ROSS Collins admits even he is surprised by what young readers invent about the characters he has created.

“Kids see things in your books you haven’t even thought of,” he marvels. “They know the books in a way that I don’t, which is really interesting, and I love hearing their ideas.”

He jokes: “I don’t THINK I’ve pinched any of them yet….”

Two of the awardwinning Glasgow author’s most loved characters are back for a third adventure this Christmas.

Bear and Mouse, first seen at war in the picture book There’s a Bear on My Chair and then as friends in the sequel There’s a Mouse in My House, return in We Disagree About This Tree, a very funny tale to which most families can relate at this time of year.

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“In the first book, Mouse and Bear were adversaries, which was really fun to draw,” explains Ross, who lives in the west end with partner Jacqui and son Ridley, who is seven.

“But you can’t do that forever, so in the second book I decided to make them friends – they have a bit of an Odd Couple relationship, I suppose.”

He adds, with a laugh: “One for the kids, that reference…

"They are generally getting along, but there are trigger points, and I thought, what kind of situation might cause a bit of tension between them? Oh, I know – Christmas….”

The version of Christmas we are sold in the movies, says Ross, is of course not the whole story.

“In Hollywood, everything is magical and the perfect family is pictured dressing the tree in a beautiful home, but that doesn’t show what you often have to get through to get to that point,” he says.

“The struggle to carry the tree home and hoping you don’t kill someone when it falls off the roof of your car on the motorway; pine needles stabbing your feet on the stairs for days on end; and the fact as soon as it’s up your kids want to decorate it immediately, but the lights have to go on first, and everything HAS AN ORDER…”

He breaks off with a laugh. “The whole situation is full of peril," he adds, "which made it ripe for Bear and Mouse.”

We Disagree About This Tree, published by Nosy Crow, is about Bear and Mouse coming up with increasingly ridiculous ways to show off to each other with giant baubles and outlandish decorations (even a manatee makes an appearance) until common sense and friendship win out in the end.

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“I think the message is that Christmas is not about consumerism, or who has the biggest tree with the biggest baubles, it’s about being together,” says Ross, adding quickly: “But told in a fun way, because if the book was just about that, kids would run a mile.”

Ross has written more than 100 books since winning the Macmillan Prize for his very first one, The Sea Hole, in 1994, just after he graduated with a First Class Honours degree in illustration from Glasgow School of Art. His picture book The Elephantom was adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play by the National Theatre team behind War Horse.

There’s a Bear on My Chair – a story of a small mouse trying to get a bullying bear off his chair, won the first Amnesty CILIP Honour, awarded to a children’s book which tackles human rights issues. Judges felt it could teach children “a great deal about peaceful protest.”

Recently, Ross illustrated new versions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, which were republished to mark the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic.

“That was a wonderful honour, to get the chance to reinvent this character people know so well,” he says. “It was a huge task, having to create this whole world, but so rewarding. It gave me an appetite to do more classics, in fact. I’d love to tackle something like Peter Pan.

“There is another side to me you don’t see in something like Bear and Mouse, which is that I’m quite 'Gothic'. I grew up loving supernatural stories.”

Getting back into schools to meet his young readers, after a Covid-imposed hiatus, has been fantastic, says Ross, and occasionally, he is reminded of the way his stories connect with people all over the world.

“I got an email from a man in France recently, who told me his daughter had been plagued by nightmares when she was five years old, and it was reading my book Cheesemares to her every night which helped,” he explains. “That was very nice to hear. She is 23 now, so it also made me feel incredibly old.

“Occasionally you do have that connection and that reminder of the effect your books have on people, which is lovely.”

He adds: “But most of the time, I’m just drawing nice pictures I hope will tickle some children.”

And will Bear and Mouse return for more adventures?

Ross grins: “I definitely see more life in these characters, so you never know….”