About the Author

I live on the top of a windy hill in Derbyshire with my guitar-playing husband, two cheeky daughters, one extremely fluffy black cat, a goldfish, four hens and an little black labrador called Roo.

Before becoming a full time writer, I was the web editor for a leading education consultancy, and have also worked as an outdoor education manager, conservation officer, medical secretary, bar maid and toilet cleaner. I was once sacked from a job on a telephone assembly line for playing Mrs Brown's Shopping Basket while I worked.

When I am not thinking up rhymes or creating characters, I run creative workshops in schools. I have also set up numerous community projects including Well-Dressing, African drumming workshops, kids' concert, and school grounds development projects.

I was born in a tiny terraced house with no bathroom and a big crack in the wall that you could see out of. We had a tin bath hanging outside on the wall, which was used by all the local kids after they had finished playing on the coal heap. When my family left Barnsley, they sold the house for £100 and bought a cooker!

When I was growing up, I used to get up at 6.00 a.m. to do my violin practice before school. I still can't understand why my brother was always so grumpy in the mornings. My musical background has been a major influence on my writing and is probably the reason that so many of my stories are in rhyming verse.

As well as writing, I love walking in the hills, swimming, snuggling, baking, weeding, running, sleeping, chatting, watching talking cats on YouTube, sitting in cafes, and playing Top Cat on the piano. I hate getting up in the morning, brushing my children's knotty hair and being cold.

My favourite places are the local library because it's warm and full of books, and the Hide-and-Seek Field, because you can lie down in the long grass and nobody can see you.

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