Carol Thompson's career as a children's picture book illustrator and writer has seen her publish forty five books in fifteen languages. Her work has been awarded The Frank Warner Gold Award, Royal Society of Arts Bursary, Mother Goose Award for Children's Book Illustrations and the Oppenheim Gold Award. Carol remembers that as a child she always loved drawing and painting and read anything she could get her hands on, from Enid Blyton books to `the back of cereal boxes.' Her artwork is inspired by Maurice Sendak, Edward Ardizzone, E. H. Shepard, the Japanese animator Hayo (`Spirited Away'), Patrick Heron and Jan Ormerod. Carol now lives in the town of Ashby de la Zouch with her husband and three sons. She is always busy visiting schools and giving workshops and talks, and she usually has several book projects on the go.