A Hedgehog Called Snuffle E-Book

Helen Peters

• Herausgeber: Nosy Crow
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: The Jasmine Green Series
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 84

Beschreibung

The fifteenth in a fantastic series of animal stories for younger readers by Waterstones Children's Book Prize-shortlisted author Helen Peters, with beautiful black-and-white illustrations by Ellie Snowdon. Jasmine's dad is a farmer, and her mum is a vet, so Jasmine spends a lot of time caring for animals and keeping them out of trouble. Unfortunately, this often means she gets into hot water herself... Jasmine is delighted to be nursing an injured hedgehog back to health until, on the afternoon of Bonfire Night, Snuffle escapes. As darkness falls and everyone prepares their bonfire celebrations, can Jasmine find Snuffle's hiding place before the first match is lit? Brilliant storytelling that will make you laugh and cry, this is Dick King-Smith for a new generation. Perfect for readers aged seven and up. A Hedgehog Called Snuffle can be read as a stand-alone story, or enjoyed as part of the Jasmine Green series. Look out for A Piglet Called Truffle, A Sheepdog Called Sky, A Goat Called Willow, A Seal Pup Called Pearl, A Rabbit Called Clover and many more!

Leseprobe

For Oliver H. P.

For my lovely friend, Fee x E. S.

Chapter One

Something Tiny and Prickly

“Here’s the bus!” said Jasmine, as the double-decker pulled in at the bus stop. She felt a glorious thrill of independence as she paid for her ticket and climbed the stairs to the top deck.

“The front seat’s free!” said Tom.

It was October half term, and their friend Marco was having a birthday party at the leisure centre in the nearby town. It had a huge pool, with a wave machine, inflatables and a massive water slide. The whole class had been invited. And, most exciting of all, Jasmine and her best friend Tom had been allowed to travel there by bus, on their own.

The bus moved off with a jerk as they plonked themselves down, their bags on their laps. It was amazing to be on the top deck, high enough to see across the fields to Jasmine’s home, Oak Tree Farm. The autumn trees looked beautiful in shades of red, gold and orange.

As the bus turned a corner, Jasmine noticed something in the middle of the road. At first she thought it was a lump of mud, but then it moved.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “It’s a baby hedgehog!”

The little hedgehog was staggering along, and the bus was drawing closer.

“Oh, no!” cried Jasmine.

Tom leapt up and pressed the bell for the bus to stop. “Quick!” he said, and they lurched along the aisle and hurried down the stairs.

“We’ll miss the party if we get off now,” said Tom. “There isn’t another bus for two hours.”

“You go to the party,” said Jasmine. “I need to check the poor hedgehog.”

All sorts of awful thoughts whirled around her head. What if the hoglet had been run over? What if it was injured and in pain?

The bus came to a halt and the doors opened. Jasmine jumped out and started running back down the road. As the bus pulled away and the engine noise faded into the distance, she heard another set of footsteps behind her. She turned and saw Tom racing along the lane.

“You came!” she said, waiting for him to catch up. “Thanks, Tom.”

“I wouldn’t leave you on your own,” he said.

They ran down the road together, casting their eyes across the tarmac, dreading what they might see.

After a few minutes, Tom stopped by a farm gate. “I think it was around here where we saw it,” he said.

The gateway led to a concrete yard surrounded by old farm buildings, with gaps in the roofs and half-open doors hanging off their hinges. Jasmine couldn’t see or hear any animals, or anything else to show that this was a working farm. It looked deserted.

“Let’s look further down the road,” she said. “Just in case.”

They ran on for a minute, but there was no sign of the hedgehog.

“Looks like it got away from the bus,” said Tom. “That’s lucky. Shame we’ll miss Marco’s party though. Typical that no one’s around to give us a lift.”

Tom’s parents were out for the day, and Jasmine’s parents were both working.

“We couldn’t go to the party now anyway,” Jasmine said. “We need to find the hedgehog.”

Tom looked puzzled. “Why? It’s probably back with its family.”

Jasmine shook her head. “Hoglets don’t usually go out alone unless there’s a problem. So its mother’s probably died or abandoned it. Mother hedgehogs sometimes desert their babies if they’re disturbed.”

Jasmine had been given a book about hedgehogs for her birthday, so she knew a lot about them.

“Maybe the mother’s nearby,” said Tom, “and the baby was just exploring.”

“They do sometimes wander from the nest and then go back,” said Jasmine, “but I’m sure this one was in trouble. Did you see how it was staggering?”

“We’d better look for it then,” said Tom. “You look on this side, and I’ll do that side.” He crossed the road. “But I don’t know how we’ll find it. We can’t pick up every leaf.”

“We need a stick each,” said Jasmine, picking up a hazel stick lying under the hedge. “Here, have this,” she said, fishing out another one. “We can move them about in the leaves – just gently, so we won’t harm the hoglet if it’s there. And we can listen out for squeaking. Hoglets sound like baby birds.”

