Max's little sister, Sadie, is cute, cuddly - and a real nuisance! Smash! There goes his snow den. Splash! That's the end of his nice quiet swim. Max wishes she'd just go somewhere else, so that things can go back to the way they used to be - just him and Mum. But when he and Sadie are caught in a snowstorm, Max proves what a brilliant big brother he can be.
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!
