For 8 - 12 years.

When Magali snuck out of her burrow, she had no idea she would be travelling to another country that very evening!

'How do you say, ''Good evening, '' in Italian?'

'Why?'

'Because that's where we're going.'

Magali is going to go further from home than she's ever been before. She's going to cross the French border into Italy to participate in a Rock Climbing event.

The problem is: marmots don't rock climb. Neither do boar, deer, foxes, weasels, hare, and hedgehogs. That isn't stopping them. But, how exactly will they climb? Bruno The Italian Stag explains it well. 'It's Italy. There are no rules. You get up the rock any way you can.'

Magali's friends need to come up with a genius plan. They must win, especially after the deer team teased them. Henri Le Hare, F-F-Foxy, Little Foxy, and Puppy Bébé are not having it. 'Bring it on!'

So, what is their game plan? Magali's team choose her to scale the wall and win the competition for the team.

Dude, Magali's not too sure about this. Why her? She's the fattest one out of them!

Middle Grade. For ages 8-12 yrs. The adventures of Magali: a cautious adrenalin addict!

Young readers will enjoy this fantasy adventure book, set in the French Alps. There are animals of all sizes; foxes, boar, deer, rabbits, weasels, hedgehogs, owls, chamois, ibex, you name it, climbing the rock while Big People are tucked up in their chalets!

Each book can be read as an individual book or as part of the Dude Series (recommended). The books have British spelling.

Dude's Gotta Snowboard (Book 1)

Dude's Gotta River Raft (Book 2)

Dude's Gotta Mountain Bike (Book 3)

Dude's Gotta Paraglide (Book 4)

Dude's Gotta Bobsleigh (Book 5)

Dude's Gotta Rock Climb (Book 6)

Dude's Gotta Paintball (Book 7)

Dude's Gotta Wakeboard (Book 8 Final book in series)

Question for the Author

How did you come up with the character of Magali?

'You know, I really love the French Alps, and looking at all the animals that live in the mountains. I'm Australian, so I had never seen a marmot before moving to France. I worked one summer, for a kids summer camp, and part of my job was to take the children out on walks. We would go looking for marmots, all of us being very quiet, secretly sneaking up to the holes in the ground, where the entrances to the marmot burrows were. Of course, we would make too much noise and the marmots would disappear into their underground tunnels, but sometimes we were lucky and able to take photos. I think their underground homes took over my imagination, and before you knew it, I had a whole chapter book in my head, with Magali as the principal character!'