Dude's Gotta Rock Climb

***For young readers comfortable reading longer books. Kids 8 - 12 years old. Magali: a French marmot who can't resist her funny mountain mates and their crazy, nocturnal, sports adventures!*** '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 compete in a rock-climbing event! The problem is: marmots don't rock climb. Neither do boar, deer, foxes, weasels, hare, and hedgehogs, and 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 and her friends (Mishka, Henri Le Hare, F-F-Foxy, Little Foxy, Puppy Bébé and Chamois Luc) need to come up with a genius plan. So, what is their plan? They choose Magali to scale the wall and win the competition for the team. But, why her? She's the fattest one out of them! Dude, she's is not too sure about this plan! A funny middle-grade series about trusting instinct, forging friendships, and learning independence. The books have British spelling. For ages 8-12 yrs. Set in La Plagne, Savoie, France Each book can be read as an individual book or as part of the Dude Series. The series is available in English, French, Spanish, plus bilingual versions (English / français) (English / español). 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! '