tion id="u3b176348-e1c5-55aa-837b-6ac00d1fdac3">
First published in Great Britain by Faber and Faber Ltd in 1978
First published by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2017
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd,
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is
© The Estate of Helen Creswell 1978
Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers 2017
Cover illustration © Sara Ogilvie 2017
Helen Cresswell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books
Source ISBN: 9780008211707
Ebook Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780008211721
Version: 2017-03-17
To Candida with love
Table of Contents
The whole thing started when Uncle Parker won a cruise in the Caribbean for two after filling in a leaflet he had idly picked up in the village shop. The minute the news was known in the Bagthorpe household disbelief, annoyance and downright jealousy began to degenerate into what became, inevitably, an All Out Furore.
The company who had promoted this competition sold SUGAR-COATED PUFFBALLS breakfast cereal. Mr Bagthorpe immediately stated that Uncle Parker should refuse the prize on moral grounds. Uncle Parker, he said, had never consumed so much as a single SUGAR-COATED PUFFBALL in his entire life, and was thus automatically disqualified from reaping a reward for doing so. Mrs Bagthorpe did not agree. Daisy Parker, she said, ate a lot of SUGAR-COATED PUFFBALLS, she ate them every day of her life.
In that case, Mr Bagthorpe said, Daisy should have filled in the competition form. He then turned on his own children.
“Don’t you lot ever eat SUGAR-COATED PUFFBALLS?” he demanded. “What’s the matter with you?”
“I do,” said Jack promptly. “I really like them.”
“So why didn’t you go in for this thing?”
“I haven’t got a leaflet,” Jack said. “And even if I had, I wouldn’t have bothered. Nobody ever wins those things.”
“On the contrary, somebody does win them,” said Mr Bagthorpe in a tight voice. “We know that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me there was a competition?” asked William. “Then I could’ve won a prize.”
“You don’t automatically win by filling in a form, you know,” Tess told him. “Usually some kind of skill is required. And usually the deciding factor is a slogan.”
“So?” said William.
“I’d be better at slogans than you,” said