A black mamba has escaped from the zoo and Arabel and Mortimer are missing.

Joan Aiken, the daughter of the American poet and writer Conrad Aiken and Jessie Macdonald Aiken (also an author), was an immensely popular and prolific author who wrote almost a hundred novels for adults and children. The creator of the stories about Arabel and her pet raven Mortimer, which have been televised on the BBC, she wrote wonderful, quirky novels, full of humour and the unexpected, about alternative realities. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase won the 1965 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award and was made into a film. Joan Aiken died in 2004. Quentin Blake is one of the best-known and best-loved illustrators of our time, and his books with a wide range of authors, including Joan Aiken, Russell Hoban, Michael Rosen and Roald Dahl, have been treasured by generations of children throughout the world. In 1999 he became the first Children's Laureate. In 2005 he was awarded a CBE. To visit Quentin Blake's website click here