Valerie Thomas is the author of the much-loved Winnie the Witch books.

Valerie Thomas was born in Australia and has lived there for most of her life. She has worked as a teacher, and her special hobby is travelling; and she has travelled to most parts of the world, even Antarctica, but she doesn’t travel by broomstick. She is now trying to organise her life so that she never has to experience another winter. She used to live with a big black cat exactly like Wilbur, but luckily her house was not black.

The intricacy, humour, and detail in the Winnie the Witch picture book range means that they can be enjoyed by both pre-school and primary school pupils, while the Young Fiction range is a fantastic way of introducing pupils to longer fiction books using a fun and familiar character.

Winnie the Witch lives in a black house. She has black chairs and black stairs, black floors and black doors. Winnie’s cat Wilbur is black, too. And that is how the trouble begins!