Bear Under The Stairs

Helen Cooper is an author and illustrator whose work includes classic picture books such as The Bear Under the Stairs, Pumpkin Soup, The Baby Who Wouldn’t Go to Bed and Tatty Ratty. Her books have been translated into 30 languages and won many awards including the Library Association Kate Greenaway Medal – twice.More recently she has collaborated as a writer with other illustrators. Notably, Saving the Butterfly, illustrated by Gill Smith, which was published in 2022. She has also written and illustrated children’s MG fiction and the latest – The Taming of the Cat – published in October 2023.

Cooper has a shadowy style which she uses to great effect, wafting us into the surreal imagination of a boy determined to stay up all night