James Maclaine (Author) James Maclaine has written books about meerkats, general knowledge and manners, come up with countless drawing, doodling and colouring ideas, and devised puzzles and things to do for a range of activity books. His Junior Illustrated Thesaurus is the book that he wishes he'd had as a child.Laura Cowan (Author) Laura studied literature twice at university, so she's read a lot of books (always helpful when writing them). Before joining Usborne, she taught English in Barcelona, Dublin and Cambridge. She now lives in East London, where she regrets the lack of sun and sea.