Alison Miles is a self-confessed lover of the seaside, of poetry and of art and the combination of these passions led her to create the Snippy The Crab Adventure Series of rhyming picture books. She loved the sounds of words as a child and the inner dynamism of their rhythms, whether she understood them or not. She was brought up in Devon and on the Gower Peninsular in Wales where she loved to spend time exploring the many beautiful beaches and their rock pools. Her professional life has been as a music educator and violinist working with children of all ages. As a child, she loved the poems of Hillaire Belloc, Spike Milligan and Edward Lear and her teaching has reinforced her belief that both rhythm and sound engage our senses in a fundamental way. She learned to draw as an adult and the illustrations are richly coloured to add extra appeal to young eyes and minds. Her preferred picture books growing up were 'Patrick' by Quentin Blake and 'Madeline' by Ludwig Bemelmans. Other inspirations for her illustrations are those paintings which tell a story such as Alfred Elmore's 'On The Brink' and 'The Last of England' by Ford Maddox Brown. Alison feels privileged to be engaged in one-to-one work with children of all ages and is constantly amazed by their eclectic, free-roaming, inquisitive and fantastical minds - qualities which should be championed and encouraged. Education, she feels, should be broad, inspiring and above all creative, since the creative arts are a cogent unifying force through which all people can express themselves and find resonance and solace. She hopes the Snippy The Crab series of books will contribute in some small way to that wonderful adventure which is common to us all - childhood.
