Michael Morpurgo is one of Britain's best-loved children's book writers. He has written more than one hundred books and has won the Smarties Book Prize, the Whitbread Award, and the Blue Peter Book Award for Private Peaceful. Michael was writer-in-residence at the Savoy Hotel from January to April 2007, and previously he was Great Britain's Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005, a role that took him across the country to inspire a love of reading in children.Michael Foreman grew up in a small English fishing village and has loved the sea ever since. He has illustrated more than one hundred children's books, and he has won the Kate Greenaway Medal, the Smarties Book Prize, and the Federation… of Children's Book Groups' Red House Children's Book Award. He has collaborated with Michael Morpurgo on several successful books, including The Amazing Story Of Adolphus Tips and Billy the Kid.T. M. Shine is an award-winning journalist and author based in southern Florida. A regular contributor to the "Washington Post Magazine", his writing has also appeared in numerous other publications, including "The Week", "LA Weekly", and "New Times".