Thank you to everyone at Penguin, especially my publisher Lisa Riley and my amazing editor Katrina Lehman, for always understanding the story I want to tell. Thank you to Tony Palmer for the design and layout of my illustrations.

Thank you to Jane Godwin, who read the first draft and told me that she didn’t get a sense of place. This essential advice sent me to the Berkshires in Massachusetts to stay with Ginny Granger in her lovely house surrounded by acres of woods, where bear, deer, wild turkey, woodchuck and chipmunk roam. Thank you Ginny for your kind hospitality and inspiration. And thank you Jennifer Howlett for taking me on long walks in the woods and sharing your abundant woodland knowledge. The research I did there was invaluable.

Thank you to Paul Bennett for keeping me sane at a moment when I thought I would never get the novel done. I’m sure Kangaroo Island air helped too.

Thank you to Aziz ElOuakhoumi for your cultural advice. Part of the inspiration for this book came after taking a trip to beautiful Morocco.

Thank you to Cath Crowley and Corinne Fenton for sharing the joy of life, writing and books over cups of chai.

Thank you to the children at the various schools I visited for giving me your opinion on the title and the choice of Ziggy’s name. One of the best things about being a children’s author is meeting my readers.

As always, I am grateful to Sylvie Martin and Hope Stewart for their support.

And to my family, who are always there to read through drafts and brainstorm ideas: Steve Clavey, my mum Mabel Wang – who turns ninety-three this year – my daughter Lei Lei Clavey and my son Ren Clavey. You are all wonderful!

And, of course, I can’t leave out my dog Hero, who waits patiently every day while I write and draw, and who finally gets me away from my desk for a walk in the woods.