Jeannie Baker

A collage artist, picture book author and film maker whose work often has a strong environmental focus.

Antonia Barber

The award-winning author of The Mousehole Cat, which was chosen as the British Book Awards Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year in 1991.

Mac Barnett

Mac Barnett is the author of several picture books, including Chloe and the Lion and Guess Again!, which TIME Magazine named the no. 2 Picture Book of 2010. He also writes the Brixton Brothers series of mysteries. Mac is the founder of the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, a convenience store for time travellers, and serves on the board of 826LA, a not-for-profit writing and tutoring centre in LA. Extra Yarn is the first book that he and Jon Klassen have worked on together and it won the 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in the Picture Book category. He lives in California, USA.

Alan Baron

Illustrator of What is a Wall After All?

Angela Barrett

One of the UK’s finest illustrators, Angela has won the Smarties Book Prize and the 1991 WH Smith Illustration Award.,Work is fantastic, says Angela Barrett, illustrator of THROUGH THE TEMPESTS DARK AND WILD: A STORY OF MARY SHELLEY, CREATOR OF FRANKENSTEIN. "If there's one thing I'd like readers to take away from this book, it's an awareness of the pleasure that work can bring, and the realization that women of Mary Shelley's time period were frowned on if they tried to pursue it." Certainly Angela Barrett, whose classic, elegant illustrations grace numerous children's books, finds great pleasure in her work as an artist. She says she especially enjoyed painting the "high dramatic parts" of Mary Shelley's story, such as the haunting image of Mary and friends sitting around a fire telling ghost tales (notice the eerie faces peering from dark folds in the curtains) and the final tableaux of scenes from FRANKENSTEIN. Known for her work's exquisite detail and symbolic imagery, Angela Barrett admits that some illustrations for THROUGH THE TEMPESTS DARK AND WILD proved "a bit of a chore"--painting every last book in a book-lined study, for example--but notes that her painstaking work is always "worth it in the end." Critics agree: Angela Barrett's "stunning watercolor illustrations," says SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, "glowing with soft color and period detail, . . . draw readers into a melancholy and emotional world." In THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, Angela Barrett brings her graceful style to the retelling of a true classic, placing it in a foppish Edwardian setting that perfectly complements the tale's enchanting wit. In this book, the artist's lifelong fascination with fashion design and dressmaking is clearly evident, as is her fondness for dogs. "Dogs are as much a fashion accessory of nobility as hats and shoes," she notes. "After all, it is dogs and children who always know what REALLY is going on." Angela Barrett approached her illustrations for ROCKING HORSE LAND AND OTHER CLASSIC TALES OF DOLLS AND TOYS with a fanciful outlook as well. "Like most children, when I was young I too believed that toys have a life of their own when we leave the room," she says. "It was wonderful to bring this belief to life in my illustrations." Angela Barrett's interests include dressmaking and stage design, but her main love is books--"the sight, the smell, and the feel of them as well as reading them." She lives in London, England.

Suzanne Barrett

Frances Barry

The creator of Duckie's Rainbow and other books about the lovable duck, as well as the novelty Fold Out and Find Out nature books.,About Me: From my childhood I remember - long hot summers, ice-cream vans, paddling pools, trips to France, making things, drawing, painting, reading, writing, the local library, poems, stories, songs, my Grandmother playing the piano, teatime, our cat Ginger, my Dad's ideas, my Mum's baking, my brother's pets, playing games, dressing up, Halloween, bonfires, fireworks, Christmas, making an igloo, making dens, climbing trees. My hobbies are looking, listening, laughing, learning, loving and lying in. I think that I have always been writing and making pictures, and I hope that I always will. About my work: I am a very messy painter, so when I work with paper I really enjoy that the colours will never spill, run or go muddy, that I can move things around on the page, that I can scratch my nose and not leave a mark, and mistakes can be trimmed. I like that paper gives everything, colour, texture, shape and form. I really enjoy the whole journey of making a book, exploring ideas, searching for possibilities, waiting for the unknown and the unexpected to arrive, being surprised, being excited by a new idea and having fun making it. I also really enjoy the surprise when someone tells me they like my books! Three things you didn't know about me: 1. Most people call me Frankie. Some people call me Frank. 2. I am a vegetarian. 3. I wish I could fly!

Dave Barry

Co-author of Peter and the Starcatchers, the bestselling prequel to Peter Pan.

Alison Bartlett

Illustrator of numerous books for children including Growing Frogs, T-Rex and The Tiger and the Jackal.