The Book of Spells and Secrets: Tashi Collection 4

Anna Fienberg grew up in a house filled with books. Her mother was a teacher librarian who relished stories as much as chocolates. 'On Sunday mornings we'd all lie in bed with our books, lost in magical wardrobes, witches’ spells, genies’ magic... What we were going to read next was just as important in our family as what was for lunch!' says Anna.

Anna started writing stories when she was eight, but never imagined being an author. She studied psychology, fascinated by the dark world of dreams. She gave up counselling after an unfortunate incident with an enraged man and a chair (he missed!), began writing and scored the best job in the world. 'Working for School Magazine was a treat,' Anna says. 'I couldn't believe you could get paid for sitting back comfortably in your chair, cappuccino in hand, reading over a thousand books a year. Heaven!' Of course, as an editor she also had to write reviews and articles, stories and plays. One of those stories for School Magazine later became her first book.

Kim Gamble was born in Sydney. He moved around, trained as a teacher and worked in a variety of occupations before beginning, at the age of thirty-six, to illustrate stories for children. His first assignment was for the School Magazine, and he continued illustrating stories for the magazine for many years. It was there he met Anna Fienberg, with whom he has since produced more than twenty books, including The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels, the Tashi series and Tashi picture books, the Minton series and a book close to his heart: Joseph. He worked with many authors and illustrated over seventy books in his career.

Barbara Fienberg was a teacher-librarian who appreciated the importance of sharing her love of books with her family. She wrote the Tashi stories with her daughter Anna. When Anna was a child, Barbara read bedtime stories to her and they would travel to all the secret places in the world, through books. They started making up the Tashi stories when Barbara remembered how, when she was a child, she used to tell tall stories, creative fibs...whoppers! And kids would crowd around, dying to hear her latest tale.