Jo Byatt studied design at Southend Art College, where everything she drew had a smiley face! She has worked for the BBC, Redan and Egmont amongst others and her illustrations have appeared in numerous children’s books. She has illustrated Busy Railway and Busy Beach for Campbell, part of the Busy Books series.

This book is beautifully colourful and our testers loved its interactive nature, which engages children in the story. As little ones pull and push different parts of the scene, they reveal different features which help to encourage discussion and learning.For example, children talked about going to the beach and what they would do there which develops their understanding of the world around them. Interactive books like this are a great way to encourage children to learn basic words and develop their observation skills. We also like that there is further learning opportunities for the slightly older children as it includes questions such as “what colour is the flag” and “can you find two crabs?”.