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- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Snuggle up on a cold winter's night with this anthology of cosy, heart-warming animal stories. Far away in a snowy land, a polar bear wishes to become a penguin, two playful snow leopards explore a frozen mountain and a girl goes on an adventure with a flying musk ox. Featuring stories from much-loved authors, including Holly Webb, Michael Broad and Julia Green.
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Contents
The Coolest Polar Bear
My name is Arthur and I am a polar bear cub. I live in the North Pole with my mum and loads of other animals, like foxes and seals and wolves and hares. The North Pole is at the top of the world and of all the animals living here I think polar bears are the coolest.
Us polar bears live in snowy burrows and can swim in the icy ocean because we have very thick fur to keep us warm. We are completely white except for our black noses, and if we don’t want to be seen in the snow, we can put a paw on our nose and become invisible!9
The North Pole is not just home to animals. There’s also a man who lives here with lots of elves and some reindeer. Unlike polar bears, he is very easy to spot in the snow because he always wears red and jingles when he walks. The man’s name is Santa Claus.
One morning, when I was going out to play, Mum told me that I should not bother the man in red today. She explained that it was Christmas Eve and that he would be very busy making wishes come true for children all around the world.
“How does he make wishes come true?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” said Mum. “Christmas is for humans and has nothing to do with us.”10
Now polar bears are very curious animals and I thought that making wishes come true would be very interesting to see. So I put a paw on my nose and went over the hill to see Santa and his elves and his reindeer. Mum only said that I should not bother him, but because I was invisible no one saw me peeping through the window of his workshop.
Santa Claus was busy reading letters from a sack and making lists, which was a bit boring to watch. The elves were busy wrapping up toys and writing labels, which was not very exciting either. The reindeer were busy munching loudly on turnips. So no one heard me trudge back home with a disappointed sigh.
Making wishes come true is not as 11interesting as it sounds.
Back over the hill there seemed to be something very interesting happening, though, because all the local animals were gathered at the edge of the ice. I ran up to my mum and asked her what was going on.
“There you are, Arthur!” she said excitedly. “You’re just in time for the penguins!”
“What’s a penguin?” I asked, because I didn’t know.
“Penguins are birds that live in the South Pole,” Mum explained. “The South Pole is on the other side of the world but they come here once a year on holiday. They’re always a lot of fun to watch.”
When Mum said penguins were birds, I looked up in the sky but I couldn’t see anything. I asked if penguins were sky-coloured 12with black beaks, so that when they put a wing over their beak they become invisible.
“No, darling.” Mum chuckled and pointed out towards the ocean.
It was then that I saw my first penguin, followed by another and another. Soon there were loads of penguins coming over the horizon, leaping into the air, then diving back into the waves as they swam towards us.
When they reached the ice, the penguins shot out of the water like black and white acrobats, landing upright in the snow and then flapping the water from their flippers. Everyone cheered and welcomed the penguins back to the North Pole, but I was too amazed to say anything.
Mum explained that the penguins like to come to the North Pole because the 13slopes are smoother than in the South Pole, and that penguins like nothing more than snow-surfing.
“What’s snow-surfing?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Mum said, as the strange new visitors waddled up the hill.
The penguins put on an amazing show for everyone, zooming down the slopes on their bellies and sideways on their feet. And when they hit the edge of the ice they did back-flips and front-flips, before splashing into the ocean.
It was then that I decided penguins were even cooler than polar bears!
When the show was over, I waited until the other animals went home, and then asked the penguins if they could teach me how to snow-surf. They were very friendly, and showed me how to take a good run up and launch on to my belly.14
15But no matter how hard I tried, I was much too big and furry to move very fast. I had to kick my legs the whole way down the slope, and by the time I reached the edge of the ice I just plopped into the water.
I tried for hours and hours, but I still couldn’t snow-surf. Then Mum called me in for my dinner, so I said goodbye to my 16new friends and plodded home feeling very unhappy.
“What’s the matter, darling?” Mum asked. “You’ve hardly touched your fish.”
“I wish I was a penguin,” I said. “Penguins are much cooler than polar bears!”
“I’m afraid polar bears can’t become penguins, Arthur.”
“I suppose not,” I sighed.
I went to bed early that night, but I couldn’t get to sleep. I kept thinking about the penguins and how brilliant it must be to surf on the snow. Then I remembered that it was still Christmas Eve, the night that Santa Claus granted wishes!
Mum had said that this special night was just for human children, but I was sure Santa wouldn’t mind granting a wish for one little polar bear cub. So I crept out of bed, left the burrow and set off for his workshop.17
The Northern Lights lit up the sky in waves of pink and green, as I made my way across the snow. When I reached the top of the hill, I saw the reindeer tethered to a large sleigh outside Santa’s workshop. The sleigh was filled with parcels and Santa Claus was climbing into his seat at the front!
I bounded down the hill as fast as I could, as Santa took the reins and the reindeer eagerly shook their antlers. I even called out to him but he couldn’t hear me over the sound of sleigh-bells ringing in the air.
I knew the only way I’d reach the sleigh in time was if I surfed like a penguin, so I launched myself belly first on to the snow. But my legs got in the way and I tumbled head-over-tail down the slope, and when I finally rolled to a stop I was a great big snowball!18
I quickly shook off the snow to find I was alone.
Looking up, I could see Santa’s sleigh flying through the night sky, soaring through the Northern Lights with silver stars twinkling in its path.
It was a wonderful sight, but it meant I couldn’t tell Santa my wish.
19“Christmas is for human children and has nothing to do with polar bears,” I sighed.
I was about to go home again when I realized that none of the human children had come to the North Pole to tell Santa their wishes. Which meant the letters I’d seen him reading must have been from them!
So before I left, I crept into the workshop and wrote Santa a letter myself.
20The next morning I leaped out of bed feeling very excited to begin my first day as a penguin. But when I looked down I saw a white, fluffy belly and white, furry legs, and I still had paws and not flippers. I lifted a paw to my face but instead of a beak I found a familiar black nose.
“Polar bears can’t become penguins,” I sighed.
“Arthur!” Mum called from outside our burrow. “Arthur, come quick!”
When I climbed outside, Mum was standing beside a tall, red parcel and she was scratching her head. The penguins were gathered around, too, and they all looked just as bewildered.
“It says To Arthur the Polar Bear on the label,” Mum gasped.21
I stepped up to the parcel and tore off a small piece of paper, followed by another and another. Then, being a curious polar bear, I couldn’t help ripping the rest away in one go. But when the parcel was unwrapped I still didn’t know what it was until the penguins began clapping their flippers excitedly.
“What is it?” I asked, peering up at the tall, blue object sticking out of the snow.
“It’s a surfboard!” cheered the penguins.
I’d never seen a surfboard before, but it didn’t take long for me to work out how to use it. And with the help of the penguins, I spent the whole of Christmas Day zooming down the slopes!
I started off on my belly, and then learned how to stand up sideways, and 22I even learned how to do front-flips and back-flips into the ocean!
