Peta is an author/illustrator of (often rhyming) picture books, who grew up on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, so long ago she can remember dancing to the Bay City Rollers, Saturday mornings watching Multi-coloured Swap Shop and buying crisps from the school tuck shop for 21/2p. As a child she loved words and was always reading. She loved painting and drawing too, but she had no idea what she wanted to do when she grew up. She studied English at York University and then worked in London as a business journalist and editor for 14 years. In her spare time she went to art classes and even studied fine art at St Martins, but she still had no idea what she wanted to do when she grew up. She had a go at running a small hotel with her husband in wild and windy (but beautiful) Exmoor and it went quite well, but after a few years they needed a sit down. So they sold up and moved back to the Isle of Wight. It was here that Peta, now balancing the roles of freelance writer and mum, decided to write and illustrate her first book for children. It was a revelation to her: a way of combining picture making (colouring in) with her love of words (silly stories) - not to mention an outlet for her awful jokes. It may have taken more than four decades, but finally, Peta knows what she wants to do when she grows up. Since her epiphany, Peta has published six picture books: Hairy Fairy; Isabella, Rotten Speller; Isabella's Adventures in Numberland; Jamie and the Joke Factory; The Niggle; and Jacob Starke Loves The Dark.
