First published 25 years ago, this book by the Poet Laureate is now regarded as a classic of its kind. It includes 11 stories of what happened to a number of animals, including the owl, whale, polar bear, and the donkey who wanted to be a lion.
Ted Hughes is widely considered one of the greatest poets of his generation and indeed one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. He was born in Yorkshire in 1930, and was Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998. In 1974 Hughes was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. In 1977 he was awarded an OBE for services to Literature, and was awarded the Order of Merit in 1998. His most widely read classic children’s story The Iron Man, has been adapted for both stage and screen, and is regarded as one of the greatest children’s books of all time.
