Henri Matisse

Jane O’Connor is a former primary school teacher turned academic and writer. She was born and brought up in Surrey and lived in London until she moved to the West Midlands in her mid-thirties. Jane’s PhD was about child stars and she is now a Reader at Birmingham City University where she researches children’s experiences of celebrity, media and everyday life. Jane lives in Sutton Coldfield with her husband and two young sons in a house full of pirates, dinosaurs, superheroes and lots of books. She really likes all animals, especially hedgehogs. Needlemouse is her debut novel.

Jessie Hartland has written and/ or illustrated numerous acclaimed books for children, including Steve Jobs: Insanely Great!, which was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year; Bon Appetit: The Delicious Life of Julia Child. which the New York Times called "exuberant"; and Our Flag Was Still There, a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year. She is also the illustrator of Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood by Tony Hillery; Ready, Set, Run by Leslie Kimmelman; and Lexie the Word Wrangler by Rebecca Van Slyke, all of which received starred reviews. Her illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, Travel and Leisure Family, Martha Stewart Kids, and Bon Appetit, and her paintings have been exhibited in Venice, Tokyo, and New York City.