Lydia Monks gained a First Class degree in illustration from Kingston University, and has gone on to become one of the best-loved illustrators of today. Her first picture book title, I Wish I Were a Dog won the Smarties Bronze Award in 1999. Since then, her many picture books include My Cat's Weird (Egmont), Princess Mirror-Belle by Julia Donaldson, Esmeralda by Karen Wallace and The Skipping-Rope Snake and Queen Munch and Queen Nibble by Carol Ann Duffy (all Macmillan), and, published April 2004, Aaaarrgghh, Spider!, which has already had enormous success, going into 8 co-editions, with an initial print-run of 55,000 copies.