Australian writer, Paul Jennings was born in England in 1943. He emigrated to Australia when he was six years old and grew up in Victoria. He attended Frankston Teachers College and became a teacher. He then attended Lincoln Institute and became a speech pathologist. In 1989, he decided to become a full-time writer. His first title Unreal!, winner of a Young Australians' Best Book Award (YABBA), was published in 1985. Since then, he has published novels and short story collections. His other numerous awards include the Kids Reading Oz Choice Award, the Books I Like Best Yearly Award, the Angus and Robertson Bookworld Award and a COOL Award for his title The Paw Thing. He also received the… Golden Puffin Award in 1992 for selling 1 million books in Australia. In addition to writing, Jennings visits school and lectures at conferences and seminars on encouraging children to read.
Gerald Rose was born in Hong Kong. When the Second World War started, his father became a prisoner of war, and Gerald and his mother were interned in a civilian camp, which was where he saw his first live tiger. Frustrated by the dearth of good illustrated books for children, his wife, Elizabeth, helped him to write and illustrate a number of books. Gerald won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1960 for Old Winkle and the Seagullsand won the Premio Critici in 1979 in Erba, Italy for'Ahhh!' Said Stork. Gerald now lives in Hove, East Sussex.