Julia Donaldson (Children's Laureate 2011-2013) is a household name. Her wonderful stories are part of every contemporary family's life, through her bestselling books and brilliant live shows. She writes award-winning fiction, poetry, plays and songs as well as the picture books for which she is best known, including ROOM ON THE BROOM, WHAT THE LADYBIRD HEARD, THE PAPER DOLLS - and THE GRUFFALO. Julia and her husband Malcolm divide their time between Edinburgh and West Sussex. Axel Scheffler is a star illustrator in the children's book world, and has created many wonderful books for Macmillan. He has enjoyed particular acclaim for his work with Julia Donaldson, but is also the creator of fantastic novelty books such as THE TICKLE BOOK (978-1-4050-5363-1), as well as MOTHER GOOSE'S NURSERY RHYMES (978-0-333-96136-0), a treasury of nursery rhymes and original stories.