bedtime stories

The Ludicrous Christmas Lurgy

The Ludicrous Christmas Lurgy

December in Horsmarlonerpool was normally a wonderful time of year. Everyone would buy Christmas presents and eat cinnamon buns in the market that was set up in the square where Pepperpot Street meets Candlesmoke Lane. And everyone would ice skate around a special frozen obstacle course on the River Gurgleglug. And people would toboggan down Lomberstack Mountain on the longest and most exciting track in the world.

But this year was very different. A few weeks ago, Pebbles and Crater - the two only really naughty people in town - had invented a dangerous pill that made your right eye blink, and your tummy burp, and your mouth whistle all at the same time. And can you imagine how awful that would make you feel.

WINK. BURP. WHISLTE. All day long!

The Extraordinary Decorations

The Extraordinary Decorations

Every year as it gets closer to Christmas, each class at Half Hitch school decorates their classrooms as well and as imaginatively as they can - with as little help from their teachers as possible. Then, the whole school is allowed to walk into all the classrooms and see what each of them looks like.

The idea is that each class shows off what they’ve been learning that year. So if a Year 6 class had been learning about bright colorful chemicals, maybe their decorations would be a big science experiment. Or if a Year 4 class has been learning about forests, maybe their decorations would be big snowy trees?

The Search For The Skydivers

The Search For The Skydivers

At 10.30 every morning, after the second lesson of the day, the bell high on the roof of Half Hitch School would chime three times and every class would run outside into the playground that formed a square in the centre of the school buildings and - through a bright tunnel that went under the Academy - a grassy field of hills and slides down one side of the school, too.

Margo and Mohammed were in Mr Bloom’s class and would often play with others from Mr Bloom’s class too, but today they were playing with Abby and Sam from Mrs Kipper’s class. The game they’d invented was putting a hoop on the ground and then throwing or kicking a ball as high as you could and trying to make it land in the - wait… What was that?

The Mystery of the Town Key

The Mystery of the Town Key

The Horsmarlonerpool Trumpeter is an outstanding newspaper. It makes the news interesting, whether it’s a story about an exploding cake or a funny shaped potato. And it has wonderful photographs and games and competitions, and interviews with interesting people. And that’s because everyone who works at the Trumpeter is interested in things, even small things. And nobody is more interested in things than its chief investigator reporter - Athena Mintsauce.

The Royal Visit To Bluesky

The Royal Visit To Bluesky

Prince Barnaby and Princess Agnetha live in Marbleglow Palace - right in the centre of Marbleglow - the Capital City of the Skylands.

They had both lived in the palace since they were children, and it had been the perfect place to grow up - with hundreds of rooms to explore, and huge kitchens and cellars, and a garden as big as a park.

But now that they were all grown up, they found they didn’t play at all. And that meant - they realized one breakfast time as the rain dribbled down the windows - that they were bored.

The Book That Couldn't Be Opened

The Book That Couldn't Be Opened

Miss Kelvingrove the librarian knows every single inch of Horsmarlonerpool library so well, that if you ask her for a book on any subject in the world she can walk straight to it and pick it out as if she were a computer.

She knows how to find out about Space in the science section, she knows how to find stories about trains or tigers or toothbrushes in the story section. She knows how to find out about any plant in the gardening section, and she knows how to find out about any king, queen, dragon or battle in the history section.

Belvedere's Amazing Avalanche

Belvedere's Amazing Avalanche

Belvedere, the enormous white and fluffy creature as tall and as heavy as a big car put on its end, was at home on the frozen top of Lomberstack Mountain having one of the funnest days he could remember.

Firstly, his friends Ben and Emily had come to visit - which was fun enough - but then secondly they’d suggested going outside and making snow blocks - which was Belvedere’s favourite thing to do. And thirdly Emily had brought her music player and Ben had brought his speakers, so they were all dancing as they crushed the snow into cubes.

Harriet of Half Hitch

Harriet of Half Hitch

As everyone arrived one sunny morning at Half Hitch school, there was the murmur of rumors in the air: Everyone was whispering that Mrs Perrinpeas the headmistress wanted everyone to meet in the hall before classes begun - and apparently it was because they were all going to be introduced to a new teacher.

As everyone from every glass sat in the main hall facing the stage, Mrs Perrinpeas entered, carrying a basket. This was unusual; Mrs Perrinpeas didn’t normally walk around with a basket.

The Funfair At The Pier

The Funfair At The Pier

Anna and Roy both loved the sea. Roy liked the smell of the seaweed and the fossils you could find on the beach. Whilst Anna liked watching the seagulls spiral above her, and standing with her back to the oncoming waves, and feeling them break around her.

So their perfect day out was to leave their homes in the New Town, cross over the river Gurgleglug using the Bridge of Spires, walk right down to the airport, and then along the coastal road to Hudson Beach.