Rachel spent 11 years studying and teaching philosophy at the universities of London and Oxford before joining Usborne. Since then she has written books on subjects ranging from knights, to food, to philosophy, as well as retelling folk stories, and writing children's versions of numerous novels. James Maclaine has written books about meerkats, general knowledge and manners, come up with countless drawing, doodling and colouring ideas, and devised puzzles and things to do for a range of activity books. His Junior Illustrated Thesaurus is the book that he wishes he'd had as a child. Darran spent a decade as children's bookseller in Durham. He studied crime scene and forensic science at university. It's handier than you'd expect. He collects useless facts, and writes about lots of subjects - especially science. He is passionate about stories, music, and will talk about octopuses at great length. Lizzie grew up in Wiltshire, not far from Stonehenge - she has this to thank for her love of nature, legends and World Heritage sites. Now she lives in London, where she's written books about giraffes, oceans and plastic, and thought up lots of ideas for puzzles and activities, too.