A fabulously fun story featuring favourite fairytale characters and the brilliant Kittie Lacey, fairytale hairdresser!

Abie Longstaff is the eldest of six children and grew up in Australia, Hong Kong and France. She knows all about squabbling, chaos and bossing younger sisters around. So she logically began her career as a barrister. She started writing when her children were born. Her favourite childhood books were Hating Alison Ashley, A Little Princess, Maura's Angel and The Black Stallion and she sneakily reads them again sometimes. Abie lives in North London with her family and a very pesky cocker spaniel who chews the post. Her story, Ready, is published in Scholastic's anthology WOW! 366. She has two picture books coming out with Scholastic (Dad's New Job and The Mummy Shop) and RHCB will be publishing her first book with us, Pirate House Swap, in April 2011. Lauren Beard graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in illustration in 2006. The same year she was highly commended in the Macmillan book prize. She has worked as a freelance illustrator ever since. This is Lauren's first book for RHCB