Author’s Note

My great hope is that all the books in the series will be accompanied by a big brass band, and I feel confident in saying that big brass band will keep on booming. I have thoroughly loved writing this book and it is a joy to return to these characters. Once again it is being published in blue and in Dyslexie font.

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I would like to thank Fiona Kennedy, Jessie Price, and Clémence Jacquinet at Zephyr; my assistant, Amelia Barratt, for her unbelievable patience and good humor; the effervescent Jacky Bateman; Freya Corry for her wisdom; and Nick Maland for his fabulous illustrations. This book would not be the same without his vision.

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Lastly I’d like to say: Imagination is a unicorn of the mind. You need to feed it and care for it every day to make it become a thing of wonder. Imagination is the greatest gift any child is born with and I believe we need to nurture it, not crush it with examinations. The only way to make it grow is through story, through play, through believing the impossible to be real and making it so.

Sally Gardner

Sussex, May 2019