by Danny Parker
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
COPYRIGHT PAGE
Lola was making a card.
She had pencils, tissue paper and some card.
But something was missing. Someone had taken her glue.
And not just anyone.
Lola knew exactly who it was – her big brother Nick!
I wish I had a sister instead of a brother! she thought. Why does he always take my things?
Lola looked at her favourite toy. He was a clown called Buddy.
‘You know what, Buddy?’ she said. ‘I’m going to get my glue back.’
Buddy didn’t say anything.
He just smiled his goofy smile.
Lola tip-toed to Nick’s door and listened.
Good. He wasn’t in there.
She pushed open the door and stepped inside. She looked around for the glue, but didn’t see the tennis balls on the floor. Then …
Whoops!
She tumbled onto Nick’s bed!
Crack!
She had fallen on Nick’s water pistol. And now it was leaking onto his bed.
Lola gasped. Oh no! Nick’s going to kill me.
She ran back to her room and shut the door.
‘That didn’t go well, Buddy,’ she said. ‘Not well at all!’
Buddy just looked at her.
He was a very good listener.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ she said, scooping him up.
She went over to her toy box.
Now, lots of children have toy boxes. But no-one has a toy box like Lola’s. Oh no.
Lola’s toy box is the most magical toy box ever.
She opened it and stepped inside. Then she held on to Buddy and gently closed the lid.
Everything changed.
The toy box filled with light and started to shake.
Lola closed her eyes as they jolted and bumped about. It was a bit like being on the dodgem cars at the fair.
And then the lights went off and the shaking stopped.
Lola took a deep breath, opened her eyes and pushed open the lid.
She had climbed into her toy box, but she had climbed out of …
She had climbed out of a large wooden treasure chest.
‘Well, twirl my toggles, Lola! We’re back in the Kingdom.’
Lola loved having Buddy as a living, speaking best friend.
He always came to life on a toy-box adventure. And he always said very silly things like twirl my toggles.
The Kingdom was where toys lived when children weren’t playing with them at home.
The treasure chest was sitting on a big wooden stage. The stage was in a forest of tall wooden toy trees. There were small wooden buildings all around, and lots of empty chairs in front of the stage.
‘Where in the Kingdom are we, Buddy?’ asked Lola, looking around.
‘Well, squeeze my stuffing. I know this place!’ said Buddy, looking excited.
He hopped out of the chest and on to the stage, wobbling on his long legs.
‘We’re in Timberfield, Lola. Everything here is made of wood.’
In the distance, Lola could see wooden toys standing by a wooden road. There were wooden cars parked by a big pond. And on the pond there were wooden ducks.
‘This is where wooden toys are made,’ said Buddy. ‘Spinning tops and yoyos. Trains and building blocks. And it’s where wooden toys live. It’s a magical place!’
Lola’s toy box always brought them somewhere new, somewhere special.
Timberfield. Where had she seen that word before?
‘Lola, look!’ said Buddy, pointing to a sign above the stage.
‘I’ve always wanted to be in the talent show,’ Buddy said. ‘Toys come from all over the Kingdom to take part!’
Then Lola heard a noise. Lots of noise, actually.
Toys were coming from everywhere. Wooden toys and soft toys. Bears and dolls of every shape and size. And right in front was an orange bear that Lola knew.
‘Felix!’ shouted Buddy. ‘Bless my buttons, this day just gets better and better.’ He jumped down from the stage, and fell flat on his face.
Felix laughed his deep laugh and helped Buddy up. He gave Buddy a great big bear hug.
Felix was a very important bear. His father was the Great High Bear himself, ruler of the whole kingdom.
‘Hello, Lola,’ Felix said softly. ‘Good to see you again.’
Felix always had a calm voice, but Lola could tell something was wrong. And she was right.
‘Something terrible has happened,’ he said. ‘Come with me.’
‘The Timberfield Treasure has been stolen,’ explained Felix, as he took them away to a quiet spot.
‘Stolen!’ gasped Buddy. ‘Blast my buttons. What happened?’
‘Buddy, my old friend, we don’t know,’ said Felix.
Buddy turned to Lola. ‘The Timberfield Treasure is a collection of special buttons. They are the first prize in the talent show.’
Lola knew that buttons were very important in the Kingdom.
Felix scratched his furry chin. ‘It happened today,’ he said. ‘My guards have searched Timberfield and found nothing.
The last place to search is here, at the talent show.’
Lola could see more and more toys arriving to see the show.
‘Buddy and I can help you look before the show starts,’ said Lola. ‘It won’t take long.’
‘But I can’t go backstage,’ Felix said.
Lola was surprised. Felix was the son of the Great High Bear.
He could go wherever he wanted.
Felix’s shiny glass eyes twinkled. ‘I am a judge at the talent show. Only performers can go backstage.’
‘Oh,’ said Lola. ‘Not so easy then!’
Lola wondered how she could help. If Felix’s guards had searched everywhere else, then the treasure must be here somewhere.
Lola started to pace up and down. She always did this when she was thinking.
