Ben Lerwill studied French at university but never tells French people this. He's been working as a freelance travel writer for more than a decade, which means his house is cluttered with atlases, guidebooks and ill-fitting socks he had to buy from a Serbian market after forgetting to pack any of his own. Again. His writing has appeared in more than 50 national and international publications, from The Sunday Times to National Geographic Traveller.

Ben's passions include the outdoors, music, wildlife, running and reading. He is thrilled that, through children's books, he can share his enthusiasm about the wider world with young readers. He's at his happiest when he's on a long walk and his children haven't yet pinched all the snacks.

Harriet Hobday is a graduate of the MA Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. She was highly commended in the Macmillan prize 2015.