Martin Waddell is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest living writers of books for children. He has won many awards for his work, including the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2004. He lives in Northern Ireland. Barbara Firth is a Kate Greenaway Medal-winning illustrator and has worked on numerous picture books by Martin Waddell including the 1989 Kurt Maschler Award-winning The Park in the Dark. She lives in West Yorkshire.