The Queen's Nose (1983)

The Queen's Nose is a children's novel by Dick King-Smith, first published by Gollancz in 1983 with illustrations by Jill Bennett. Set in England, where King-Smith lived, it features a girl who can use a fifty pence coin to make wishes. When the book was reprinted in 1994 publishers HarperTrophy commissioned a new cover art illustrated by Michael Koelsch. The book was adapted into the 1995 TV series The Queen's Nose, which ran for 7 series.

Plot

The book by Dick King-Smith features the story of Harmony Parker, a 10-year-old girl who wants an animal of her own, but this is not allowed by her parents, who think that animals are dirty. Harmony has a 15-year-old sister, Melody, who spends most of her time looking in a mirror. Harmony's best friend is a toy dog, Rex Ruff Monty.

Harmony believes that animals are more interesting than people, and so she pictures the people she meets as animals; her father is a sea lion, her mother a Pouter pigeon and her sister a Siamese cat.

She receives a magic 50p coin from her uncle Ginger, which grants her seven wishes whenever she rubs the side of the coin that Queen Elizabeth II's nose is pointed at.