Eminent author/illustrator Michael Foreman, who admits to working non-stop, put his paintbrush and pen down to talk to In The Picture's Susan Clow:

1. We are particularly interested in your work because of Seal Surfer - it was one of the very few books in publication before the project and has repeatedly been nominated as a shining example to others. How did it come about?

Essentially the story set out to explore the life cycle of the seal. But also it was the coming together of two related ideas. One was having contact with a school in Liverpool which took their children - who were disabled - to the sea to make castles in the sand, and the other was memories of watching a family coming from Wales to a beach in St Ives. This family - Mum, Dad and three boys came year after year and were very sporty. They were always playing beach cricket. One of the boys had excellent hand eye co ordination but something related to his legs meant he couldn't walk. Each summer though, he would be bigger and more physically able. One summer he was not there and we searched anxiously for him, imagining all sorts of scenarios and then we realised he was on a body board. Later we were able to follow his surfing progress because he had joined the same surf school as our son. I never wanted him to be the centre of attention but to get him included just in the illustrations. I also wanted to discourage people from doing risky things so included surf school, proper instruction and not being on your own.

2. Did you realise it was an important book to disabled people? And have you any other examples we might not be quite so aware of?

I know from my contact with Richard Rieser, whose quote was placed on the back of the book [see below] that it was welcomed but hadn't quite appreciated its impact.

I have illustrated three story books by Sophie Smiley about a football mad family which include a boy, Bobby, with Down's syndrome [Click here for details].

This is casually mentioned by the narrator, his sister Charlton, but is otherwise incidental. The third and latest in the series "Team Trouble" was published in 2007 and involves teenage disaffection in the guise of an older brother. More titles are planned. The information and guidance on illustrating children with Down's syndrome on the In The Picture website would have been useful to me at the start of this series.

You have a reputation for tackling some very political issues. Former feminist magazine Spare Rib once described "All The King's Horses" as the first picture book for women's liberation and you as the "best political writer for children today".

I find myself returning to themes of war, environment and adversity. Sometimes people take the story at its face value. In "Panda's Puzzle", the young bear searches to find out if he is a black bear with white bits or the other way round but I think its underlying message may have got lost.

And what about the future?

I always work on at least three books at once! But In The Picture has made me think about how I could work more on including disabled children and disability in my books.

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