Philippa Pearce is the daughter of a miller and grew up in a mill near Cambridge. The house, the river and the village feature in many of her best-loved children's books. She was educated at the Perse Girls' School in Cambridge and then at Girton College, Cambridge, where she read English and History. In addition to writing a great many books, she has also worked as a scriptwriter-producer for the BBC, a children's book editor, a book reviewer, a lecturer, a storyteller and as a freelance writer for radio and newspapers. Her now classic books for Puffin include Carnegie Medal winner Tom's Midnight Garden, What the Neighbours Did and A Dog So Small. The Battle of Bubble and Squeak won the Whitbread Award.
'Philippa Pearce's books are outstanding' - Guardian
Sid, Peggy and Amy adore the two gerbils, Bubble and Squeak, but their mother detests them. A major family battle results, and it's clear life is never going to be quite the same again. But after a near fatal encounter between Bubble and Ginger the cat, Mrs Sparrow begins to see that life with a pair of gerbils might not be so bad after all.
