Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i Storytime

Adam’s an alien with antennae green – The funniest alien you’ve ever seen, And perched on the back of an old broomstick Is Belle the black cat – the witch’s sidekick. Fern’s face is painted like Day of the Dead, Tim’s eerie eyeball mask covers his head. Here too comes Frankenstein stomping his feet, A ghost wails behind him draped in a sheet. The haunted house is here. Do they dare knock? Is little imp Isla prepared for a shock? There’s a big jack-o’-lantern out on the lawn. “It’s knee-knocking spooky,” says Luke leprechaun. “Monsters don’t exist!” says Erik the mummy, But night ninja Noor has a nervous tummy. An owl hoots nearby and the children all jump. Poppy the pirate feels her heart go thump. They quake and quiver…

Jonas was really, really small, but his twin sister Grace was the tallest child in the class. Not just the class – the whole school! In school photos, Jonas had to stand at the front so he could be seen, but Grace stood at the back and was always a whole head taller than everyone else. “You’d never believe they were twins!” said one of the teachers, laughing. People said this all the time, along with, “Hasn’t she grown?” or “He’s so cute!” The twins hated it. “It’s not fair,” said Jonas. “Grace always gets picked first in PE. I put my hand up, but nobody picks me. I wish I was tall.” Grace rolled her eyes. “But I can’t stand running around and getting sweaty! I’d rather be short.”…

Isaac’s friends were jealous of his new job. He worked as an apprentice to a great sorcerer called Sarovnik. “Have you turned anyone into a frog yet?” asked his best friend Billy. “Can you make yourself invisible and spy on people?” asked Amelia. “I wish,” said Isaac, gloomily. “All I do is tidy up and fetch and carry things for him all day.” “What, no magic?” gasped his friends. “No magic,” sighed Isaac. “Not even a simple levitation charm.” Billy and Amelia looked almost as disappointed as Isaac felt. He had been working with the sorcerer for weeks now – and nothing. “Maybe he’ll teach you magic when he thinks you’re ready,” said Amelia. “And at least you’re not mucking out stables,” said Billy, who was helping his dad on…

Once upon a time, the small town of Hamelin in Germany was overrun with rats. They ate the cheese out of the vats and made their nests in people’s hats. Rats, rats, rats! They were everywhere, squeaking, scurrying and scaring the cats. The people tried poison and traps, but they didn’t work. They hired every ratcatcher in the land, but they all failed. The people despaired and the mayor pulled his hair. He had run out of ideas for how to end their rotten rat invasion. Then, one day, a tall stranger arrived at the mayor’s office. He was dressed in colourful clothing – half red and half yellow – and he carried a pipe. He bowed before the mayor. “Sir, I hear your good town is troubled by a…

Long ago, in Papua New Guinea, people passed down stories from generation to generation to explain how the world came to be as it is. This is one of their stories. Before people walked the Earth, the voice of nature was loud. Not just animals, but the most unexpected things could speak to each other. Mountains could talk to the sea, the sun could talk to the flowers and the stars could talk to the sand. The stars and the sand were probably the loudest of them all, as there were so many of them. If you can imagine every star in the sky chatting to every grain of sand on every beach, that’s a lot of noise! One night, some grains of sand on a white moonlit beach said…

Long before your time and mine, the birds and the beasts didn’t get along with each other at all. In fact, they hated each other. The argument began when the geese and the ducks complained about the suffering the fox family had caused them. “We can’t sleep at night because there’s always a hungry fox stalking about and baring its sharp teeth,” they honked and quacked. “We live in constant fear. Tell the foxes to leave us alone and perhaps we can all be friends.” The chickens joined in the argument, agreeing with angry clucks. “What about your eagles and owls?” squeaked the mice and the voles on the side of the beasts. “We can’t go out without fear of them swooping down and eating us for supper.” “Same here!”…

1 FOLLOW THE TRAIL The Pied Piper is leading the rats away. Which trail leads them to his pipe? Colour it in when they get there. 2 HAPPY STARS How many smiling stars can you count? Write your answer in the box. 3 QUICK QUIZ!  In our fable, which animal did the ducks and geese dislike? 4 SPOT IT! Can you spot the golden deer from Rama and Sita’s story? Tick this box when you find it! 5 MAKE A SORCERER’S WAND To make this wand you’ll need a hot glue gun or polymer clay or PVA glue and embroidery thread or wool. It’s worth the extra effort to end up with a realistic-looking wand! • Use a chopstick as the base for your wand or hunt for the perfect…