Those of you paying close attention may remember I had a picture book called The Truth About Penguins accepted for publication a while back. Well, something marvellous has happened.

I have illustrations.

First, I had ‘pencil roughs’ – black and white sketches of what the illustrations would look like, where things would go and so on. My editor sent me a note saying “We think they are FABULOUS! Hope you do, too.”

I did.

But it was top secret, so I wasn’t allowed to show anyone anything.

Then, I had ‘colour roughs’. They were even more fabulous.

My penguins are coming to life and I am so excited seeing what the very talented Mark Jackson has done with my words.

And now, just for you, I can offer an exclusive preview of the work:

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Yes, sorry about that. It’s still top secret, actually. But if you look really closely at this grab from one of the pages, you can just about kind of sort of make out a hint of penguin.

That will have to hold you for now.