Mucking about with Monkeys (Toby Tucker Series)

"I hate Scrope, Nellie. I like working with the beasts, but I do not want to work for that man any more. But who would give a job to a dung boy?" I think I could be a gardener. I asked the merchant's wife, very respectfully, "Madam, do you need a boy to help in your garden?" She smiled and said that when she does want someone, she will think of me. I said, "I can be found at the Tower, my lady, in the king's menagerie." "I know!" she said. Everyone laughed. They all know where I come from because I smell of lion and dung. I did not laugh.

Valerie Wilding was a teacher for 20 years and now manages a school library. She has written more than 30 books, including Diggers and Dumpers and Real Princesses. Michael Broad is the illustrator of Broken Bird.