Biographical note

Barbara Taylor has won numerous awards including the American Association of Physics Science Writing Award and the Geographical Association Gold Award. Deborah Chancellor trained as a primary school teacher before becoming a children's author and editor. Belinda Weber is an author and editor who has written many children's books on natural history, science, history and geography. Dr Mike Goldsmith is Head of Acoustics at the UK's National Physical Laboratory. An author of over 20 non-fiction books for children, he was shortlisted for the Aventis Prize for Science, Junior Section, in 2002 and 2004. Jinny Johnson has written and edited dozens of non-fiction titles for young children on subjects as diverse as birds, creepy-crawlies, endangered animals, the seasons and skeletons.