Book excerpt: Shirley Hughes is one of the best-loved and most innovative creators of books for young children. She has written and illustrated over fifty books, which have sold more than eleven million copies. Her characters Alfie and Dogger are loved by children and parents all over the world. Bye Bye Birdie is Shirley Hughes' first graphic book for adults. A young man, in his best bow-tie and boater, meets a fashionably dressed - and rather bird-like - young lady. But when he takes her home she undergoes a transformation and our hero's dreams of connubial bliss suddenly turn into the stuff of nightmares. Totally wordless, Bye Bye Birdie showcases Shirley Hughes' brilliant drawing and her extraordinarily vivid imagination.