Personal:

This was a first picture book for both Margaret Wild and myself and it has never been out of print since 1984.

It talks about facing fears and also employing imagination. I played with making this the child’s story by drawing his parents in exaggerated, fragmented views... as if they are of little importance to the child’s experience.

It was important to show David as very dry and then very wet... surrounded by something he originally wouldn’t even touch.

The young model posed for me in a swimming pool to get the right effect... very bravely as it was wintry weather. I drew the shells, sand, furniture etc from real objects around me.