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Jacqueline Wilson is to write an updated version of E Nesbit's classic children's novel Five Children and It in a new deal with Puffin.
Elv Moody, editorial director for Classic Puffin, and Alexandra Antscherl, Puffin senior editor, bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Caroline Walsh at David Higham Associates.
First published in 1902 and never out of print, Nesbit's book follows a group of children who discover a sand-fairy who grants them one wish per day. When the wishes go comically wrong, the children's adventures begin. Wilson said: "E Nesbit is my all-time favourite classic children's authors, so I'm delighted to have this chance to write a contemporary version of Five Children and It. It will be a very exciting challenge."
Meanwhile, RHCB fiction publisher Annie Eaton has also agreed a four-book deal for UK and Commonwealth rights for four new novels by Wilson, also through David Higham Associate's Walsh. Eaton said one of the new books will be a third story about Wilson’s heroine Hetty Feather who also stars in a new autumn book, Sapphire Battersea. Eaton added: “Jacqueline is truly on top form and I am convinced Hetty is set to rival Tracy Beaker in the popularity stakes.”