The Baby that Roared - Tapa dura

Mr and Mrs Deer would love to have a baby, and one day their wish comes true: they find a little antlered bundle on their doorstep. But the baby keeps roaring, so they ask for advice from family and friends, who sent them off to fetch what they think the baby needs. But it's very peculiar, because each time Mr and Mrs Deer come back from their errands, someone has gone missing. It takes a wide Grandmother Elephant to purp the baby and spot the problem: the baby's not a baby: it's a little monster who burps up everyone who's disappeared.

Simon is the author of The Baby That Roared. He had a peripatetic childhood (New Zealand, Trinidad, Australia, England, Barbados plus stopovers a-go-go), which seems to have induced in the adult version a tendency to sit tight. But he lives in Edinburgh, so there are mountains of things to see and do on his doorstep - almost literally in the case of mountains themselves. He studied English Literature at Newcastle University, which has come in handy for him not so much as a writer as as a reader (fantastically clumsy but legitimate use of a double 'as'). Simon has written several books before, and hopes to write many more - though not too many, he says: just the right number... whatever that may turn out to be. Nadia is the illustrator of The Baby That Roared and thinks she was always destined to draw for a living. While growing up in leafy, sheepy Shropshire, Nadia would doodle on the back of her school exercise books. While studying in hilly, steely Sheffield she doodled all over her law degree notes. Then for nine years, in exciting, crowded, stinky London, she doodled on the back of big sheets of paper while working as a journalist on a wide range of magazines, including pop music bible Smash Hits. It was when she was working for Smash Hits that she began an evening course in children's illustration, and then in 2007 she took doodling to new heights by starting an MA in children's book illustration at Cambridge School of Art, where some kindly people suggested that she stop saying 'doodling' and start saying 'drawing'. Nadia lives in London with her husband, where she enjoys listening to music, planning what to cook for dinner, shuffling around in big furry slippers, watching films and fantasising about owning a hypo-allergenic cat.