Toby Tucker is an orphan with a secret. He owns a chest filled with torn paper, and a strange message: Piece your family tree together and you'll find out who you are and when you come from. When he manages to put together a name, the most incredible magic happens. Toby travels back in time and becomes his ancestor! He's already been to Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. This time Toby is magicked back to Tudor London, into John Bunn's life, and finds himself mucking out and mucking about as animal keeper to the king: 'I hate Scrope, Nellie. I like working with the beasts, but I do not want to work for that man any more. But who would give a job to a dung boy?' I think I could be a gardener. I asked the merchant's wife, very respectfully, 'Madam, do you need a boy to help in your garden?' She smiled and said that when she does want someone, she will think of me. I said, 'I can be found at the Tower, my lady, in the king's menagerie.' 'I know!' she said. Everyone laughed. They all know where I come from because I smell of lion and dung. I did not laugh.

 

This book is part of a book series called Toby Tucker .

There are 160 pages in this book. This book was published 2007 by Egmont UK Ltd .

Michael Broad lives in Surrey with a big black dog called Bella who likes to drop toys at his feet while he's writing or drawing and then waits for him to get up and trip over them. Valerie Wilding has been writing for 20 years and has written many books for all age ranges. She is the author of the Secret Diaries series, publishing April 2006. This is her first Banana. She lives in Alton, Hampshire. Maria Maddocks has illustrated two board books about vehicles for Ladybird previously. This is her first Banana.