Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and became the most popular novelist of the Victorian era.

A prolific writer, he published more than a dozen novels in his lifetime, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Hard Times, most of which have been adapted many times over for radio, stage and screen.

Alan Marks began his career illustrating for magazines and newspapers. His first children's book Storm, written by Kevin Crossley Holland, won the Carnegie Medal. Alan now illustrates a wide variety of subjects, from nursery rhymes to war poetry. He is the illustrator of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book A Mother’s Journey, Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle, Planet Zoo, The Spirit of the Forest, and more. Alan lives in an old house in the Kent countryside with his wife and two daughters.