As a boy, I devoured comics but never saw what we now describe as a picture book.

A lot of my characters are underdogs or sad or lonely, but I had a comfortable, golden sort of childhood.

My dad never decided what he wanted to do; at times he fought in the army, was a teacher, a boxer, a light engineer, and a then a publican. My mum was a traditional housewife and mother. They showed my brother and I unconditional love.

You can never have 'equality' between two things that are not equal by definition. And so, for example, you can have equality among 'people', but not between 'men' and 'women'.

Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older.

As a boy, I devoured comics but never saw what we now describe as a picture book.

Maurice Sendak is the daddy of them all when it comes to picture books - the words, the rhythm, the psychology, the design.