Meet the author

John Kane.

Writer & illustrator · Ireland

John Kane: creator of the I Say Ooh You Say Aah interactive read-alouds — riotous call-and-response picture books that turn story time into a noisy, giggling game.

John Kane is a children's author and illustrator from Northern Ireland, now living in Dublin, who came to picture books after a career in advertising. As a boy he made up stories for his little sister, and he created his first book for his own reluctant-reader son. That book, I say Ooh You say Aah (2018), is a riotous call-and-response picture book built entirely around participation: the grown-up says one thing, the child shouts the response, and the rules soon go gloriously, gigglingly wrong. It won the English 4–11 Picture Book Award and launched a series of interactive read-alouds — I Say Boo, You Say Hoo and I Say Oh, You Say No — that turn story time into a noisy, joyful game. Kane's books thrive on a group and reward children who love spotting the moment the book breaks its own rules. A reliable classroom and bedtime performer.