WHO WILL BE THE SUN?

My picture book WHO WILL BE THE SUN? is a retelling of a Native American myth from Montana USA. Once it was always dark, so the birds and the animals have a competition to see who will be the best sun. Coyote thinks he will be the winner, but he is too hot and he talks too much. So who will be the sun? I have just published this book as an ebook on the Apple Bookstore. It is available to download here

MONKEY AND THE WATER DRAGON

This ancient Chinese folk tale comes from the collection MONKEY, which was written by Wu Ch'eng-en in the sixteenth century. The story I chose tells how Tripitaka, Monkey and Pigsy met a ferocious dragon on their journey to fetch the Buddhist scriptures from India, and return them to China. I have illustrated my picture book in water colour which was inspired by Chinese art and design. This book is now available on the iBooks Store. Monkey and the Water Dragon

WHALE'S CANOE

The folk tale of Whale's Canoe was told by the Aborigines of Australia. The story explains how the animals first came to Australia.This picture book was published by BLACKIE CHILDREN'S BOOKS in 1993I. I have just published my ebook version available on the iBook Store here

LITTLE MOUSE GIRL ebook

My new ebook picture book LITTLE MOUSE GIRL is now just published on the iBooks store: 
Little Mouse Girl

LITTLE MOUSE GIRL

Here are some spreads for my latest picture book which I am about to publish as an ebook on the iBook Store. The story of LITTLE MOUSE GIRL comes from India and is found in The Panchatantra collection of folk stories. It is a 'chain of husbands' story, and many different versions can be found throughout the world. 

What Made Tiddalik Laugh

WHAT MADE TIDDALIK LAUGH is one of my most popular picture books. The story of the  giant frog, Tiddalik, who is so thirsty that he drinks all the water in the world, is a big favourite with young children. They love all the comical attempts of the birds and animals to get Tiddalik to laugh, and so to spit out all the water he has drunk. This myth comes from Australia and was told by the indigenous people, the Aborigines.  I tried to illustrate the extremes of heat and drought of the Australian Outback in my water colour pictures. I have just published this book as an ebook available at the iBook Store here

Here is a short film of WHAT MADE TIDDALIK LAUGH available on YouTube.

How The Birds Changed Their Feathers

My picture book HOW THE BIRDS CHANGED THEIR FEATHERS was first published in 1976. It was commended for the CILIP Kate Greenaway medal that same year. This book has always been one of my favourites, so I was very upset to learn that the publisher had lost the artwork during an office move. I did however still have two spreads which I had borrowed for a talk I was giving in a Glasgow children's library. So using these and the printed book as reference, I decided last year to re-do the artwork in order to publish the book on the iBook store. I could have simply scanned the printed book, but the quality of the colour and the definition would not have been good enough, so I traced my designs onto tracing paper and then using a light box, transferred  them onto water colour paper.  The finished coloured illustrations took me longer than they did forty years ago, but I have finally published the book as an ebook on the iBooks Store. You can find it here:
 How The Birds Changed Their Feathers