Michael Morpurgo

Retellings of twenty-one classic Aesop fables, including "The Hare and the Tortoise" and "Belling the Cat," in updated language.

While looking for his mother, Wombat meets many animals that are not impressed with his talent for digging and thinking, but when a fire approaches, they change their minds.

Because she is slender and cries at sad stories, Wendy is teased by the school bully until the day she brings in her grandfather's huge snake, then has to bravely rescue him after he wriggles out of her school bag.