Letterbox Lil

2005 Oxford University Press. Illustrated by Karen Wall

“A darkly funny and truly unique picture book.” 2006 Sheffield Children's Picture Book Award Winner

‘This is the story of Letterbox Lil. On the street where she lived there is talk of her still. By day or by night, from her house she would sneak, and through letterboxes, she’d peer and she’d peak…’

This was the first book that my wife, the children’s book illustrator, Karen Wall, and I worked on together. We’d just moved into a flat with a very ornate, slightly strange looking letterbox in the front door. As soon as I saw this letterbox, a poem about a little girl named Lil began to stir in my head.

Lil loves nothing better than spying on her neighbours. But she isn’t the only nosy person in her street, and one day she finds out what it’s like to get spied on herself.

After many rejections, we were delighted to hear that Oxford University Press loved our finished story! Karen and I couldn’t believe our luck and were doubly thrilled when Letterbox Lil went on to win the Sheffield Children’s Picture Book Award the following year.