One Saturday, in the middle of June,
one bright and windy afternoon,

all the creatures by Piggyback Wood
were getting ready - as fast as they could.

There was only a short time left to prepare
for the birthday party at Badger's lair.

Badger's having a birthday party and Harry and Lil are getting ready, but just as Lil is getting her favourite hat off the washing line to wear, it blows away. Harry says it's gone for good, but Lil says you should never say never "if birds can fly, shrews can, too" An umbrella doesn't work, nor does a fan... but then Deer comes along with a big green balloon!

Julia Copus was born in London and now lives in Somerset. She has won First Prize in the National Poetry Competition and the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (2010). In 2012, Faber published her third collection The World's Two Smallest Humans, which was shortlisted for both the Costa poetry award and the T. S. Eliot prize. She also writes for radio; her first play, Eenie Meenie Macka Racka, was awarded the BBC's Alfred Bradley prize. She is a Lector for the Royal Literary Fund, and in 2008 was made an Honorary Fellow at the University of Exeter. Her debut book for children, Hog in the Fog (the first in the Harry & Lil series), was published by Faber in 2014.