Jess French (author) Jess French is a passionate vet, zoologist and naturalist who has been named one of Britain's top 50 conservationists by BBC Wildlife magazine. She presented her own TV series on CBeebies called Minibeast Adventure with Jess and worked on Live 'n' Deadly (CBBC), Deadly Mission Madagascar (CBBC), Springwatch (BBC) and Micro Monsters 3D (Sky). Jess has written several books for children, including the Born Free series for Orion Children's Books. James Gilleard (illustrator) James Gilleard is an illustrator and animator whose influences include 1950s, 60s and 70s animation,architecture and photography, vintage film posters and pulp comics. His beautifully textured digital illustrations have been used for posters, magazines, animations and books.