Jill Tomlinson never intended to be a writer. She trained as an opera singer, and then decided to have a family whilst her voice matured. But illness intervened, and she had to find another outlet for her energies. She started on a journalism course, and by the third lesson decided she wanted to write for children.

So she did! Jill suffered from multiple sclerosis, but she loved to read her stories to the children of friends and often, in her wheelchair, to classes in local schools. She said that stories about young animals could go straight to the emotional needs of young children, bypassing all barriers of class or colour.

Jill Tomlinson died, suddenly and unexpectedly, in hospital where she had gone for respite care whilst her husband was away from home. She was 45. But anyone who has read her books knows what she was like - bubbly and caring and irrepressible.

Paul Howard studied graphic design in Leicester, graduating in 1989 with first class honours. For a time he worked in London's Natural History Museum. He lives in Ireland. He won the Blue Peter Children's Book Award 2001.