This was inspired by an old oriental story about the unborn animals choosing their gifts from God.

It was great fun to write a Truly Ghastly Teacher. I had a horrible teacher when I was in the Infants, and I used to wish and wish that she'd go away, but one day we went into school...and, quite suddenly, she'd left.

I'm afraid we danced round the playground cheering.

Steve May's picture of the dead teacher in this book is an all-time favourite of mine. He's brilliant at using patterns to link the shapes of his pictures together.

I based the aliens, Trowpockle and Miss Trada, on my dentist and his nurse. His nickname was "Butcher" and he used to do silly walks with a scalpel in each hand.

Trowpockle's quite normal, really, considering!

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