Join the wonderfully funny and utterly endearing Mary Plain and her family and friends in her first ever adventure! Mary Plain is an orphan who lives with her relatives in the bear pits at Berne Zoo, Switzerland. A delightful but rather unusual bear, with a huge personality and an appetite to match, you never quite know what escapades she'll get up to next! Gwynedd Rae's enchanting Mary Plain stories have an enduring, timeless appeal and Clara Vulliamy's fresh, funny and energetic illustrations will introduce Mary Plain and friends to a whole new generation of readers. The original text is lovingly reproduced in this hardback foiled edition, with brand-new black and white artwork by renowned illustrator Clara Vulliamy, including a new heart-warming introduction from Clara Vulliamy about what the books mean to her. `Clara Vulliamy's joyous fuzzy-furred pictures are a perfect match for these down-to-earth tales' - The Guardian Welsh author Gwynedd Rae (1892-1977) was the creator of the much-loved Mary Plain series. The first book in the series, Mostly Mary, was published in 1930 and the last, Mary Plain's Whodunnit, was published in 1965. The series includes 14 books about Mary's adventures. Clara Vulliamy has illustrated over 35 children's books and has been published by HarperCollins, Orchard Books, Random House, Walker Books and Kingfisher. She is the daughter of author and illustrator, Shirley Hughes and together they created the Dixie O'Day series. She lives in Twickenham with her husband and has two grown-up daughters.