Ellie and Lump's Very Busy Day

Dorothy Clark left art school just after the Second World War beginning work as an illustrator in an advertising studio. As a change from her day job, she would make Christmas card designs for the Gordon Fraser Gallery. But her break into the children's publishing world began as the artist on a series of cloth books about Rupert Bear and friends. After a chance meeting with the assistant editor of Nursery World magazine on an Italian holiday, Dorothy would provide column fillers for the publication for years and years to come. Her picture book Grandpa's Handerkerchief, illustrated by Siobhan Dodds, was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize. Dorothy lives in Beaconsfield. Ellie and Lump's Very Busy Day is her debut on the Walker picture books list.Becky Palmer is an illustrator, author and comics artist. She graduated from the Cambridge School of Art with an MA in Illustration in 2012, and was awarded the inaugural Sebastian Walker prize. Since then, she has continued to work on narrative projects as an illustrator, alongside further postgraduate study into picture books and comics. She lives in the wilds of Herefordshire and teaches illustration at the University of Worcester. Find Becky online at beckypalmer.co.uk.

“Dorothy Clark’s text takes the form of a running commentary from the young pachyderms as they dash through their day; and is full of delicious noises and action words for young listeners to join in with. They’ll surely love ‘split splatting, ‘dip’, dipping, ‘rustle’ rustling, ‘zzzzip’ zzzipping, popping, crunching, wriggling, stomping, skipping, puffing and such like along with you as you read. All this and more is illustrated in Becky Palmer’s scenes of those frenzied preparations for dad’s surprise party. Every one of them is full of wonderful details that will delight toddlers; and many will cause adults with young children to smile in recognition.”