The Spiral Stair

With Noah the boa using his coils to work the doughnut machine and with the three giraffes tangled upon the spiral stair, Mortimer’s first night in a zoo was one to be remembered for a long, long time.

About the Author

JOAN AIKEN, the daughter of the American poet and┬ánovelist Conrad Aiken, was an immensely popular and prolific┬áauthor who wrote over a hundred novels for adults and children.┬áThe creator of the stories about Arabel and her pet raven Mortimer,┬áoriginally written for the BBC’s Jackanory series and which have┬ábeen televised on the BBC, she also wrote wonderful, quirky novels,┬áfull of humour and the unexpected.┬áThe Wolves of Willoughby Chase┬áwon the 1964 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award and was made into a film.┬áJoan Aiken was awarded an MBE for her services to children’s literature in 1999. She died in 2004.

QUENTIN BLAKE┬áis one of the best-known 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, and in 2013 he was knighted for services to illustration. Quentin lives in London.┬á