Toppsta - Childrens Books – Reviews

Dugald Steer (Author)
Dugald Steer was born in 1965 and grew up in Surrey, where his love of books and reading led him to study English Literature and Philosophy at Bristol. Several jobs later Dugald began working at Templar Publishing, where he worked his way up to Senior Editor, writing and editing many books in house. He has written more than 100 books for Templar and, after going freelance to concentrate on writing, he authored the first seven books in their hugely successful 'Ology series. Dugald lives near Barcelona in Spain with his wife Ana and his two children.

Nick Harris (Illustrator)
Nick has been working as a full-time, freelance children's book illustrator since leaving Harrow Illustration course in 1982. After 20 years spent doing traditional media watercolour and ink for such projects as Wind in the Willows, Firework-Maker's Daughter and Dragon Quest, Nick moved to digital artwork production around the year 2000 as industry demands changed. More recently he has produced artwork for some of the popular 'Ology' series by Templar publishing, and puzzle books like Where's the Knight (Sterling). He lives with his wife and two mad beagles In Gloucester, UK.

Helen Ward (Illustrator)
Helen Ward trained as an illustrator at Brighton School of Art, under the direction of well-known children's illustrators such as Raymond Briggs, Justin Todd, Chris McEwan and John Vernon Lord. In 1985, her final year at Brighton, Helen was awarded the first Walker Prize for Children's Illustration.

Awards for Helen's work include The National Art Library Awards 1998 and 2001 for The Hare and the Tortoise and her version of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows in the Templar Classic series, and The National Art Library Award for The Tin Forest. She was shortlisted for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Award in 2003 for The Cockerel and the Fox. This book also won the award in the children's trade category at the British Book Design and Production Awards presented in November 2003.

Helen Ward lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire.