Oliver Owl is the resident storyteller, songsmith and (entirely self-appointed) headmaster of the Whispering Wood. From a mossy log deep in the forest — spectacles perched on his beak, a twig for a baton — he has spent more seasons than he will admit turning the things small creatures find hardest into things they can carry in their pockets: a times table that finally sticks, a big feeling that finally has words, the wobble that comes just before a brave thing.

He believes no one should be left alone on the branch. That every child learns in their own good time. And that a number is a great deal easier to remember once someone has wrapped a tune around it. His Forest Times-Tables, Twenty Little Feelings and Twenty Little Engines have been hummed in kitchens, bath-times and supermarket queues up and down the land — and, all the while, quietly kept in step with the primary curriculum.

When he isn't writing, Oliver can be found conducting the Acorn Chorus, brewing a pot of acorn tea, and reminding the youngest owls that being small is no barrier to being brave. He lives in the Whispering Wood with a great many friends and one very tidy collection of pinecones.