One day, Annie Tibbet and Little Dog Bozo ran under a shimmering rainbow to fetch a pot of gold. They had forgotten all about how rainbows could be dangerous! They shrunk in size and grew fairy wings, then joined the realm of fairy folk who lived beyond the rainbow . . .
Shirley Barber grew up in Guernsey in the Channel Islands. She is a third-generation artist and dreamed of writing and illustrating children's books. She moved to Australia in 1965. Her first picture book was Martha B Rabbit- Fairies Cook, published by Five Mile Press in 1988.
It became an instant success. The following year it won first prize at the Critica Erba awards at the Bologna Children's Fair, an extraordinary achievement for a first book.
Shirley Barbers' books have sold over 10 million copies and have been published around the world.