Tom sent a message to Marco, and they turned and walked back along the road, moving their sticks slowly among the leaf litter. Tom laughed. “We look like we’re playing at metal-detecting,” he said.

A man approached from the other direction, with a Labrador on a lead. “You two lost something?” he asked.

“We’re looking for a baby hedgehog,” Jasmine said. “Have you seen one?”

“No,” he said. “You should leave hedgehogs alone anyway. Don’t go poking about disturbing them.”

“But it didn’t look well,” said Jasmine. “It was staggering about in the road.”

“Then call a rescue place. Don’t interfere with something you know nothing about. It’s illegal to pick up a wild animal yourself.”

“No, it’s not,” said Jasmine. “It’s illegal to keep a wild animal in captivity, but it’s not illegal to rescue a hedgehog to rehabilitate it and release it back into the wild.”

The man looked a bit surprised. He said nothing, but jerked his dog’s lead and walked off.

Jasmine fixed her fiercest stare on his retreating back. “What an ignoramus,” she said. “He knows absolutely nothing.”

She and Tom were planning to run an animal rescue centre when they grew up. They had already rescued many animals, so they had learned a lot about looking after them. Jasmine’s mum was a vet and her dad was a farmer, so they had expert help when they needed it, as well as space to house the creatures they cared for.

They searched the whole stretch of verge, but there was no sign of the hoglet.

“It’s probably gone into a field,” said Tom. “And if it has, we don’t have a hope of finding it.”

“Let’s at least search the farmyard,” Jasmine said. “If we don’t find it there, we’ll just have to go home.”

They climbed over the rusty metal gate into the yard, which had buildings on three sides. A big barn ran along the far side, opposite the gate. To the right stood a long low cowshed, and to the left was a row of stables. The rotting wooden doors stood half open, hanging crookedly off their hinges. The yard and the barn were full of junk: rusting bits of machinery, tangles of wire and baler twine, empty containers and piles of wood.

“There’s so many hazards here for a baby hedgehog,” Jasmine said. “They can easily get tangled in stuff because of their spikes. And they fall into things too, because they don’t have any fear of falling.”

“I’ll search the yard first, and you do the barn,” said Tom. “Then we’ll do the other sheds if we haven’t found it.”

Jasmine searched the whole barn, listening for squeaking sounds, but she found nothing. Hopefully the hoglet had just been exploring and was now safely tucked up in the nest with its family. She tried not to think about how it had been staggering around in the road. Wasn’t that a sign of hypothermia?

She heard footsteps, and turned to see Tom in the barn doorway. He was clutching something to his chest, wrapped in his swimming towel.

“Have you found it?” she asked excitedly.

Tom nodded. But he didn’t look excited. He looked as though he was about to cry.

Chapter Two

Was That a Squeak?

“Jasmine,” said Tom. “It’s so sad. I think it’s dead.”

Jasmine turned cold with horror. “No! How? Let me see.”

“It was floating in the water trough,” said Tom. “There’s a pile of junk next to it, so the hoglet must have climbed in and couldn’t get out. Look.”

He lifted the towel. The hoglet’s eyes were closed and it was completely still.

“That’s awful,” Jasmine said, blinking back tears. “The poor little thing.”

She touched the hoglet’s skin. It was freezing cold.

“Perhaps it has hypothermia,” she said hopefully. “I think they sometimes go unconscious if they get really cold. Let’s phone Mum and ask her.”

They made a video call to Jasmine’s mum, Nadia, at her vets’ surgery. They didn’t expect her to answer, but luckily she was between appointments and picked up. She looked worried.

“What’s happened?” she asked. “Why aren’t you at the party?”

Jasmine quickly explained, and they showed Nadia the hoglet. Tom told her where he’d found it.

“If it was just floating, then it’s drowned, I’m afraid,” she said. “But keep it wrapped up in the towel. I’ll need to report it and take it to the surgery for cremation. Poor little thing. I’ve got to go – my next client’s waiting – but I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“OK, see you soon,” said Jasmine. They ended the call, and Tom put the towel bundle carefully in his bag.

“If only I’d looked in the tank first, I might have been in time to save it,” he said.

“It’s not your fault,” said Jasmine, trying not to cry. “We did our best.”

They stood for a moment in a sad silence. Then Jasmine said, “We should carry on looking. Hedgehogs usually have four or five babies in a litter, so if that one was wandering about on its own, there are probably others close by.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Tom said. “I’ll search the stables and you do the cowshed.”

The cowshed door was bolted shut, but there was a gap at the bottom plenty big enough for a hoglet to squeeze through. Jasmine jiggled the stiff bolt until it was loose enough to open. The door was hanging off its hinges, so she dragged it open just enough to slip inside.