This book is part of a book series called The Longman Book Project .

. This book is part of a reading scheme, meaning that it is a book aimed at children who are learning to read.

This book was published 2000 by Pearson Education Limited .

Alexander McCall Smith grew up in Zimbabwe and then moved to Scotland. He is a professor of Medical Law and has written over 50 books, including the well-loved and best-selling No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. He lives in Edinburgh. Debjani Chatterjee was born in India and came to Britain at nineteen. She attended seven schools and four universities, worked in the steel industry, education and community relations, and is now a full-time writer. She chairs the National Association of Writers in Education, contributes to the Poetry Society's poetryclass website and is a founder member of The Bengali Women's Support Group. The author of thirty-five books, Debjani has been called 'a voice of rare originality' (David Morley) and 'a poet full of wit and charm' (Andrew Motion). Her poetry has won major prizes. Carolyn Sloan began her writing career as a journalist and went on to write fiction and non-fiction for children. She lived in India for many years and now lives in Surrey. Mary Murphy is a young and very popular illustrator. She is perhaps best known for the character Little Penguin who appears in her Egmont titles. This is her first book for Puffin. Mary lives in County Galway. Ann Jungman is a prolific children's author whose titles include the ever-popular Vlad the Drac and Leila's Magical Monster Party. Her first book for Frances Lincoln was Cinderella and the Hot Air Balloon, illustrated by Russell Ayto.