I've just started a new book. Don't know what it's called yet, but I'm sure a title will come along at some stage. I don't know exactly what it's about, either, because I'm still fitting all the pieces together. But I can say that it will contain some or all of the following:

• A girl who has serious doubts about whether she's really a member of her family. They're huge cat lovers and she's allergic to cats. She's very organised and tidy and they're not. Plus an influential member of the community is spreading rumours. Was she adopted? Was there a mix up at the hospital? Was she left in the supermarket by aliens?

• A school Pets Day where some of the pets have more fun than they ever imagined was remotely possible.

• An acting principal of a primary school who announces he's going to rid the school of an evil menace.

• A DNA testing lab that gets a number of very strange requests, all in the same week.

• Several very smart fish.

I'm also having fun putting in some of the fascinating things I've seen in schools over the past few months. The creative hand-movements some teachers use to quieten a class down. The even more creative fundraising ideas in some schools. Puzzling announcements over loudspeakers. Art projects that take over entire corridors. The things teachers have for lunch.

If I've never visited your school and there's something fascinating and a little bit bizarre happening there that you think I should put in the book, send me an email from the Visitor's Page and tell me about it.

I'll tell you more about the new book next month, when I've found out more about it myself.

Until then, oo-roo and happy reading.

21 October 2002