About the Author

Sue Whiting is an award-winning children’s and YA author and editor who has worked in publishing for twenty+ years. Sue was senior commissioning editor and publishing manager for Walker Books Australia for many years before leaving in 2016 to concentrate on her writing. As a storyteller and schools’ performer, Sue has informed, inspired and entertained thousands of kids across the country. She is also a freelance children’s book editor and writing coach, and the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Missing, the acclaimed The Book of Chance and a number of CBCA Notable Books. Sue’s latest books are Pearly and Pig and the Great Hairy Beast, the first in a new junior fiction series, and the narrative nonfiction picture book The Echidna Near my Place, illustrated by Cate James.

Cate James is a full-time illustrator, and when she’s not drawing for children's books, she likes to find different ways to be an artist. She volunteers with ArtEx at the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick, and teaches art to primary-aged children. She also works as a printmaking technician at UNSW. Cate has illustrated over 30 books for publishers in the UK, US and Australia and was awarded the Penguin Random House Illustrators’ Showcase Award in 2019. Cate moved to Australia from Scotland, where she studied Printmaking and Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art. She is now living in the Northern Beaches of Sydney with her husband and her sausage dog Sebastian.