Cirrus@Austlit

Chris Riddell draws everywhere -- on a plane, in the garden, at the zoo, at a concert, and of course in the shed at the bottom of his garden in Brighton, England, where he lives with his wife, illustrator Jo Borroughes (daughter Katie is also an illustrator). He has spent the last thirty years writing and illustrating children's books - numbering more than 100, beginning with a picture book about a friendly blue monster, Mr Underbed [1986]. For almost as long, he has been a political cartoonist, first for The Economist, then, and still, The Observer. (Introduction)

Many will welcome the arrival of a new R.A. Spratt novel with a small frisson of expectant excitement, but the publication of the first book in a new series by R.A. Spratt will no doubt pique the average reader's curiosity: Will the new series have cleverly self-contained, but determined characters like the schoolgirl detective, Friday Barnes? Will it include as much anarchic chaos as that created by the delightfully deluded, hyper-confident Nanny Piggins? (Introduction)