It's time to get out of the bath but Shirley's not listening. She's floated away to a secret watery land beyond the plughole?to where knights ride white horses, and kings and queens float in moats around their castles.

John Burningham is one of the most prestigious and well-loved illustrators working in the children's book field today. Trained at the Central School of Art, his first picture book, Borka was published in 1963. He has won the Kate Greenaway Award twice for Borka and Mr Gumpy's Outing, and has enjoyed a distinguished career spanning over 45 years.