About the book
A 2020 Storylines Notable Book!
Avis has a dream to work with animals, so when a scientist with a witchy-looking house offers her a job as a pet-sitter she jumps at the chance. But it turns out Avis is not looking after pets at all – the animals in Dr Malinda Childes’ backyard are as eccentric as she is and Avis has to promise to keep them a secret.
But one promise and one secret leads to more promises and more secrets and before long Avis finds herself overwhelmed by promises and secrets and responsibilities and one very BIG chocolatey dragonish problem.
Heather McQuillan used to be a teacher who wrote. Now she is a writer who teaches. The two roles keep getting twisted and tangled. This is her third novel for young people. She also writes short stories, flash fiction and poetry for all ages. If she is not writing in her room at the top of a spiral staircase then Heather can often be found at The School for Young Writers in Christchurch, where she is a tutor and director.
