Vivienne Creevey worked as a children's publisher throughout the eighties and nineties mainly with Penguin and HarperCollins where she was Deputy Managing Director, before deciding to set up her own children's publishing company.

With a French mother and a degree in Modern Languages, she has a passionate belief that children have a natural ability to learn languages from a very young age. Consultation with language teachers, parents and most importantly children - both her own and other's - confirmed this belief.

A chance meeting through a mutual friend was the basis of a partnership with artist and illustrator Daryl Stevenson. Responding immediately to her bright, simple illustrations with clear child appeal, she knew she'd finally found the perfect illustrator! She commissioned Daryl on the spot and very young children in France were introduced to the character Lucy Tartan and her little dog Freddy. The clear aim was to inspire them to learn English through bright pictures, rhyming stories and sing-along CDs.

With the Lucy Tartan books successfully launched in the French market in 2003, Vivienne and Daryl became business as well as creative partners. Together, they decided to launch picture books to introduce French to English children.

The Max et Mathilde series was born in 2006. Vivienne and Daryl were now on a mission to get the nation's children learning French. Together, they set about thinking up a methodology that would work. Characters children could relate to, and a three tier learning system - word, phrase and dialogue - were the answers, packed with simple, practical, everyday words and phrases.

Meetings around the kitchen table, in cafes, restaurants, on trains and planes replaced the more corporate world of publishing Vivienne was used to. They embarked on a nationwide tour of bookshops - from Inverness to Bath - to promote the books and in the process they have been inspired by thousands of enthusiastic young language learners, who confirmed that singing, dancing and shouting in French is great fun!