Zita Newcome

As a child

Zita Newcome grew up in all sorts of strange places (as her father was in the navy) - from Malta to Wiltshire. She is more than a little confused. Zita comes from a large eccentric family with a passion for art and books. Her great grandmother Nellie was so keen on reading that she didn't allow the birth of any of her 12 children to interrupt the book she was reading at the time. As a child, Zita's favourite thing was to lie on a sofa, reading and eating chocolate. This dismayed her parents who would have preferred her to do something more healthy and were constantly urging her to "go and run around the garden." She loved books about drawing and cartoons and would copy lots of different artists to try to learn how to draw. Her favourites were Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, J. M.W. Turner, Ronald Searle, Dr Seuss, Dulac and Pont. Zita learnt a good secret - that the more you copy and the.more you draw, the better you get. The better you get, the more you can draw from your imagination or anything you see around you.

As an adult

Zita did a degree in fine art, specialising in painting. She had a variety of jobs to support her whilst she carried on drawing from being a security guard at Harrods to working in art shop. Although she managed to produce three books, real releases to work came when she had children and could nab time while they were sleeping, to paint. "I've always loved children's books and read them to my younger brother and sister and then my own children with the greatest of pleasure. As an illustrator and writer, it was fascinating to see what the children really enjoyed and how much they wanted to hear stories repeated. Also you could see where there were gaps - there's no book about movement and action for example. So you could do something totally new. My next ambition is to get the music to the toddlerobic books and action rhyme books produced with the books. We have already recorded them, they are just ready and waiting!"

As an artist

Zita's books have sold over half a million copies and have been translated into Dutch, Swedish, French, Gaelic, German and Chinese. She is especially pleased that her books are popular in America as her whole families were brought up on American writers and illustrators like Dr Seuss and Maurice Sendak. Zita wrote and illustrated her first books when she was thirteen and fifteen but didn't get published until she was twenty-four and had been through art college. She started getting her work printed with greeting cards, invitations, wrapping paper, calendars etc. Her favourite creatures to illustrate were hippos and her husband Robert obligingly wrote a series of stories about them which led to them being published. Stories about a little girl called Rosie who lived on a farm followed. Then various other books, getting more and more active until Toddlerobics came along - a series of books that Zita wanted babies and toddlers to be able to read and then try out the actions. These have been such a success that all her subsequent books have been about actions and action rhymes. These noisy books have led her to be asked to lots of book festivals and libraries and schools to perform them with children.

Things you didn't know about Zita Newcome

1. Zita is extremely ticklish, especially on her feet.
2. The only thing that really scared her as a child was a book called Strewel Peter. It had stories about what happened to naughty children. They would be dipped in ink, have their thumbs cut off or die for their punishment.
3. She is the fourth of six children.
4. Her favourite programme on TV is The Simpsons.
5. She dreams of being able to dive into the river of chocolate in Willie Wonka's chocolate factory.
6. She can sing, play the guitar, stand on one leg and hop up and down all at the same time. This mesmorises small children for whom she runs a music club with a friend.
7. The best things she has ever produced are her two children, Henry and Claudia.
8. The thing she loves best is getting together with friends or family to have masses of food and drink and tell funny stories.