Funny, thought-provoking and moving, this much loved story is a true classic.'What are we, Papa?' the toy mouse child asked his father.'I don't know,' the father answered.'We must wait and see.'So begins the story of a tin father and son who dance under a Christmas tree until they break the ancient clockwork rules and are themselves broken. Thrown away, then rescued from a dustbin and repaired by a tramp, they set out on a dangerous quest for a family and a place of their own - the magnificent doll's house, the plush elephant and the tin seal they had once know in the toy shop.'Hugely funny, provocative, pathetic and heroic.' TLS'Brilliantly plotted . . . a spellbinder . . . it has a style that glows and crackles.'Spectator

Russell Hoban was born in Pennsylvania in 1925. He went to art school before serving in World War II and was a freelance illustrator eight years before taking up full-time writing. His many works of fiction and poetry for both adults and children have won him many awards. The Mouse and his Child has been hailed as one of the great children's classics of the twentieth century.