For more than fifty years Colin Thiele has been delighting children, parents, and teachers with his stories. More than twenty of his books remain in print from a highly productive writing life, and the list continues to grow each year. The reasons for his success are his remarkable understanding of the qualities necessary for children's books, an abiding love of the Australian landscape and its people, and his recognition of the primacy of the story.

Thiele's father, Carl Wihelm Thiele, was born on 3 October 1873 in the Eudunda district north of Adelaide, South Australia. His mother, Amalie Anna Wittwer, was born in Australia on 14 January 1887. Both his parents were of German extraction and lived in an area of South Australia where many German immigrants had established a thriving rural community. Colin Milton Thiele was born on 16 November 1920 in the small town of Eudunda, South Australia, which lies about one...