Patricia Cleveland-Peck, author of the bestselling You Can't Take an Elephant picture books, started writing at the age of ten. Her first works were plays in which she forced her friends to act.
After living in France and Ireland, studying at the Sorbonne and Trinity College Dublin, Patricia married and had three children. When her sons and daughter were little she published fourteen books for children - including The String Family.
When her children grew up she turned to writing adult books and plays, and to travel journalism. And this she still does. But now with a young granddaughter, she returned to the magical world of children's stories.
It was a comment by Patricia's granddaughter - ‘you can’t take an elephant on the bus’ - that led to her bestselling picture book of the same name. Patricia's witty, authoritative verse and David Tazzyman's gloriously anarchic illustrations proved an irresistible combination.
There are now five Elephant books in the series - You Can't Let an Elephant Pull Santa's Sleigh came out with Bloomsbury in 2023.