ouse and making a tree house!
One fine summer’s day, Molly, Lucy, Tim and Sam went down to the little white kitchen. Mother and Daddy were there.
“Kids, your breakfasts are here!” Shouted Mother over all the noise. The little white kitchen was cramped and Daddy stood up. “Pack up your cases. We are moving house!” He cried.
Molly and Lucy jumped and shouted.
“Where are we going?” Asked Sam.
Sam was the oldest, 10. Molly was 9, Lucy was 8 but little Tim was only 6!
“We are going to the country. Hurry up and pack!” Said Mother. Scamp flung himself at Tim and Tim yelped! Scamp was their big brown Labrador and he was as big as Tim himself! Tim wore a small blue t-shirt and blue shorts, he had blond hair and small but shiny black shoes. Sam had the same but yellow shorts and t-shirt and black hair. Molly had a pink dress and pink bows in her light brown hair and black shiny shoes, Lucy had the same but red and dark brown hair. All of them had blue eyes.
Scamp flung himself again at Tim and knocked Tim over! They all rushed upstairs to pack, talking at top speed.
“Imagine the trees and bushes!”
“Will there be bunnies?”
“Maybe there will be a big kitchen!”
“Woof!”
The children searched wildly for things, flinging many things away into piles. Scamp knocked them all over!
“WHERE is my sock?”
“Who stole my handkerchief?”
“Scamp, STOP IT!”
At last everybody got everything that they needed. The removal vans were there and Daddy’s car started up. Vroom! Daddy’s car was a big blue one with silver wheels. They went along long, Winding valley roads and up big steep hills. Through a small but not crowded forest and up a road to a big white house!
It had a small white gate and white fencing all around it. A small, smooth path lead up to the big house with four windows on the front and back walls and a big red roof! Scamp flung himself at the gate and fell back with a thud! It was locked!
Mother had a key and opened the gate quickly. Molly raced to see the back garden and saw a big wood! “ Oh my!” She cried.
The others came quickly.
“Gorgeous!”
“How exciting!”
“We can build a tree house!” Piped up little Tim.
Everyone thought building a Tree house would be perfect! Mother came up to them.
“I overheard some talk about a tree house? You can start after lunch, OK? We have a new Kitchen maid.”
A Kitchen maid! It just got better and better! Mother called them down to tea. Sam was very excited. The new kitchen maid was called Janet. She had brown hair put in a bun and brown eyes. Her apron was black and white.
After dinner the children went to the new garage. A pile of wood was in a corner, Some balls of string and more wooden planks! Sam asked Lucy and Tim to carry the balls of string while he and Molly carried the wood. Scamp found a nice tree with a hole in the bottom.
It was a big apple tree full of apples! Sam and Molly hauled up the wood while Lucy and Tim went into Scamp’s little hole. They made bumps so they and Scamp could climb up the hole. They arrived at the top of the tree.
Scamp made himself a comfy guard hole at the bottom of the ‘Ladder’. He dragged leaves down the hole so he could lie on them. He then went up to the house and pulled his feed bowl and water bowl to his guard house. There he lay and stayed watch when one of the children asked him to.
Sam and Molly were tying down the planks of wood. Soon the platform was finished. Tim found a rope ladder and binoculars so he was ‘Tree watch’. He stayed in a higher platform and made sure he knew everything everyone was doing. There was a rope ladder to get to his platform.
Soon Molly, Lucy, Tim, Sam and Scamp were enjoying some hot chocolate and cookies when Scamp growled. Tim went to his watch tower and saw a bundle of things, Like a blob, coming towards the tree house! Sam rushed down the hole so fast he slipped down it!
Daddy’s face could now be seen. He was laughing. He put down the ‘Blob’.
“Stuff for the tree house! Sleeping bags, Torches, tough string and lot’s more!” He yelled.
Sam was pulling up as much stuff as he could. Scamp pulled some stuff up too.
Soon it was all up in the tree house. Daddy was walking back to the house. Janet ran to the tree. “Do you want your meals there?” she asked.
“Yes please!” called Sam from the top of the tree. “We must make something that the tray can come up on.”
“There is some wires, cables and trays in the garage! We can use them!” cried Tim.
Soon he was working on the wires because he was very good at building things like this. Daddy came up to the tree and helped him. Soon he had made it! Each tray was attached to a moving belt with a plank of wood underneath it. If you pulled one lever the bottom tray moved to the top! If you pulled another then all the trays turned round, making a perfect moving staircase!
