Congratulations to the winner of the Morris Gleitzman Quiz, Jack Chapman of Currumbin Primary.

Even as you read this, Jack will be in the process of moving out of his bedroom so he can fit in all the books he's won. And the Currumbin Primary School library will probably be announcing the building of an extension soon too.

I hope everyone else who entered had fun. There were some fantastic answers to the final question, 'In 50 words or less, tell us what you think happens to Mr Napier, the not-very-nice school principal in Teacher's Pet, after the end of the story'. The judging panel are still recovering from the stress of choosing just one winner. You can see how hard it was by reading the selection of answers to the final question on the Competition page.

As well as pondering all the different possible futures for Mr Napier, I've been hard at work in the Amazon jungle with Limpy, Charm and Goliath, finishing off the Toad Away manuscript. It'll be out in November, and I'll be visiting different parts of Australia then, hopefully with some cane toads in tow.

I may well be down your way before then. The Books Alive campaign is taking me to Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Maroochydore in early August. Books Alive is a national campaign to encourage reading. If you've seen the ads on TV you'll know that if you go into almost any bookshop in the land between 2 and 15 August and buy any book, you can also buy one of six selected titles for $5. Included in the six are two titles for young readers, Toad Heaven by me, and Tashi by Anna Fienberg.

I'm visiting quite a few schools in Sydney and Melbourne between 11 and 23 August, so if you see a weary but excited figure staggering across your playground, it may well be me.

And I'll be touring in the UK in the first half of September. Not sure exactly where, yet but I'll get the details on this page as soon as I know them.

Until next time, oo-roo and happy reading,

4 August 2003