A candid and very funny memoir from beloved childrens book author Dick King-Smith.Before he was a childrens book author, Dick King-Smith was a soldier, a farmer, a salesman, a factory worker, and a teacher.

But he was always a devoted family man who loved the countryside he lived in and the animals he kept.

In this insightful memoir, Dick King-Smith recounts the joys and failures of his life with equal humor and candor. And he remembers a delightful cast of animal charactersfrom Anna, the dachshund who turned out to be just stubborn, not deaf, to the 600-pound pig Monty, who liked to be scratched on top of his head, to Wilhelmina, a pet badger who was fond of love bites.

As readers delight in recognizing the inspiration behind many of Dick King-Smiths books, theyll also see how a collection of experiences made a man a writer.From the Hardcover edition.