Selby Santa (14 page)

A book like this isn’t made by one person alone, so the author would particularly like to thank the following people: Jill Quin, Jo Butler, Lisa Berryman, Shona Martyn, Cristina Cappelluto, Sam Rich and Barbara Mobbs. And many thanks to all the kids who have written encouraging letters and emails to me. I’d especially like to thank Jackson Ellery-Higgins and Riley Cockerill. As always, many thanks to Allan Stomann for his excellent illustrations.

Duncan Ball is an Australian author who writes popular books for children. This book,
Selby Santa
, is the fifteenth story collection about Selby, ‘the only talking dog in Australia and, perhaps, the world’. There is also a collection of Selby stories taken from the other books called
Selby’s Selection
, and two jokes books:
Selby’s Joke Book
and
Selby’s Side-Splitting Joke Book
.

Duncan has also written the Emily Eyefinger books, a series about the adventures of a girl who was born with an eye on the end of her finger, and the comedy novels
Piggott Place
and
Piggotts in Peril
about the frustrations of a twelve-year-old boy, Bert Piggott, in a never-ending
struggle to get his family of ratbags and dreamers out of trouble.

Duncan lives in Sydney with his wife, Jill, and their cat, Jasper. Duncan is sure that Jasper can’t talk and can’t understand people-talk but he seems to know about Christmas. He spends a lot of time looking at the presents under the Christmas tree and is always especially interested in a little present wrapped up for him (a tin of extra-special cat food).

Emily Eyefinger
Emily Eyefinger, Secret Agent
Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure
Emily Eyefinger and the Black Volcano
Emily Eyefinger’s Alien Adventure
Emily Eyefinger and the Devil Bones
Emily Eyefinger and the Balloon Bandits
Emily Eyefinger and the Ghost Ship
Emily Eyefinger and the Puzzle in the Jungle
Emily Eyefinger and the City in the Sky

Piggott Place
Piggotts in Peril

The Case of the Graveyard Ghost and Other Mysteries
The Case of the Vampire’s Wire and Other Mysteries

Selby’s Secret
Selby Screams
Selby Spacedog
Selby Surfs
Selby’s Joke Book
Selby’s Selection
Selby’s Side-Splitting Joke Book
Selby Sorcerer
Selby Speaks
Selby Supersnoop
Selby Snowbound
Selby Snaps!
Selby Splits
Selby’s Stardom
Selby Scrambled
Selby Shattered
Selby’s Shemozzle