I hope those of you who've got your hands on Toad Heaven already are enjoying it. My friends look at me a bit strangely when I tell them I've fallen in love with a group of cane toads, but it's true and I'm already planning another book about Limpy, Goliath and Charm for next year.

This website has just had its second birthday, and I've decided to go wild and celebrate with a special birthday offer - read on!

If you've ever sent me an email from the Visitors Page, you'll know that up till now I haven't replied individually to messages. I've been fearful that I'd spend all my time writing emails and not have any time left to write books. Well, I believe in confronting my fears, as long as they don't involve spiders, and so I make the following announcement:

For the months of December and January I will do my very very best to answer all emails individually.

If I just can't manage it because of family stuff or because I get an urgent call from a bookshop to come round and dust their shelves, I'll still put the best of your messages in the Visitors Book like I always have. But I will try very hard to answer them all personally and that's a promise.

I hope you all have a great holiday and a peaceful and happy New Year. I'm looking forward to next year. In February Penguin are publishing Second Childhood The Play, a wonderful adaptation of my book by Glen Perry. Then in April the single volume edition of Deadly! comes out. Also in April your school will be able to order The Morris Gleitzman Story Writing video, which will help you get started writing those stories without tearing out a single handful of hair. I'm pretty sure it'll help you finish them too. Around the middle of the year you'll be able to get audio tapes of Adults Only and Toad Heaven. My new books next year will be out in August and November. And I'll be visiting lots of schools in both those months.

Until next month, oo-roo and happy reading

15 December 2001