The Bog Baby Award-winning by Jeanne Willis (author) (UK edition)

When two small sisters go fishing to the magic pond, they find something much better than a frog or a newt. They find a bog baby. Small and blue with wings like a dragon, the girls decide to make him their secret. I won’t tell if you won’t.

But the bog baby is a wild thing, and when he becomes poorly, the girls decide they must tell their mum. And she tells them the greatest lesson: if you really love something, you have to let it go.

Jeanne wrote her first book when she was five years old and hasn’t stopped writing since. She has now written over eighty titles, including picture books, novels and television scripts. She has also won numerous awards, including the Children’s Book Award, the Sheffield Children’s Book Award and the Silver Smarties Prize. Her teen novel, Naked Without a Hat, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award in 2004. She often takes inspiration from dreams and interesting conversations with strangers.

Gwen Millward studied illustration in Edinburgh and now spends all of her time painting and writing stories for children about her favourite subject, beasts. Her first book for Puffin, Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood, published in April 2007.

Other wonderful books by either of the two include:

The King of Tiny Things; Guess what I found in Dragon Wood; Happy Birthday in Dragon Wood; Sing a Song of Bottoms; Bottoms Up!; Silly Cecil and Clever Cubs; The Wheels on the Bus; Delilah Darling is in the Library; There’s an Ouch in my Pouch!; Who’s in the Loo?; The Monster Bed; Tadpole’s Promise; The Beasties