"They can fly?" Adam looked up at the open skylight and gulped. "Then they could be..."

Milly nodded. "Anywhere! I just hope that we find them first."

A blood-curdling scream rang across the back lawn.

"Too late," Adam said.

Writing about the chittens is so much fun and always unexpected. They never do what I have planned! They first came to life in a short story that I wrote for my daughter when she wouldn't clean her messy room. That short story turned into a long story which finally turned into a book, Milly and the Chittens. But that wasn't enough for the chittens. They wanted more adventures! They roamed around in my head, setting off lots of ideas and making a big mess, until I got to work and wrote a second book - Chittens in Trouble. I thought I was finished with them then, but, once again, I was wrong.

I am currently writing the third book in the series. It is called Chittens to the Rescue and it is turning into the chittens' most exciting adventure yet. I'm a little worried though because they have invited lots of weird and wonderful friends into this story. Who knows what I'll be writing next!

Julie

You won't be surprised to learn that the hardest, but also the most important part about drawing the Chittens was deciding how they should actually look!

Julie had done a fantastic description in the book, but drawing them was a different matter - we knew that once drawn, that's how they'd 'look' for all of you. It was quite scary.

So I sketched a number of different ideas and styles and, after a few changes here and there, Julie chose what she thought best suited the picture that she'd had in her mind all along - and that's how they appeared.

For 'Milly and the Chittens' I was asked to do only a few illustrations, but Julie decided that for 'Chittens in Trouble' she'd like more - one a chapter. That was great fun. We already knew what the Chittens looked like so it was a matter of deciding what scenes/ drawings fitted the story best.

So I read the manuscript a few times, making notes of things that 'leapt' out at me - it was easy, the story was great and every chapter gave me loads of ideas.

I asked Julie to make a similar list, we compared our thoughts, and after a fun discussion on what/where/how etc, Julie decided what she liked and hey presto! you've seen the results - I hope you like them.

Which are your favourites and what would you have drawn? Have a go - it's fun.

Michael