At school she's called "wimpy Wendy" - but Wendy isn't afraid of Slinky, Grandpa's snake.

At school she's called "wimpy Wendy" - but Wendy isn't afraid of Slinky, Grandpa's snake. When she takes Slinky to school and her he wriggles out of her school bag, Wendy will brave anything to rescue him.

"SOME PEOPLE HAVE goldfish or tortoises or hamsters. Wendy's Grandpa had a snake, a king snake called Slinky. He was black and gold with little beady eyes and an ever-flicking forked tongue."

This book was published 2010 by HarperCollins Publishers .

Michael Morpurgo has brought together poems by writers as diverse as Spike Milligan and Stevie Smith, John Lennon and Jo Shapcott.