Robert Nobel is a 12-year-old shy boy who despairs of his newly divorced parents.

His life changes when a storyteller, Catherine, invites some of his class to Mayfield Rest Home.

The book was adapted for television in 2004 and first shown as a series of six 30-minute episodes on the British TV channel, BBC One on 16 March.

The series was written and produced by Peter Tabern and directed by Dermot Boyd, starring Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Sheila Hancock and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

In 2006 the National Theatre commissioned a musical version for young people to perform, for which Singer and Boyd wrote the script with lyrics by Don Black and music by Debbie Wiseman.