THOUGH decades apart in age, North East schoolchildren and the author of some of Britain’s best-loved books found they had a lot in common.

In 1933, Judith Kerr – famous as the author and illustrator of the Mog books and also The Tiger Who Came to Tea – escaped from Germany in the nick of time, just before Hitler and the Nazis came to power.

She was just nine years old – similar in age to the pupils of Christ Church C of E Primary School, Newcastle, who have embarked on a project with Judith in the run-up to an exhibition at Seven Stories in September.

Many of the Christ Church children were also born overseas and are now settling into new lives in Britain.

While Judith, 86 is best known for the tales of Mog, a friendly tabby cat, the year five and six children are working on projects inspired by her semi-autobiographical novel, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. First published in 1971, it features Judith’s alter ego, nine-year-old Anna. But while the name is made up, many of her adventures mirror Judith’s own.

At Seven Stories this week she demonstrated her perfect recall of her family’s flight from Germany.

“My father (Alfred Kerr) was a writer and very well known in Germany. He worked mainly as a drama critic but he also wrote about other things and he recognised the threat of Hitler very early on, which is why the Nazis hated him.

“We were all very lucky. He had to get out within a few hours, before the election when Hitler came to power.

“He told my mother that he wanted her, my brother and me to be out of the country before the election because, he said, ‘They’ll hang on to you to get me back’.

“My mother’s friends said, ‘This is crazy. They’ll never do that’. But that is exactly what they did try to do.