![]() ![]() All of its offspring were given the names of different Native American tribes, which is where the title of the book comes from.) ![]() It became a family pet and lived for 14 years in a birdbox attached to the back of the house. It was inspired by the time he found an injured pigeon in Victoria Park and nursed it back to health at home. His first children's novel, Fly, Cherokee, Fly, was published in 1998 and subsequently shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. The resulting book, A Hole at the Pole, also about polar bears, didn't win - but he sent it off to a publisher, who accepted it. He didn't write another story for seven years, until he heard about a competition to write a story for young children with a prize of £2,000. His first piece of work was a 250,000 word story about polar bears for his wife, Jay, to accompany a stuffed polar bear he had bought her as a Christmas present. ![]() Originally his writing was confined to songs and he didn't turn to fiction until he was 32. After gaining a degree in biology from the University of York, he returned to Leicester and got a job at the University of Leicester in their Pre-Clinical Sciences department. He was born in Valetta, Malta, but as a child moved first to Leicester and then to Bolton. ![]()
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