In earlier books, I described how I came to live with Emma, now aged 6 and Jack, now aged 8, how I used to fight with Ginger, the family's tomcat and how I had so much fun with all sorts of animals such as foxes and horses. But if that wasn't enough excitement for a puppy, a very old and very big Grandfather clock came into the house and taught me how to become a Magic Dog. Being a Magic Dog allowed me to do tricks, of course, but it also helped me do some really important things - such as helping the police during a bank robbery and saving a herd of elephants from a gang of poachers. Now my Magic Powers were going to be really tested again. The Grandfather clock sent me on a mission to a remote and deserted island in the middle of the ocean to save a family who had been shipwrecked. As if this wasn't difficult enough, I had to also save them from a motley crew of desperados, a shipful of cut-throat Pirates. Read how I, until recently just an ordinary, land-lubber pooch, managed to fly over land and sea, through clouds and rainbows (and time) to go back to the 5th January 1705 - for then was when my adventure began. This book describes what happened.
About the Author: Running a U3A Creative Writing Group, James Hill was inspired (actually nagged) by members to join them in writing short stories to present to the twice monthly meetings. Having four lively, silly and very lovable grandsons and a very naughty grand-dog gave him all the material he needed. He took up the challenge and Ziggy - Cheeky Doggy Tales is the outcome. However, he wanted to make the stories a bit different. For a start they are all told from the dog's point of view and to mirror that, the delightful pictures (drawn by Rachael Reeves and more recently by Kate Bates) show only the legs and feet of the children. The dog is definitely centre-stage. He is also very clever - he can understand human speech and even spell (badly). But being a puppy he is naughty and fascinated by bowel and bladder functions. This is the first in a series of books that follow Ziggy as he grows up. But just as the acts of naughtiness become less frequent, the family welcomes a newcomer to the house and the excitement starts all over again. The stranger is very old and very tall, and although he has a face and hands and can speak, he isn't like any other. Now the dog's life moves in an entirely new direction. Coming under the influence of the new arrival and unhindered by the laws of physics, Ziggy acquires supernatural powers. Travelling through time and space, his adventures become even more heroic and amazing, although at heart he remains the same kind, brave and lovable animal he always was. There are now 4 books in the Ziggy the Dog series. This is not James Hill's first foray into writing. His first book, THE UPRIGHTS is set 50,000 years ago and shows what life might have been like for a group of early humans. Physically identical to us in every respect (although no doubt, not so well washed) - they struggled to make sense of a hostile and mysterious world. Not only that, they were outnumbered by lions, Neanderthals and other more powerful predators: in a very real sense, they were an endangered species: one animal among many - and a rather puny one at that. So how did they survive - and indeed prosper? The book tries to show how this might have happened. Before he retired, James Hill was a clinical psychiatrist. He lives near London with his wife, while their children have moved to pastures new: their daughter to Stratford-upon-Avon and their son to Chorleywood in Hertfordshire.