Oxford Reds is our first major superseries for newly confident readers.

Each book is on a real-life subject, with a simple lively text and richly coloured, realistic illustrations.

Many are written by well-known children's writers. Each one is written by an author who communicates enthusiasm, passion and understanding for the subject.

Approved by educational experts, Oxford Reds contain clear type, simple sentence structures, information boxes, contents pages, alphabetical glossaries, and parents' and teacher's notes.

These books will appeal particularly to the beginner reader who prefers factual information to a story.

The series is planned to launch with 12 titles in 2000 followed by 8 per year.

Other subjects include: Sharks; Snakes; Frogs and Toads; Dogs; Rockets; Wolves; Dinosaurs.

About the author: Paul May was born in London and now lives in Norfolk with his partner, Elli, and their two children.

He has been a teacher for the last 12 years, and currently teaches children with learning difficulties in a large Lowestoft primary school.His first novel for children has just been published ("Troublemakers", Corgi Yearling) and there are two more in the pipeline, "Cat Patrol" and "Defenders".