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- Herausgeber: Nosy Crow
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Zoe's Rescue Zoo
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
When Great-Uncle Horace brings back lost and homeless animals from his travels around the globe, it falls to Zoe, and her mum, the zoo vet, to settle them into their new home. Zoe's very good at this, because she can understand what they say and talk to them too. But that's a secret! Puffins are Zoe's favourite ever animal, so when Piper arrives at the Rescue Zoo, Zoe is very happy to help her settle in. But Piper is very picky! She doesn't like her enclosure ... or her burrow ... or even her food! Can Zoe and Meep work out what is making Piper the puffin so picky, and come up with a plan to make the little puffin feel happy in her new home?
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Zoe pulled back a corner of the blanket. Inside the bundle was a tiny bird with a stripy orange and white beak and bright-orange webbed feet. It was an adorable baby puffin!
Chapter One
A Special Project
Zoe Parker smiled as the school bell rang. It was Friday afternoon and the end of lessons for the week. Zoe couldn’t wait for the weekend to start!
“I’d like to set you all some homework to do over the weekend,” explained Zoe’s teacher, Miss Hawkins, as Zoe and her class packed away their pencils and books. “I want you all to do a project on something you love. You can pick anything – a place you like visiting or even your favourite thing to eat. I want to read all about it, and find out why you love it so much.”
Zoe’s heart leapt. Miss Hawkins always set her class really fun projects – and Zoe already had an idea of what she could write about!
“What are you going to do your project on?” asked Zoe’s friend Nicola as they walked out into the playground together.
Zoe grinned. “An animal, of course!” she replied. “I just don’t know which animal. It’s so hard to choose.”
Zoe thought she was the luckiest girl in the world, because she lived at a very special zoo! Her Great-Uncle Horace was a famous animal expert and had started the Rescue Zoo years ago to give homes to animals who could no longer live in the wild. Zoe’s mum, Lucy, was the zoo vet. Zoe thought her home was the most special place to live. She spent all her spare time with the animals and helping the zoo keepers with their jobs. One day she wanted to be a zoo keeper herself.
What animal shall I do my project on? she thought as she walked home with her mum. I love elephants, tigers and pandas… And I really like wolves, peacocks and puffins too. And then there are the hippos, the bats and the gorgeous polar bears. And grey mouse lemurs, of course!
Zoe’s best friend at the zoo was a tiny grey mouse lemur named Meep, who had big golden eyes, soft, silky fur and a long tail. He didn’t live in an enclosure like all the other animals, but with Zoe and her mum in their little cottage at the edge of the zoo instead. He was small and cute, and could be very cheeky.
Zoe shook her head. There were too many animals to choose from! Maybe I’ll have a good idea when I get back to the Rescue Zoo, she thought to herself.
As Zoe and her mum were finishing their plates of spaghetti that evening, the phone rang. Zoe jumped up and answered it. “Hello?”
“Zoe!” cried a familiar voice. “It’s me – Great-Uncle Horace.”
“Where are you?” asked Zoe eagerly. “Are you still travelling around Iceland?”
Although Great-Uncle Horace had started the zoo, he spent most of his time travelling around the world, helping out animals who were lost, poorly or in danger. He sent Zoe lots of postcards from his adventures, and sometimes he brought a new animal back to the zoo if it was in urgent need of help, to give it a safe and special home.
“Actually, Zoe, I’m on my way back to the Rescue Zoo right now – and I have an animal emergency. Can I have a quick word with your mum?” asked Great-Uncle Horace. He sounded very serious.
Zoe passed the phone to her mum and waited as Lucy spoke into the phone in a low, urgent tone. “We’ll be there right away,” she said, then hung up the phone and grabbed her coat. “Come on, Zoe. We’ll have to do the washing up later.”
Zoe quickly scooped up Meep, who’d been nibbling a banana on the chair next to hers. She pulled on her coat and followed her mum outside. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the river,” Lucy replied. “Great-Uncle Horace is sailing back to the zoo in the Rescue Zoo boat and we’re going to meet him there.”
Zoe wanted to ask what the animal emergency was, but her mum was walking quickly ahead. She turned to Meep. “What do you think’s happening?” she asked him. Zoe didn’t just love animals. She had a very special secret: she could talk to them too! It made living at the Rescue Zoo even more amazing. No one else knew about her unusual gift though – not even her mum or Great-Uncle Horace.
Meep shook his head. “I don’t know, Zoe,” he chirped. “Maybe he’s found a penguin with a sore flipper?”
“I think it sounds more serious than that, Meep,” replied Zoe. “Come on!”
She caught up with her mum and raced alongside her, with Meep holding tightly to her shoulder. They ran past the giraffes, the lions and the pandas, and took a shortcut down to the river, which ran right past the zoo.
As they arrived, panting, Great-Uncle Horace’s boat pulled into sight. The Rescue Zoo symbol – a bright red hot-air balloon – was painted on its sail.
Zoe’s heart started beating fast as she saw Great-Uncle Horace up on the deck. Normally he looked so happy and jolly, but now he seemed very worried indeed. She wondered what animal he was bringing back to the zoo, and what was wrong. Would it be very badly hurt, or frightened? I just hope we can help! she thought, crossing her fingers for luck.
Great-Uncle Horace steered the boat towards the bank and threw out a rope to Lucy, who quickly tied it to a post on the bank so that it wouldn’t float away. Then he stepped on to land. An elegant blue bird with a curved yellow beak sat on his shoulder. It was Kiki, Great-Uncle Horace’s hyacinth macaw, who went everywhere with him. Great-Uncle Horace was holding a small wooden box, and inside the box was a shivering bundle wrapped in a blanket.
“What is it?” asked Zoe. On her shoulder, Meep leaned forward for a better look.
Great-Uncle Horace smiled at Zoe and pulled back a corner of the blanket. Inside the bundle was a small bird with a stripy orange and white beak and bright-orange webbed feet. It blinked up at Zoe nervously. The bird’s feathers were covered in patches of something sticky and dark.
“Is it a baby puffin?” Zoe asked.
Great-Uncle Horace nodded. “She is indeed. Or rather, she’s a puffling. That’s
