. As a child she emigrated to Queens, New York, and attended colleges in Long Island. Then she moved to England and attended Essex University, before returning to America. She lives in New York with her husband and children.

Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and thinker of happy thoughts. With a cacophony of quirky characters tumbling tirelessly from her imagination, she is one of the South West’s most prolific talents. Creating a growing portfolio of beautifully imagined children’s stories, an award-winning card and gift empire and a smorgasbord of delicate etchings, silk-screens and hand-printed poems, Rachel brings her own unique sunshine to the very young and the slightly older alike

Emma studied art at the Royal College of Art. She has worked as a freelancer for magazines, publishers and advertising agencies as well as teaching art for several years, but now dedicates most of her time to children’s books.

Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and thinker of happy thoughts. With a cacophony of quirky characters tumbling tirelessly from her imagination, she is one of the South West’s most prolific talents. Creating a growing portfolio of beautifully imagined children’s stories, an award-winning card and gift empire and a smorgasbord of delicate etchings, silk-screens and hand-printed poems, Rachel brings her own unique sunshine to the very young and the slightly older alike.

Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and thinker of happy thoughts, with a cacophony of quirky characters tumbling from her imagination. Creating a growing portfolio of children’s stories, an award-winning card and gift empire and a smorgasbord of delicate etchings, silk-screens and hand-printed poems, Rachel brings her own unique sunshine to the very young and the slightly older alike.

David Mackintosh was born in Belfast and grew up in Australia. He is a graphic designer, art director and illustrator. His innovative book designs have won him numerous awards in Britain and internationally, and has collaborated with some of the most celecrated names in children’s publishing. David lives in London, draws a lot, has a bicycle and built a plastic model of a lunar module while creating this book.

By day Rob is the award-winning art director of the Observer Magazine. By night he makes up silly stories for his three daughters, and draws pictures to go with them.He lives and works in London, and his first book was the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize-winning Blown Away, starring Penguin Blue. You can visit Rob, Fred and Penguin Blue at www.robbiddulph.com.

Paddling Pool (Bing)

Some guides to a subject could more or less be written by any expert in that field, but a small minority are unique creations of a rare individual who has their own view. Unfortunately most of the latter types of guides fail to be good general guides. Verity's genius makes him the exception. This book is arranged in chronological chapters that trace the evolution of poetry as an art form. At the same time, each chapter gives a most practical explanation of how that aspect of poetry that it covers works and why. The book is immensely readable, hugely informative, and adds to the ability of the reader to enjoy and to create poetry. It is a classic.' "Epictetus" (Amazon review) 'The great merit of Verity's approach is that he quotes lavishly throughout, not only from the poems themselves, but also from a variety of critics' LIBRARY REVIEWS 'Of his first book of sonnets Kingsley Amis wrote ‘They belong within the corpus of English poetry’ Excerpts of Interview with Kenneth Verity on The Vanessa Phelps BBC Radio programme on June 2009 on the News Page (off the Home page) 'The amount of reading which underpins this book is breathtaking. The great merit of Verity's approach is that he quotes lavishly throughout, not only from the poems themselves, but also from a variety of critics ... The chapter on poetry's figurative element is a model of lucid definition and telling illustration, showing how many layers of meaning may lie behind a single word' LIBRARY REVIEWS The author writes:'The intention of this book is to examine and analyse the essential nature of the phenomenon we call poetry; to seek an understanding of the power this art form exerts over mind and heart; to comprehend its potency; and to explain its perennial ability to command the respect of mankind'. Almost a library in one volume, this unusual book, written by an accomplished poet, examines the 4000 years old phenomenon of poetry. Combining history, literature and philosophy, it explains the underlying power of this art form and how its effect is exerted over human hearts and understanding. Since the Greeks at least, poetry has been accorded pre-eminence in the arts. Poetry’s aesthetic supremacy and inhering mystery has made it the foremost form of expression when human beings need to say something important in a special way. Poetry has been defined as the best words in the best order. In poetry, the author suggests, the eternal intersects the everyday – it has been said that poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement. He shows how poetry has provided a vehicle for inspiration and fresh ways of thinking and interpreting the perennial questions of the human race. The author makes clear that poetry ‘works’ because it acknowledges the universality of human psychology, and because it unites emotion with reason and tempers imagination with understanding. Over 200 poets from both East and West are quoted, and the work of 10 master poets is critically analysed and assessed. The major factors involved in translating poetry are discussed, particularly the difficulty of conveying the meaning without losing the spirit. The central features of inspiration and creativity are elucidated. The unbroken stream of poetry carries resonances of the growth and decay of civilisations, the vicissitudes of wars, the effects of migrations and trading, the influences of religious belief. The author considers, from his own experience, that poetry remains peerless in evaluating and articulating the riches of the human spirit.

Meet the Twirlywoos & Hello Chickedy, Hello Chick (Twirlywoos)

One Direction are: Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and, Niall Horan. Formed in The X Factor’s Bootcamp stage in 2010, they’ve since gone on to win over 140 awards, smash records in both the UK and the US and sell over 20 million records worldwide.

Little Mix are Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall. They began their X Factor journey as four individuals before being made into a group, then called ‘Rhythmix’. With Tulisa Contostavlos as their friend and mentor, Little Mix battled their way through to the final round and ultimately became the only group ever to win.

Judith Kerr was born in Berlin, but left Germany with her family in 1933 to escape the Nazis. They arrived in England in 1936, having spent the intervening years in Switzerland and France. She met her husband Nigel Kneale at the BBC and they had two children together; Judith wrote ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ for them, which has gone on to become a much-loved classic, in print for over forty years. She was awarded an OBE in 2012 for services to children’s literature and holocaust education, and celebrated her 90th birthday in 2013. She continues to write and illustrate children’s books at her home in London.

Daniel Howarth is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. He lives near Exeter, with his wife and family, and works from his garden studio. www.danielhowarth.com

Daniel Howarth is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. He lives near Exeter, with his wife and family, and works from his garden studio. www.danielhowarth.com

Daniel Howarth is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. He lives near Exeter, with his wife and family, and works from his garden studio. www.danielhowarth.com

The classic, single volume introductory Latin textbook, introduced in 1956 and still the bestselling and most highly regarded textbook of its kind. Wheelock's Latin, sixth edition, revised, has all the features that have made it the best selling single volume beginning Latin textbook, many of them revised and expanded: o 40 chapters with grammatical explanations and readings based on ancient Roman authors o Self tutorial exercises with an answer key for independent study o An extensive English Latin/ Latin English vocabulary section o A rich selection of original Latin readings unlike other textbooks which contain primarily made up Latin texts o Etymological aids Also includes maps of the Mediterranean, Italy and the Aegean area, as well as numerous photographs illustrating aspects of classical culture, mythology, and historical and literary figures presented in the chapter readings. o The leading self tutorial Latin program. Also great for college and accelerated high school courses. o Wheelock's Latin is the top selling Latin reference in the US. o Interest and enrolments in Latin have been steadily rising in the U.S. for the past 20 years. One half million people are currently enrolled in Latin classes, and at least 10,000 teachers, professors and graduate assistants are teaching the language in America.

David Mackintosh draws a lot when he’s on his own. In fact, all the pictures in this book were done that way, except once when a boll weevil walked across his desk as if it owned the place. As a student he lived in a house with the bathtub in the backyard, and on summer nights slept with the windows open, listening to mosquitos on the ceiling.