This was one of those right time, right place books. I was presenting at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair in the United Arab Emirates when I was approached by a representative from Collins Education who was seeking authors to write about the Arabian region. I had already written about many animals of the area and so decided this time to focus on the beautiful and endangered Arabian Leopard. I have visited the mountains in the peninsular many times and the setting where Ali and Sameer were fleeing is very familiar to me, although, I hasten to add, I have never been chased by poachers or been attacked by a camel spider! Then, as a bonus, Donna Acheson Juillet, who illustrated my previous Arabian picture books, and who now lives in France, was chosen to be the illustrator. So this book came about because a British editor was in the United Arab Emirates and asked an Australian author, living in Dubai, to write a book and then a Canadian, who lived in Paris, illustrated it. We live in a small world!

During Covid, in 2020, a lady called Miss Sally produced a series of You Tube videos reading the book with her dog, Rusty.  She read the entire book over four episodes.  Check them out here:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4