Beth Shoshan was born in Brighton. She never seemed destined to be 
a children's writer, after all she 
had failed English Composition.
 But everything changed when she
 was challenged by Meadowside 
to write the most inappropriate
 children's book imaginable - it
 should contain sweets, explosions 
and arcane English words. She 
did, and Smidge became an instant 
best-seller. Now with over 30 titles 
to her name, Beth has become one
 of the most successful children's
 authors of the past few years.
Illustrator Petra Brown (pictured) was born in Luton in 1965 and moved to Snowdonia, Wales in 1975.
She did a one-year art foundation course at Bangor and then spent the whole of 1985 designing, making and selling furry glove and finger puppets. From 1987 onwards she worked part-time as a shop assistant for a period of fifteen years, whilst designing cards for various Greetings Card Manufacturers.
She spent twenty years approaching book publishers with portfolios of work until she was accepted by Meadowside in 2005 to illustrate 'If Big Can...I can', which was shortlisted for The Book Trust Early Years Awards for Best Emerging Illustrator. Petra went on to illustrate many beautiful picture books including ‘Marguerite’s Fountain’ and ‘If You Can…We can!’, the sequel to ‘If Big Can, I Can’. Petra works in colour pencil, watercolour and gouache. Whilst Petra claims that illustrating for children is far harder work than she’d ever imagined, she also says that it is immensely satisfying and such fun!
