When I was on a train travelling through Denmark, I saw a little girl.

She had very blonde hair and pointy eyes like an elf. She was colouring and sticking while she chatted non-stop. Although I couldn’t understand what she was saying, there was something about her that was mesmerizing – she had a cheekiness about her.

When I got home from my trip I drew her as I remembered her, in a little dress with trousers underneath. Then I tried to think of a story that would work with her character. I was a very fussy eater as a child and didn’t like to eat anything if I didn’t know what it was; nothing with lumps or bits, nothing mixed together. So this became her story.

I still have a picture of her in my mind and I sometimes think it is strange that there is this person walking about who has no idea that she inspired a series of books about a girl called Lola.

Lauren says: I had just finished Clarice Bean, That’s Me – quite a complicated book to illustrate and in some ways quite sophisticated in terms of text and typography – and I wanted I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato to have a different feel. The story is simpler and younger than Clarice Bean, That’s Me, the overall feel is less chaotic, easier to read with simpler pictures. I decided to have an introduction to the characters ‘I have this little sister Lola, she is small and very funny’ this gives the book a cosy read-aloud feel.

In the first four Charlie and Lola books, you’ll notice we only leave their home once. With the exception of one trip to school, Charlie and Lola spend all their time in their flat: all the places they visit and the things they see are imagined.

In the following two books I’ve taken them out of their home. We see them outside and get more of a sense of the town they live in.

It is quite a challenge writing these books because they follow a very strict pattern; the subject is simple and always about the tiny things in life. Tiny things, which can seem very big when you are four or seven. 

Read all about Charlie and Lola at their very own Story page.