James Maclaine has written books about meerkats, general knowledge and manners, come up with countless drawing, doodling and colouring ideas, and devised puzzles and things to do for a range of activity books. His Junior Illustrated Thesaurus is the book that he wishes he'd had as a child.

Sarah grew up in London, then studied German and Fine Art in Oxford and Hamburg.

She joined Usborne after working at Profile Books and Thames & Hudson, and now spends her time writing about art, investigating germs and devising ways to stave off boredom - all the important things, basically,

Lara has been learning how to grow a book since 2016, following a degree in English and Italian at Oxford and teaching jobs in Italy and Myanmar.

From explaining how economics works, to inventing boredom-busting activities, to telling a good dragon yarn, she's enjoyed every minute of the job.,