Simon French grew up in Sydney’s west, and had his first novel while he was still at high school. He has written several novels and picture books, published in Australia and overseas. His work is praised by critics and has won several awards, including the 1987 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for All We Know. Change the Locks was an Honour Book in 1992. His most recent novel, Where in the World, won the 2003 NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature, and was shortlisted for the 2003 CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers, long listed for the 2003 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and nominated to the IBBY Honour List in 2004. Simon is a primary school teacher in the Hawkesbury region of New South Wales.