Butterfly Brain

Laura Dockrill (Author) Laura Dockrill is a performance poet and novelist whose inventive and vibrant approach to life is reflected in the vividly imagined worlds she creates. Laura finds creativity in words - from poetry to novels, and scripts to song lyrics. She is author of the Carnegie Medal nominated YA novel Lorali, as well as the Darcy Burdock series (Random House) for younger readers, which was also nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2014, and My Mum is Growing Down (Faber). Laura has appeared on Blue Peter and CBeebies and is a frequent poet performer at festivals such as Glastonbury, Hay, Edinburgh and Latitude. She loves to visit schools and meet young readers who are as spirited as her. In 2020 her first adult title, What Have I Done? which discussed her own experience with post-partum psychosis was published to widespread critical acclaim. Laura lives in London with her husband and young son. You can follow her on Twitter @LauraDockrillGwen Millward (Illustrator) Gwen was brought up in Wales. Originally she had her heart set on becoming a naturalist as she loved studying insects and drawing them. Her trips abroad when she was young are associated with finding new and strange looking creatures! After school she migrated north to Edinburgh to study art where she graduated with a First in illustration and was awarded the Helen A. Rose Bequest for art.Gwen's first picture book, Guess What I Found In Dragon Wood (text by Tim Knapman) was published by Puffin, as was The Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis, and a collaboration with Jenny Nimmo, The Beasties, by Egmont. She has since published many more, including two about Bear and Bird that she has written herself. Gwen has illustrated Stories from Bug Garden (Candlewick), Tiger Lily, which she wrote and illustrated, and Flat Cat, written by Hiawyn Oram.Gwen is also the illustrator for the Charmseekers series by Amy Tree, published by Orion. She lives in Bristol with her young son.

The language of Butterfly Brain is rich and full of vivid imagery . The absolutely stunning illustrations elevate the story further and intensify its emotional effect on the reader and are just the right blend of the darker, shadowy images of Gus's fears and the softness and warm colours of his positive memories about those most important to him. The gentleness and warmth of the final pages are powerful, overwhelmingly comforting and sensitive.