MR PETER TERENCE STEBBING

My name is Peter Stebbing and I am the author and illustrator of Bobby Bear's Day Off.

After obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design at Maidstone College of Art in 1986, I relocated from London to Peterborough to start a family. 

I wrote and Illustrated Bobby Bear's Day Off in 1997 as a project for my three young children - Rob (Bobby Bear), Phil (Philly Fox) and Emma (Baby Emma Hedgehog). All the other characters in the book are their cousins, who they saw frequently. It wasn't uncommon at the time to have 7 or 8 of the children together, and they all enjoyed reading and colouring the book.

The children are all in their thirties now, but I also have a younger son of 9, Frankie, who was intrigued when he saw the book. So I revamped it as a more educational project for him to complete, and then got encouragement to publish it for sale.

My young son's primary school liked the book enough to take 180 copies for children in Reception through to Key Stage 3 to complete as a Summer Holiday project...and I hope other schools will do the same.