IDDESLEIGH author Michael Morpurgo has turned the true tale of a whale which swam up the Thames into a children's story with an environmental message.

The battle to help the creature was watched by millions around the world, but it eventually died in January 2006.

In the book 'This morning I met a whale' inspired by the event, with illustrations by Christopher Birmingham, a young boy spots a whale on the shores of the Thames and thinks he must be dreaming. But the creature is real and it has a message for him — one that only an open-minded child can deliver to the rest of the world.

The whale warns that the earth's days are numbered and that humans must put right the damage they are doing. But how can Michael fulfil his promise to tell others when neither his teacher nor his classmates will believe his story?

Within hours, the city and the wider world have learned of London's remarkable visitor, and all eyes are on the whale's struggle against the receding tide. The boy must now join his new friend in a race against time to reach the ocean, and hold fast to his promise in the race to save the world itself.

Michael Morpurgo was the 2003-2005 Children's Laureate and is widely recognized as a master storyteller, and has won numerous awards for his work, including the Smarties Book Prize, the Writers' Guild Award and the Children's Book Award.