Winner of the Sydney Taylor Award 1990 (Award for Older Readers), and 2003 (Notable Book for Older Readers). Three-time gold winner of the Right Start Magazine Best Toy Awards (book category) in 1997, 2000 and 2002; nominated for Kate Greenaway Award, 2002; elected Master of the Art Workers' Guild 1999; Distinguished Mention in W. H. Smith Illustration Awards, 1991. Michael Morpurgo is one of the UK's most well-known and best-loved authors. A prolific writer, he has won numerous awards and was the Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005. His world-famous War Horse met with international acclaim and has been made into a stage play and a film. Kimberley Reynolds is Professor of Childrens Literature at Newcastle University.

She has advised on and contributed to many children's literature broadcasts, programmes, films and other projects, including for the VandA Museum, British Library and British Council. In 2013 she won the International Brothers Grimm Award for an outstanding body of research into children's literature. She is a trustee of Seven Stories, the National Centre for Childrens Books in Newcastle and was a founder-member of the UK Childrens Laureate.