Then she heard a familiar noise.
Zip …
Buddy had taken his juggling balls out of his hat. He always juggled when he was thinking.
Come on, Lola, think.
She watched Buddy as the juggling balls flew everywhere. He was brilliant.
That’s it!
Lola could feel her heartbeat start to speed up. ‘We’ll enter the show!’ she said.
Felix looked puzzled.
‘If we enter the show,’ she said, ‘we can go backstage and look for the treasure.’
Felix nodded. ‘Oh Lola, that’s good,’ he said. ‘That’s very good.’
‘Lola, you are super brainy!’ shouted Buddy. ‘We can be spies and perform in the talent show.’
He threw all three balls into the air and did a special trick.
‘OK,’ said Felix. ‘But you will need a name.’
‘How about Lovely Lola and Buddy?’ suggested Buddy.
Lola laughed. ‘No, I think it should be Brilliant Buddy and Lola.’
‘I’m going to call you The Oddballs!’ said Felix. ‘I’ll add you to the list.’
‘Great!’ said Lola. ‘Come on, Buddy. Let’s go!’
Lola felt a bit nervous.
At home, she was always too scared to enter her school poetry-reading competition. And now she was about to perform in front of hundreds of toys.
But she always did things in the Kingdom that she wouldn’t dare do at hom
e.
Besides, thought Lola, Buddy will be the one performing. I will just introduce him.
‘Buddy,’ she said, ‘we should start looking for the treasure in the dressing rooms.’
The dressing room was full of costumes.
Two teddy bears in leotards looked up at Lola, their mouths opened wide in surprise. Lola was the only real girl in the Kingdom, after all.
She smiled, but they hurried off, leaving Lola and Buddy alone.
‘Zing my zipper!’ said Buddy, looking at the dresses and suits, hats and colourful coats. ‘The treasure could be anywhere.’
Lola looked at all the costumes carefully. Most of them had buttons, but none of them looked like treasure.
Then she heard wooden footsteps outside.
‘Quick, Buddy,’ she said. ‘Someone is coming!’
They both dived into a pile of costumes.
Buddy was covered by a big fur coat and couldn’t see anything, but Lola could see over a feather scarf.
She saw a short wooden toy wearing a top hat and long jacket. On his jacket it said, The Wooden Wonder.
He walked over to the dressing table.
He looked into the polished wooden mirror and held out one hand. He was holding two shiny golden buttons.
Lola gasped. The buttons definitely looked like treasure!
The toy covered his hand with a cloth. Then he waved his other hand over the cloth and slowly pulled it away. His hand was now empty.
The buttons were gone!
Lola knew it was a magic trick, but she had never seen one up close before. It was amazing!
Then the toy took off his hat and pulled out the golden buttons from there.
Then he did the trick again.
And again.
Finally the toy turned and left the dressing room.
Lola burst out from her hiding place.
‘Come on, Buddy,’ she cried. ‘Let’s tell Felix. That’s the thief!’
Buddy struggled out from under the fur coat.
‘Shake my stitches, Lola. What did you see?’
But before Lola could answer, a loud-speaker crackled.
‘All acts, please go to your starting positions. The show is about to begin!’
‘We’ll just have to wait, Buddy,’ said Lola. ‘We’ll make sure the thief doesn’t get away after the show!’
Lola and Buddy stood at the side of the stage.
There were excited toys everywhere, waiting for the show to begin. Lola saw little bears sitting on bigger bears’ laps. She saw ragdolls waving to wooden soldiers.
‘Bless my buttons,’ said Buddy. ‘That is a big crowd.’
All the toys cheered when the first act began.
Six colourful wooden elephants walked slowly onto the stage.
They made an elephant pyramid, the smaller elephants balancing on the bigger ones at the bottom. Then they took a slow bow.
The audience clapped happily at the end.
‘I used to have a set of elephants!’ whispered Lola.
When Buddy didn’t respond, Lola looked over at her floppy friend. Is his zipper shaking? she wondered.
Next on stage was a patchwork doll called the Patchemup Poet.
The poet cleared her throat.
Roses are red,
violets are blue.
I have a beautiful
story for you.
Then she opened a wooden book and read:
Each Peach Pear Plum,
I spy Tom Thumb.
Lola loved this story! She knew all the words.
At the end, everyone clapped loudly.
‘What did you think of that?’ Lola asked Buddy.
But Buddy still didn’t say anything.
Why wasn’t he talking?
Lola was about to ask Buddy if he was all right when lights started to flash and loud music played.
Five tall toys wearing long black cloaks walked onstage.
They had brightly painted silver medals around their necks. Lola could just read the words on the medals.
Five Alive
The audience cheered as the music got faster. Hundreds of furry paws waved and swayed. Wooden hands clapped.
Lola thought there was something odd about the group. But what was it?
When Five Alive started to dance, the crowd cheered even louder.
They were dancing in time. Almost.
They were spinning in time. Almost.
Something stirred in Lola’s memory … Almost, almost, almost.
