Author, illustrator, and designer, who has published more than ninety books. Even as a youngster, she loved telling stories, painting pictures, and composing music. An only child for nearly ten years, her first audience was her dog, Tony, her constant companion. She first decided to write a book at the age of nine, and she published her first children's book ten years later, when she was nineteen. At school she took art history as her major, and studied classical piano for many years before devoting herself solely to writing and painting.