Pax the Christmas Cat

Michael J. Rosen is an acclaimed author, editor and illustrator of some forty books for both adults and young people. Many are inspired by his lifelong experience with animals; he studied Zoology at university, has worked as a dog trainer and founded a granting programme to support animal welfare organizations. He says of ChaseR, When I moved from the major city where I’d lived most of my life to a rural community, the changes were monumental. And I often thought, What if I hadn’t actually chosen to live here? I wrote this novel not only to imagine this new way of life from a teenage point of view, but also to consider the complicated (and always teetering) balance we try to achieve, living, as we all do, amid an ever-diminishing natural world. Michael J. Rosen lives in Ohio, USA.

Helen Oxenbury was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1979, and again in 1999 for Alice. She has also been Highly Commended several times, and has won the Smarties Book Prize three times: for Farmer Duck, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and So Much.