So my daughter and I started talking about how terrible the book was, and about how it could be better. But of course it took AN INCREDIBLY LONG TIME to get from our rough and scruffy bedtime story to the finished book ( Rabbit’s Bad Habits, which was finally published this year with Jim Field’s amazing pictures). I had to get the story as good as I could get it, before my agent could look for a publisher, and get an award-winning, genius illustrator like Jim to bring it to life. And that took a couple of years, because I did it in my spare time. I was good at writing novels (and plays, and poems, and things like the ending to Minecraft, which I wrote for Notch): but I was still learning to write children’s books.

And no animal I know is nice, friendly and perfect. How boring would THAT be? Animals wee on the carpet sometimes, and sniff each other’s bottoms ALL the time, and chew the furniture. And that’s just our pet cat, Aífe. (If you don’t keep her litter tray clean, she will deliberately poo in your shoe.) And wild animals… are even wilder than that! What is the point of having bears and rabbits in your story if they aren’t WILD, and doing the crazy, surprising, and often rather rude things real bears and rabbits do? Anyway, it was a picture book about a nice, friendly, perfectly boring rabbit and a nice, friendly, perfectly boring bear.

Now, I am not nice, friendly, and perfect. My daughter is not nice, friendly, and perfect. Nobody I know is nice, friendly, and perfect. Everyone I know is complicated and sometimes nice and sometimes nasty and sometimes friendly and sometimes angry and sometimes sulky and sometimes funny and sometimes stupid and sometimes clever and always interesting.

I realised that our story was about ten million billion times better than the book we had read. So, when Sophy was asleep, I stayed up late, and wrote it all down…Then there’s a loud CRUNCH! from Very Near By. It sounds like the world’s largest rabbit, eating the world’s largest carrot. What if the new animal that arrived was a wolf?” said my daughter. “And then the wolf could chase the rabbit!” You couldn’t tell any of the animals apart: they all talked the same, and acted the same, and were nice and friendly to each other, until the book ended, or the reader died of boredom, whichever came first. Hachette Children’s Groups would love to see you using the resources on social media with #RabbitandBear and tagging readingagency and HachetteKids.

Jim Field: ‘Julian suggested making Bear more of a mother character, actually his description was more “a Big Mumma” so I made her bigger boned and rounded the design more than the previous bears.’ Photograph: Jim Field Rabbit’s Bad Habits is a breath of fresh air in children’s fiction, a laugh-out-loud story of rabbit and wolf and bear, of avalanches and snowmen. The sort of story that makes you want to send your children to bed early, so you can read it to them.’ Neil Gaiman As a follow-up to Tara's first book Rabbit & Bear Make a Wish, the graphic novel Rabbit & Bear Return with the Light delves deeper into the human existence as we quest to find meaning. Dealing with themes of purpose, loss, grief, depression, the book brings its reader along for the ride, letting them know that finding and sharing light is not only possible, but probable with the help of friends and insight. Shortlisted for the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award and the Children’s Book of the Year in the Irish Book Awards* If I could combine the two – David Attenborough meets Winnie the Pooh! – that would be something new, I thought. And, as I writer, I always want to try something new. To have a challenge. To solve a problem. Because solving difficult problems is the fun part of life. And so I did a lot of research on rabbits, and bears, and wolves…

Great! And what if the rabbit doesn’t help the bear build a snowman? What if the rabbit is jealous, and tries to build his own bigger, better snowman?” From novelist and playwright Julian Gough, and the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Jim Field, this is a story of friends, enemies, and how to avoid being pooped on by an icebear. Icebear has arrived in Rabbit and Bear’s valley, and he wants to be king. He’s big and scary, and the more kind and understanding the animals are, the meaner he becomes. Jim Field: ‘Rabbit was really much easier to design, Bear went through many more stages. Bear was originally a male and it was a suggestion by the team at Hodder to change him to a her. An excellent move as it really changed the dynamics of the whole book in a more positive way.’ Photograph: Jim Field

From novelist and playwright Julian Gough, and the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Jim Field, this is a tale of Mystery! Friendship! Progress! … and all kinds of getting muddy. At one point, a third friendly, boring animal arrived, just to give the illustrator something new to draw (she must have been getting bored too). What with Bear’s snoring, and a BANG!BANG!BANG! noise from up in the tree, Rabbit knows that Something Simply Has To Be Done. People often ask writers, “where do you get your ideas?” And the answer is: we steal them from our children…But high in the branches, perhaps Bear can show Rabbit how to see the world from a different place … Gorgeously illustrated and with a classic feel, this is a brilliantly funny story of a rabbit and a bear … on the day that a new creature arrives in their valley, trying to Change Everything. Ideal for readers moving on from picture books.