Great Big Cuddle

Michael Rosen is one of the most popular authors of stories and poems for children. His bestselling titles published by Walker Books include Little Rabbit Foo Foo, Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, This Is Our House, Tiny Little Fly, Dear Mother Goose and its sequel Dear Fairy Godmother. He has also written many collections of poetry including Bananas in My Ears. Michael received the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished services to children’s literature in 1997, and was the Children’s Laureate from 2007 to 2009. He is a distinguished critic and academic, co-directing an MA in Children’s Literature at Birkbeck College. He is often called upon to talk about children’s literature and his poetry readings are adored by children and adults. He also presents radio programmes for the BBC. Michael lives in London.Chris Riddell is one of the country's finest children's book illustrators. He has twice won the Kate Greenaway Medal – for Pirate Diary and Gulliver's Travels. He is a political cartoonist for the Observer and has collaborated with Paul Stewart on the extremely popular Edge Chronicles and Muddle Earth series. In recent years he has had success writing and illustrating his own books, including the Ottoline stories and Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, which won a Costa Book Award. Chris lives in Brighton.

Michael Rosen’s close and affectionate observation of small children and the way they think is brilliantly captured […]Chris Riddell’s illustrations created an equally warm-hearted view of the early years and capture the spirit of the poems perfectly.