When my younger son was 13 years old, he asked me to read 'Swallows and Amazons' to him while he made models. He liked it so much that I ended up reading all thirteen of Ransome's books, including the ones that I missed out on. This led my son to 'Treasure Island,' 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Coral Island.'

Although I could read before I went to school, and I won the school reading prize at five years old, my early children's stories came from the radio and watching films at a cinema on Saturday mornings in Australia. It wasn't until I was nine years old on a ship returning from Australia that I was introduced to children's books.

I actually was brought up by an Airedale. I don't really remember my parents, especially my mother. It was only the dog that I saw.

At home, I'm lucky if I can write three or four hours before the phone starts ringing and the kids want to go to soccer.

I was kind of a bully, even though I'm tiny, 5' 2"". As a child, I'd boss other kids around and dress my little brother up, just putting on shows, singing and dressing up.

I didn't like books where people played on a sports team and won a bunch of games, or went to summer camp and had a wonderful time. I really liked a book where a witch might cut a child's head off or a pack of angry dogs might burst through a door and terrorize a family.