Then they started to sing. They were amazing.
Lola had never seen a live band before. ‘These toys are fantastic, Buddy!’ she cried.
Buddy didn’t respond, but Lola picked him up anyway and started to dance.
Five Alive did one final spin, their silver medals swinging as they whirled around. The song ended and the lights went out.
The audience went crazy!
‘Wow,’ said Lola. ‘The best act by far!’
She was grinning in amazement when she remembered that she and Buddy were on next.
Oh my. Here goes!
Lola took a deep breath. ‘Come on, you crazy clown,’ she told Buddy. ‘I’ll introduce us, and then you can do your thing! You’ll be brilliant.’
She stepped onto the stage.
Lola’s heart was beating quickly.
‘Hello! My name is Lola. And this is the amazing Buddy!’
She saw surprise on hundreds of toy faces. The toys started whispering to each other. ‘That’s a girl! A girl?’
Lola looked around. No Buddy.
‘Um … sorry, just a minute,’ said Lola, and quickly ran off again. The audience giggled.
Lola found Buddy by the side of the stage. He looked really worried.
‘What’s the matter, Buddy? The crowd is waiting.’
But Buddy didn’t move. He looked terrified.
‘Oh no,’ said Lola. ‘Stage fright!’ She took Buddy by the mitten and dragged him onstage.
‘This is the amazing Buddy!’ she said again, and let go of his hand.
Buddy fell flat on the floor. The audience laughed.
‘Get up!’ hissed Lola.
But poor Buddy didn’t seem to hear.
Lola scooped him up, stood him on his feet and stepped away. Buddy fell over. The crowd laughed louder.
‘Stand up, Buddy,’ Lola whispered.
Buddy started to stand. He wobbled at first, then found his balance and stood, swaying.
The audience clapped.
‘Now, the amazing Buddy will show you his juggling skills!’
Lola stood back to give Buddy some room.
Buddy slowly lifted his hand. It was shaking. He reached for the zip on his hat, but one of his buttons got trapped in his buckle. He tried to get it free, but then his other hand got stuck too!
The more tangled he got, the more the audience laughed.
Buddy finally got one hand free and took a step, but he …
Trod on one of his laces …
Spun around …
Lost his balance and went stumbling towards the edge of the stage.
‘Buddy, watch out!’ called Lola.
But it was too late. Buddy tripped on his big clown shoes and fell off the stage into the audience.
The crowd cheered even louder!
Lola couldn’t believe it. Everywhere she looked, there were smiling toys. They all laughed as Buddy tried to climb back onstage.
Every time he tried, he fell down again. And every time he fell, the crowd laughed harder.
Finally Buddy made it back onto the stage. He clambered to his feet and got out his juggling balls.
But the zipper got tangled with his toggle …
The balls fell on the floor …
And his hat fell off completely!
The audience started clapping and cheering. Poor old Buddy was in such a tangle that Lola decided to take a bow and carry him offstage.
‘Thank you, everyone!’ she shoute
d over the wild applause. ‘We are The Oddballs!’
‘We did it, Buddy. And they loved you!’
Lola hopped up and down happily, but stopped when she heard wooden footsteps.
The Wooden Wonder was walking onstage.
He started his magic act.
First he asked for a toy from the audience to climb into a brightly painted box. Then the Wooden Wonder took a giant wooden saw and began to cut the box in half.
The audience gasped! So did Lola. Buddy nearly fell over again.
Then the Wooden Wonder put the box back together and the toy hopped out in one happy piece.
The audience went crazy.
‘Bless my buttons, he’s good!’ whispered Buddy.
‘Just the skills you need to make treasure disappear,’ replied Lola.
Another toy was covered with a sheet. The Wooden Wonder waved his arms and the sheet rose into the air. The toy was floating!
‘Impossible!’ whispered Buddy.
‘Oh, he’s clever,’ said Lola. ‘But we’ll catch him.’
Finally the Wooden Wonder waved his hand and the two golden buttons appeared.
Lola watched him make them disappear.
The audience was stunned.
Finally he threw a large sheet in the air. It floated down and covered him completely.
Can make himself disappear? Lola wondered. He might escape!
‘Stop right there!’ she cried, running onstage.
She pulled the sheet off him. ‘This is no innocent toy,’ she called out. ‘He is a thief!’
The crowd gasped.
‘His disappearing buttons are no ordinary buttons,’ Lola added.
She took the golden buttons from the toy’s hat and held them above her head.
Lola saw Felix stand up as she cried, ‘They are the missing Timberfield Treasure!’
The audience looked puzzled.
A soft mitten squeezed Lola’s hand.
‘Bless my buttons, Lola,’ said a quiet voice. ‘Those are the wrong buttons!’
The wrong buttons? They couldn’t be! They were shiny golden buttons. Valuable buttons! They must be the ones.
Felix shook his head.
‘I’m sorry, Felix,’ Lola said, feeling terrible. ‘I was so sure.’
‘The Timberfield Treasure is silver, Lola. Not gold. And it’s much bigger.’