Mike was born in London and moved with his family to New Zealand when he was seven. He has always adored the sounds and rhythms of words and the delicious and powerful mental images that they can create. He always wanted to share his love of words and with his often quirky humour, he realised that teaching was a great place to be. For 14 years Mike was lucky enough to be able to inspire reluctant readers to get joy from shared story times right through to working with gifted children to produce their own word fests. His other great love is music, and Mike found huge pleasure in rhythms both in singing in a rock band and playing guitar. It therefore felt so natural for him to write in rhyming poetic form. Tricia studied art at Teacher's College and taught in many schools and adult learning institutions. Her often wacky, offbeat sense of humour shines through in every page and is the perfect vehicle for Mike's funny verses. The graphic designer for floral design magazine for the last 20 years, Tricia has employed collage for this book which showcases her love of textures and different approaches to design.