Biographical note

Dodie Smith was born in 1896. While working as a shop assistant in London, she wrote five very successful plays and also started writing screenplays for Hollywood. She moved to America with her husband during the war and they didn't return to England until 1953 because she was reluctant to quarantine her beloved Dalmatians! In 1943, her Dalmatians had 15 puppies, like Pongo and Missis in The Hundred and One Dalmatians, which was written in 1956 and then made into a hugely successful Disney film. Her first novel, I Capture the Castle, is much loved and has also recently been made into a film. She also wrote four volumes of autobiography. Dodie Smith died in 1990, aged 94. David Roberts is an illustrator with many books to his name. For Egmont, he has illustrated the St Clare's series by Enid Blyton and several Bananas, including the two Samantha Cardigan books and My Brother Bernadette, by Jacqueline Wilson. He has been short-listed for the Mother Goose award and won the gold award from the Norfolk Libraries and the Nottingham Libraries Groups. David was also a finalist in the 2004 London Transport Illustration Award. He lives in London.