Oscar and Tilly are great friends. But at the playground, they just can't seem to manage to play nicely together. First Tilly won't let Oscar have a turn on the slide or the jungle gym, and then Oscar won't let Tilly have a turn on the swing. But when they each want to play on the seesaw, they learn how much fun it is to play together.
I wanted to be a professional soccer player for a long time, but I didn't make it. I liked school too, though, and my favourite subject was biology - so I became a biologist. I had a job at Stanford University, where I worked in a lab, wore a lab coat, and made new antibiotics. I was heading towards being a Professor, but I changed my mind and became a writer instead.
I write picture books for younger children, and a soccer series ('The Team') for older children. The Team has got great football players AND a Professor in it.
I grew up in England where I still live with my family, by the sea in Norfolk.
My favourite books:
A Ladybird book of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' started me off. I used to copy out the story, one painful letter at a time. I would underline in felt pen the words in the book I had copied.
When I was older I was hooked on 'The Famous Five' stories, but I also liked Annuals like 'Whizzer and Chips' and 'Monster Fun', and I had some great graphic novels about Dracula. At school we read 'Stig of the Dump', 'The Hobbit', 'Moonfleet', and 'To Kill a Mockingbird', all of which I still enjoy and admire. These books made me love stories and reading - and I was speechless when, not so long ago, I met the author of Stig!
