There's a nobility in his eye, a regal serenity about him. Does he not personify all that men try to be and never can be?

Perhaps it is partly that we need to love books ourselves as parents, grandparents and teachers in order to pass on that passion for stories to our children. It's not about testing and reading schemes, but about loving stories and passing on that passion to our children.

We're much alike, bee, you and me," I said. "You may carry your pack underneath you and your rifle may stick out of your bottom. But you and me, bee, are much alike.

It is the child's understanding that teaches the adults the way of the future. They're still doing it today with modern technology.

Elephants are my favourite creatures and have been since I was a boy and my mother read Kipling's The Elephant's Child to me. It was loving elephants so much that made we want to write my own story with an elephant at the centre and its bond with a child.

But I didn’t dare. That has always been my trouble. I’ve never dared enough.

I think there's something about studying a book which will kill it if you're not careful.