Children's Laureate 2001-2003
Carnegie Medal 1989, 1992
Whitbread Award 1993, 1996
Guardian Fiction Award 1990
Maybe I'm the only person in the world who wants to be different from what I am
Ione Muffet has spent every summer she can remember alone in the summer house at the end of her garden. But the arrival of the extraordinary Ned Hump changes all that. Ione's father, Professor Muffet, his beautiful secretary, Caroline, and Ned give Ione a riotous introduction to adult life — how not to cope with love, money, careers and forty uninvited guests.
The Summer House Loon and its sequel, The Other Darker Ned, have now been reissued in a single volume as On the Summerhouse Steps This combined and revised edition was published on 1st June 2006. Anne Fine has written about the changes she has made to update the current edition in two articles, one aimed at child readers and one intended for parents and teachers.
"Perceptive and very funny ... a series of extraordinary and hilarious events."
The Guardian
The Summer House Loon, a book for older children, was first published in 1978.