Barney Willow thinks life couldn't get any worse. He's weedy, with sticky-out ears. Gavin Needle loves tormenting him. And headteacher-from-hell Miss Whipmire seems determined to make every second of Barney's existence a misery! Worst of all, Dad has been missing for almost a year. Barney just wants to escape. To find another life...Being a cat, for example. A quiet, lazy cat. Trouble is, he wakes up as Gavin Needle's cat.