Amy Louise Evans – illustratör

Mandy is a banana. A yellow, bendy, half-moon-shaped banana. The problem is, Mandy doesn't want to be a banana. She would rather be a prickly pineapple like Pedro, a round watermelon like Wilhelmina, or - frankly - ANYTHING other than a banana. It takes a plucky little blueberry called Blip to help Mandy focus on her 'haves' rather than her 'have-nots' and to celebrate what makes her so unique, so bendy, so brilliant and so absolutely, utterly . . . BANANA!A quirky celebration of learning to love the skin you're in, featuring an all-star cast of fruit-bowl friends. Heartwarming and funny in equal measure, Mandy is Still a Banana is guaranteed to be a hit with little ones and adults alike.

Who was the world’s first female programmer? Who made history as the first British woman to sail solo around the world non-stop? Who is Birmingham’s first female Muslim MP? Meet Mary Lee Berners-Lee, Lisa Clayton, Shabana Mahmood and many more in Once Upon a Time in Birmingham, a lively introduction to thirty of Birmingham’s most awe-inspiring women, past and present. From pioneers in their field to everyday heroines, these are women who refused to be silenced, who fought for what they believed in, who proved they were just as good as men… if not better!Compete in two days of challenging heptathlon events with Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis. March the picket lines with staunch activist and seeker of justice Jessie Eden. Raise your voice and speak up for girls around the world with courageous campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.Accessible, educational and downright inspirational, this empowering collection of creators and innovators, activists and changemakers, is a must-read for all ages. Complete with vibrant illustrations from a host of up-and-coming female illustrators, learn about the women who made, and are making, Birmingham the great city it is today.

Menagerie is a collection of poems about animals, divided into three sections: water, earth and air. Some poems examine a creature from close-up, almost allowing the reader to see the world through the animal's eyes, while the poet is more present in other poems, looking on. The collection invites the reader to reflect on loneliness, love, mortality, and hope. Each poem is typeset with plenty of space around it, allowing it to breathe. With stylised illustrations by Amy Evans.from "Octopus Tank, Torbay Aquarium"I saw a ribbon of starlings once – they roseand fell in that same way, tied and re-tied Romein a bow, and I thought the knot at their centremust be God. Here is God again in this stranger,the colour coursing her billow and flop like a weather mapcrawling with storms.