My Favourite Bedtime Stories E-Book

Annette Huber

• Herausgeber: Naumann & Göbel Verlag
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Good night! Reading to your children is fun, especially at bedtime, and can be a delightful ritual for parents and children alike. This book of bedtime stories is guaranteed to help girls and boys aged 4 and up fall asleep easily. This collection of 13 imaginative stories will whisk children off on a journey during which they will encounter ponies, ghosts and even Native Indians. These charmingly illustrated stories will spark the imagination and help your child enjoy a peaceful night's sleep. -13 short stories for bedtime -Fun illustrations -Wide variety of subject matter

Leseprobe

© Schwager & Steinlein Verlag GmbH

a subsidiary of VEMAG Verlags- und Medien

Aktiengesellschaft

Emil-Hoffmann-Straße 1, 50996 Cologne (Germany)

www.vemag-medien.de

Stories written by Annette Huber, Doris Jäckle, Sabine Streufert

Translation from German: Allison Heinen

Complete production: Schwager & Steinlein Verlag GmbH

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-3-8155-8796-6

Contents

Too Cold for Adelie

Annette Huber

A Test of Courage for Little Wolf

Sabine Streufert

The Ghost and the Mermaid

Doris Jäckle

Old Maria and the Clever Crows

Annette Huber

The Monster in the Kitchen

Sabine Streufert

The Jealous Broomstick

Doris Jäckle

Mr Grey and Squawk the Parrot

Annette Huber

Flocky’s Circus Adventure

Sabine Streufert

The Sad Princess

Doris Jäckle

Kiki Keck Wants Peace and Quiet

Annette Huber

Star Fairies and Space Mice

Sabine Streufert

Lilly in the Land of Dreams

Doris Jäckle

The Secret Queen

Annette Huber

Authors

Illustrator

Too Cold for Adelie

At the edge of the Antarctic, where the land tails off into a sea of icebergs, there lived a penguin colony, home to a couple of thousand birds. In the southernmost part of the world it is so cold that the snow never melts, instead it becomes hard pack ice which slowly forms into mountains. It’s so cold that there’s no soil, and no trees, just rocks and ice, ice, and more ice. And the wild Polar Wind sweeps relentlessly over the never-ending plains.

In October, just as spring had finally come to the South Pole, a mother penguin laid an egg. She and the father penguin brooded over it patiently, keeping it warm under the thick, cosy feathers of their tummies. In summer, when it finally hatched, out came a little fluffy penguin girl!

“Hello! There you are, at last!” squawked the penguin parents with joy, and they named their baby, Adelie. The parents fed Adelie several times a day with little fish and crabs.

“Eat child, so that you’re big and strong by the time Winter comes,” said her mother.

“What is Winter?” asked Adelie, cuddling up against her mother’s warm tummy.

“Winter is a long, dark time of year, when the sun doesn’t shine and there isn’t much to eat. It’s when the wind howls so dreadfully, and snow falls continually from the sky.”

“That sounds horrible,” said Adelie. “I’m freezing cold already!”

“Penguins can’t freeze,” said her father, firmly. “Come on Adelie, it’s time for you to learn to swim. You’ll like it, it’s warmer in the water than out here!”

It was surprisingly pleasant in the water. Adelie learnt to dive and caught her first fish. But as soon as she came out the water and climbed back onto land, she started to feel terribly cold again.

Then, in March, the days started getting shorter again. Before long, the sun only came out for a few hours a day, and its rays were weak and unable to give out much warmth anymore. Snow started falling in big fat flakes and the wind howled.

Poor Adelie. Her beak shivered and shook, and she hopped from one flipper to the other.

“What’s wrong with the poor child?” her parents asked themselves.

All the other penguins in the colony started gossiping about her. “See that girl there, she’s freezing! What a disgrace!”

One day, as Adelie was standing on a cliff, looking sadly out to sea, she suddenly caught sight of something big and white coming towards her. It was all lit up, as if covered in lots of tiny little suns.

“Caw-caw!” A seagull landed near Adelie.

“What’s that thing?” Adelie asked the seagull.

“That’s a ship,” said the seagull. “With people on it. They have a colony on the other side of the mountain that they call a Research Station. Twice a year the ship arrives with new crates and people, and then it goes again, taking the old ones away with it.”

“Where do they go?”

“To their home, up in the North.”