Mirandas dad is going to his very first marathon. But they get there late and Dad sends Miranda back to the car for his lucky water bottle. Before she can find it, the starters horn goes off and the runners are off!

Miranda grabs the water bottle and dashes down the course looking for her dad. She runs up hills and down hills, and catches up with runners wearing tutus and vegetable costumes and normal clothes. She asks each one: Have you seen my dad? Some of the runners are nice, some ignore her, and some call her a pipsqueak, but none of them has seen her father.

Finally Miranda gets to the finish line, where she finds her father … and gets a big surprise!

Robert Munsch is Canada’s bestselling author.Long before he started writing books, he was a storyteller. The first time he told his stories to a group of children was in 1972, when he was a student teacher at their nursery school. The children liked his stories, so he started telling them more often. He would often take the same story and tell it again and again, changing it a little bit each time, until it got to be really good. Kids liked how loud and animated he was while he told them stories, so he kept doing that, too. This would become his signature storytelling style.

Eventually, once his stories got really,reallygood, he wrote them down and sent them to a publisher. The publisher said Yes! to the story that became the bookMud Puddle.Today, more than 50 Robert Munsch books have been published. Some, likeLove You Forever,became runaway international bestsellers. Some, likeThe Paper Bag PrincessandZoom!,challenge conventions and stereotypes. But nearly ALL of them are based on real kids that Robert Munsch has met, often on his tours and travels. Sometimes, as inFinding ChristmasandPyjama Day!, he even uses his own family. Each book is dedicated to the kid or kids it is based on. You can find out more about the story behind each book by clicking on the About this story buttons on this website.

While Robert Munsch has countless fans across North America (he receives about 10,000 letters a year!) his books are also popular around the world. They have been translated into over 20 languages, from Arabic to Swedish, including several First Nations languages. Robert Munsch has received many awards for his work as an author and storyteller. He has a star on Canadas Walk of Fame, the Order of Canada, and a school named in his honour!

Robert Munsch was even once a kid himself. He grew up in a large family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now that hes grown up and has (grown-up) kids of his own, he lives with his wife in Guelph, Ontario, where you can often find him on long walks with his dog.

Michael Martchenko has always loved to draw. He started off drawing new pictures for his favourite comic books, then went to art school and became the art director at an advertising agency. His first picture book was Robert Munsch’sThe Paper Bag Princess. Now he writes and illustrates picture books full time from his studio in Toronto, Ontario. He has collaborated with Robert Munsch on many titles, including, Mmm, Cookies!, We Share Everything, Alligator Baby, Makeup Mess, Up, Up, and Down, Andrew’s Loose Tooth, Playhouse, More Pies and Zoom!He has also illustrated his own books, and such popular titles asOonga Boonga. Michael loves to include sub-plots and visual jokes in his books watch for the chickens in Playhouse,and see if you can spot Michael and Robert Munsch at the bus stop in More Pies!

Author: Robert Munsch (Canadian!)Illustrator: Michael Martchenko (Canadian!)Format:PaperbackProduct dimensions: 32 pages, 9.99″ x 8.04″ x 0.11“Published: September 1, 2015Publisher: Scholastic Canada Inc.Recommended for ages 3-8.