Elephant is puzzled when a strange parcel arrives on James's doorstep. She can't see what's inside, but she hears an odd rustling sound and a hiccup. The toys are afraid it might be a terrible fierce pouncer, but once they've managed to coax it out, they discover it's actually extremely shy.

 

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 1997 by Random House Children's Publishers UK .

Neil Reed has been an illustrator for more than twenty years and has illustrated novels such as Goodnight, Mr Tom and What Katy Did. As well as illustrating, Neil enjoys landscape design and painting. He currently lives in Cornwall. Shirley Isherwood has been writing children's books for many years and this is her first for Little Tiger Press. Shirley lives in Manchester. Simon Mendez studied Scientific and Natural History illustration in Blackpool.