Ian Whybrow¿s many popular successes range from picture books to novels for older children. Best known for his original humour, he always writes with adult readers as well as young ones in mind. He has a brilliant ear for voices, and takes pride in the fact that his work reads aloud very well. `I loved being read to as a child,¿ he says. `And I loved the sense that my parents were enjoying it too. For me, that¿s the acid test for any book ¿ that there¿s something in it for everyone to enjoy.

At Muckabout School, pupils are not allowed to behave. IT IS FORBIDDEN. It's bad to be good and it's good to be bad. So running in corridors, being rude to teachers, never saying 'sorry' and being foul to your friends is the right way to behave.