Mercy and the Hippo

Lauren St John grew up surrounded by horses, dogs, cat, warthogs, and a giraffe on a farm and game reserve in Zimbabwe, the inspiration for her bestselling White Giraffe and One Dollar Horse series, and standalone novels, The Snow Angel and The Glory. Her latest books are Finding Wonder. Wave Riders and the Wolfe & Lamb Mystery series. Kat Wolfe Investigates won the 2019 CrimeFest Best Crime Novel for Children, and Dead Man's Cove, the first in her Laura Marlin Mystery series, was the 2011 Blue Peter Book of the Year. A passionate conservationist, Lauren is an Ambassador for the Born Free Foundation, a Patron of Mane Chance Animal Sanctuary, and the founder of Authors4Oceans. When not writing or saving leopards and dolphins, she is a full-time valet to her cats, Skye and Teddy.

Nila Aye was born in Rangoon, Myanmar, arriving in the UK at the age of three and spent most of her childhood dreaming and drawing pictures. Nila studied graphic design at Central St Martins in London, graduating in 1995. Nila is an award winning illustrator, collaborating on many well-loved children's books including Nature Trail, People Need People, Story Soup and the Little Bugs Big Feelings series. Her love of visual storytelling and collaboration with authors continues to energise Nila in her mission to bring beautifully illustrated books to a new generation of young readers around the world.