Born to an English mother and Indian father, award-winning children's author Jamila Gavin entered the world on August 9,1941, in Mussoorie, India, a town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Growing up, she spent time in both India and England, though she once told ACHUKA, a Web site devoted to British authors and illustrators, that she saw her mother as her main source of early education.

I remember lessons on the veranda with her in India—learning to read and even learning a bit of French.... I didn't enjoy school. I was naughty and didn't do my best. I didn't enjoy formal learning, and did much better when I found things out for myself throughout the rest of my life.

However much Gavin disliked school, she did enjoy music, studying in both Germany and France before graduating from the Trinity College of Music...