Jo Lodge is an illustrator and paper engineer and was greatly influenced by her artistic parents - her mother, Maureen Roffey, an illustrator, and her father Bernard Lodge, a graphic designer. Jo graduated with a fashion degree from Kingston University and worked for a knitwear company designing their main collection and consulting on projects for Next, Marks & Spencer and Saks Fifth Avenue. Jo is probably best known for her Mr Croc books - over a million copies sold worldwide - but her first books were published by Rod Campbell in 1996 and she is still published by Campbell Books today. She lives in West Sussex with her husband and two sons.