"""David Walliams – comedian, actor and author – continues to take the children’s literary world by storm. His tenth novel, BAD DAD, was an immediate number one, following the triumph of THE MIDNIGHT GANG, the biggest-selling children’s book of 2016. WORLD’S WORST CHILDREN 2, which published in early 2017, spent four weeks at industry number one and eight weeks at the top of the children’s chart. They have achieved unprecedented critical acclaim – and RATBURGER, DEMON DENTIST and AWFUL AUNTIE have all won the National Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year. David’s books have now exceeded 100 non-consecutive weeks in the children’s number-one spot, and have been translated into 53 languages, selling more than 35 million copies worldwide."" Tony Ross was born in 1938 in Wandsworth, South London. During World War II, the Ross family moved to Cheshire, and Tony ended up at the Liverpool Regional College of Art, having abandoned his initial dream of working with horses. He had dreamed of being a cowboy, a jockey, a mounted policeman - anything in fact involving horses! At the age of seventeen, he wrote to John Wayne, offering to make his own way over to the United States if he could just play a part in a western. There was, regrettably, no reply. Tony reckons, however, that it is the Wayne-syndrome, the dazzle of the stage (his father was a conjuror, and his uncles film extras) which makes him love to put on an act in his talking-and-drawing sessions with groups of children. Tony went into teaching after a bad day in the advertising agency where he was art director. At first he taught in all sorts of areas - design, typography, advertising. At that time he was drawing cartoons for magazines like Punch. Tony had seven tiny books accepted by Fabri, the first publisher he approached, so he ""never had that baptism by fire of trudging stuff round the streets"". Today, Tony's work is recognised in dozens of countries and he has won many awards."
<p>"The hilarious children’s book from No. 1 bestselling author David Walliams – a timeless adventure illustrated by artistic genius, Tony Ross.</p><p>On a volcanic island, in the middle of shark-infested waters, stands The Cruel School. The lessons are ludicrous, the school dinners are disgusting and the teachers are terrifying.</p><p>When Larker is sent to the school, she quickly realises that VERY odd things are going on involving sinister Science teacher Doctor Doktur, a secret cave and a ‘Monsterfication Machine’. Can Larker unravel the teacher’s wicked plot?"</p>
