Bella the Bear couldn’t be more excited. Her class is doing her favourite bedtime story, Little Red Riding Hood, for her school play, and she has the main part! She can’t wait to be onstage, with her red cape flying.

After a bumpy start, rehearsals go well and everyone is looking forward to their big night. But then, as the school hall fills up and the lights go down, Bella hears the rumble of chatter in the crowd and imagines everyone watching her performance.

And suddenly her tummy does a flip and a flop. What is this feeling?

Is Bella . scared?

MARK GRIST

An ex-teacher, Mark Grist is now a multi-award-winning poet and international battle rapper with over 40 million views for his poetry & rap videos online. He has been honoured in two categories at the Webby Awards, won two Lovie Awards for his poetry online and toured hundreds of schools around the world. Recently, Mark’s work has appeared on BBC1, ITV, BBC Teach, Channel 4 and BBC 6 music. As well as writing picture books for Bloomsbury, Mark is working on a second series of his hit podcast ‘Mark Can’t Rap’, which is backed by Arts Council England & National Centre for Writing. He lives in Peterborough.