He taught illustration for over twenty years at the Royal College of Art, of which he is an honorary professor. Joan had a variety of jobs, including working for the BBC, the United Nations Information Centre and then as features editor for a short story magazine. Mr Jones decides to take the bird home to Number Six, Rainwater Crescent, London, NW 3 ½, to meet his daughter, Arabel, she'll know what to do - she loves animals! He has won many prizes, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, the Eleanor Farjeon Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal, and in 1999 he was appointed the first Children’s Laureate. Joan Aiken wrote over a hundred books for young readers and adults and is recognized as one of the classic authors of the twentieth century.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Joan Aiken - Bibliography

Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this treasured edition of Arabel and Mortimer Stories.

Owen Hughes, hero, friend of young Prince of Wales, son of James lll, meets Dido years later at end of The Cuckoo Tree when crowned Richard IV. Late one night, as Mr Jones drove his taxi home through a storm, he spotted a large black bird with a hairy fringe round its beak sprawled out in the road.

Arabel and Mortimer Stories - Penguin Books UK Arabel and Mortimer Stories - Penguin Books UK

Her books are internationally acclaimed and she received the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the United States as well as the Guardian Award for Fiction in this country for The Whispering Mountain. Her best-known books are those in the James III saga, of which The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was the first title, published in l962 and awarded the Lewis Carroll prize.