Catherine Walters

Catherine Walters is a children’s author best known for writing, The Magical Snowman, a winter-themed picture book. The story follows Little Rabbit, who builds a snowman and discovers the magical bonds of friendship when he gets lost in the snow. The book is known for its charming illustrations and captures the essence of childhood wonder and the magic of friendship. Her work fits within early childhood literature, where the emphasis is on storytelling and engagement. When Will It Be Spring? is one of her best-known children’s picture books. The book is a gentle, repetitive story designed for young children, focusing on seasonal change, patience and waiting, simple storytelling structure and warm parent–child dialogue. Catherine has written several other children’s picture books, including Max and Minnie, Can I Stay with You? Too Busy for Benjie, Molly and the Storm, and more. These titles are mainly seasonal and animal-themed stories, often set in winter environments and designed for very young readers. Across her work, Catherine Walters tends to write gentle, easy-to-follow picture book stories about animal characters such as bears, puppies, and woodland creatures, and teaches simple emotional lessons like patience, friendship, and kindness.

Catherine Walters has followed her childhood dream of becoming an illustrator and an author. Since she was illustrating children’s books at the same time as writing children’s books, she adopted the pen name of Christine Leeson to ensure that there was no confusion when her stories were illustrated by artists other than herself. Some of the titles she has illustrated include, The Dangerous Tiger, The Monkey who Wanted the Moon, Never Trust a Squirrel, Sleep Tight Ginger Kitten, An Acorn for Tea, Buster, and many more. Catherine Walters has illustrated, written and in the case of some book titles, authored and illustrated (Play Gently, Alfie Bear, Time to Sleep, Alfie Bear, Are you there Baby Bear, and more) over 30 Children’s Books. Her books have been enjoyed by children throughout Europe, the USA and Asia. They have been translated into all the main European languages, as well as a diverse range of others, including French, German, Urdu, Japanese and Korean.

Catherine Walters was born in the UK and grew up in Kent, she studied BA (Hons) Graphic Design in Hull (in the North of England), where she chose to specialise in Illustration for the final two years of the course. After moving to Yorkshire, and living in India for 3 years, Catherine Walters relocated to Tasman, New Zealand where she now lives with her family and two meddlesome Siamese cats.