Janet put their lunch on the bottom tray. It moved to the top!
“Yum! Milk and cold chicken sandwiches! Thanks Janet!”
“You’re welcome Sam.”
Janet quickly walked back to the house. The children munched on the sandwiches. Scamp munched on one too!
The sky was dark now, and the children heard Mother call,
“Bed time!”
Tim, Sam, Lucy and Molly all rushed to the house. They ran up the stairs to find nothing but one little cracked black door. Sam opened it. Inside was a very little room. Jam was already being moved in by Janet. “I am very sorry, but this is a place where no children are allowed. I am making sure that the jam has a safe place to sleep!” She said, shooing them out the door.
The children were angry. Where would they sleep? The children were puzzled. Where would they sleep? They went down to mother.
“Oh! I thought I saw another room! Well it’s a fine night. Why don’t you put a roof on that tree house and sleep there?”
All the children thought it was a great idea! They rushed to the garage and pulled planks of wood and string over to the tree house. They put the wood on trays and sent it up but some pieces were a bit big! They then tied the wood to the top of the tree and round the sides, leaving holes for windows.
Then they pulled up their sleeping bags and some extra rugs, torches and cookies, sweets and peppermints. Soon they were all snuggled down and ready to sleep. The torches were hung from the branches and they all slept very well.
Important note:
If you are planning on building your own tree house, get an adult’s help; It can be very tricky. Also, don’t worry about the thing that Tim built (Pages 3-4), because Tim, although he was small, was a genius!
Now, we are going to have a little test. There are no answers on the back page so no, you can’t cheat. Write down your answers on a piece of paper and then ask an adult to check your answers for you. You have to read this bit of text and the story to work it out, so good luck!
Growing up
Tim
Tim passed all his tests with A+ on everyone except literacy, (Which he got an A). He then went to a special high school that focused on mathematics, (A posh word for Math, by the way) and computers. (Don’t be jealous, he was a real genius!) When he graduated from high school he went to university to study electronics and I.C.T. He passed all his tests with A+’s and his family were really proud. When he finally got away from school he got a job designing computers and technology that could change the earth!
Sadly, he grew sick just after he had developed plans for a hover bike (He had really wanted one when he was 6!) and the company was taken over by Mr B. Periper. (Who sadly preferred to make adult things rather than hover bikes.)
Molly
r /> Molly passed most of her tests at school but what was more important to her was her looks. As soon as she graduated from high school she became a model superstar. She sung like a nightingale and danced like an angel! She had many CDs and DVDs and albums before she retired from her singing and dancing career at the age of 36.
Then she became a judge on her own TV show called ‘Ding or Dong?’ Whenever a Dance routine was good you ‘dinged’ the small bell. But when it was bad you ‘donged’ the big bell. She then (After many, many years) retired from that and lived a long, happy life with her husband Ricky in their huge mansion house in the middle of a quiet, tranquil town.
Lucy
Lucy lived an altogether different life to the others. She went to a special school for children who wished to become maids and that were good at housework. She then (At the age of 18) went to work at a Lord’s mansion and got paid very well. She worked there until she was 60 and then retired. She then lived in a log house in the mountains and had a long, peaceful retirement.
Sam
Sam went to a high school that focused on literacy, writing and reading. He wrote his first ever book when he was 14 and then published it when he was 15. He was invited to many discos and parties and was the youngest author in the country. When he retired, he had written over 400 children’s books and over 500 adult books! He got married to a woman called Rebecca when he was 30 and when he was 40 he got invited to tea with the queen.
He lived in a flat from when he was 25 to when he was 90 and then he moved into an old people’s home and lived for a long time after that.
Test:
1. Which character was the best at making electronic things?
A. Sam
B. Tim
C. Molly
2. Lucy was a maid for a Lord. Did she get paid:
A. Well
B. OK
C. Badly
3. Was the TV show that Molly made and judged called:
A. Bing and Bong
B. Ching and Chong
C. Ding and Dong
4. Did Sam go to a:
A. Maths high school
B. Electronic high school
C. Literacy high school
5. At what age did Lucy start her job as a maid:
A. 7
B. 18
C. 17
0-1: You need to read the text more!
2-3: Ok, but you have some catching up to do!
3-4 You’re doing well, but can you get better?
5: You’ve done it! You are a JKBooks SUPER STAR!
By Kate Leonard and Jessica Teixeira