Snail and the Pennithornes

MEG and Richard Pennithorne, whose home is in South Africa, have grave doubts of a summer holiday to be spent with an old school friend of their mother's. "Everyone calls me Snail," she writes to Meg-who decides that she and Richard are going away with a madwoman. But Snail turns out to be far from mad. Snail is her nickname because she likes to take her house around with her-in this case a very smart caravan. Snail and the Pennithornes, with Snail's poodle, Brown Beaucaire, set out on a trip round the coast of England and Wales, falling in and out of adventures as they go. From the time they get stuck on a steep hill and meet the Justin Family, to a moment of danger and suspense on the Welsh shore, the Pennithornes are up to their eyes in what they believe must be the best holiday ever. But the time comes for goodbyes and the beginning of the autumn term. "There's always next time," says Snail, to comfort them. And with this reassurance they are very well content.