Repair Shop Stories: The Singing Bear

Amy Sparkes studied English Literature and Theology at the University of Kent, and began writing after moving to Devon with her husband, six young children and an overactive imagination. Her books have appeared on CBeebies storytime and been shortlisted for several book awards, including the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the BookTrust Best Books Awards. She runs author events for children, writing workshops for aspiring children’s writers, produces the Writing for Children pages for bestselling Writing Magazine, and writes short stories for Aquila magazine. She co-founded the Writing Magazine Picture Book Prize for aspiring picture book authors. When she's not writing, Amy enjoys adventures, discovering secret things which might possibly be magic and drinking lots of tea. Katie Hickey takes inspiration from her travels and surroundings to create characterful and atmospheric images. She particularly loves creating illustrations about the quirky stories and characters she meets along the way and uses a combination of hand rendered print processes and digital techniques to create her work. Katie has illustrated a range of books for children including The Repair Shop Stories picture-book series, How Was That Built?: The Stories Behind Awesome Structures and The Wild Outside.

Amy Sparkes’ telling is a delight but Katie Hickey’s superbly expressive illustrations, endpapers included, really bring the events to life making the book even more special.