Dreadful David

Sally Odgers’ first book was written in three basic exercise books with a dying ballpoint pen. Most of the writing took place in the barn, out in the paddock – wherever she could find somewhere peaceful. The writing was illegible, so she taught herself to type. Her next effort, written when she was 12, was a collection of short stories, composed on a portable typewriter. Two unicorn fantasies and a half-finished cat fantasy followed. After producing something like 80 000 words, she wrote another collection of short stories during her final year at school. This was published in 1977.

Craig Smith has an excellent track record as a children’s book illustrator. He first teamed with Gary Crew to provide a remarkable interpretation of Troy Thompson’s Excellent Peotry Book and Troy Thompson’s Radical Prose Folio. His more recent awards include CBC Honour Book: Younger Readers (1999) for Bob the Builder and the Elves, Shortlisted CBC Book of the Year: Younger Readers for Billy the Punk (1996) and Shortlisted CBC for Not Again, Dad by Thurley Fowler (1995). Craig has also recently illustrated the Paul Jennings titles: The Cabbage Patch Fib and The Cabbage Patch War, and Sniffy the Sniffer Dog (Lothian Books, 2003) in Lothian’s Start-Ups series.