by Lou Kuenzler
He was lying on my lap, exhausted from a long walk in the park.
While I stroked him, Nisha groomed his ears. She brushed and brushed till they shone like bronze.
“He almost looks smart,” laughed Mum peeping in from the hall. “Here you are, Violet. A postcard came from Uncle Max.”
“” I cried as Mum handed me a snowy picture of a wolf. Chip jumped off the chair and followed her to the kitchen as she went to finish cooking the spinach stew. Chip loves spinach. He up all the scraps … just like I always said he would.
“Read the postcard out loud,” said Nisha.
“OK.” I turned it over.
“I wish I was there! Think how exciting it would be to follow the wolves and camp near an open fire,” I said. “I can just see Uncle Max and Yana listening to the howling and staring up at the stars.”
“How romantic,” giggled Nisha.
“Yes, isn’t it?” I said. And I felt a sudden tingling in my toes.
“Not again! Honestly, Violet,” laughed Nisha as I shrank right before her eyes. “What’s so exciting now?”
“Imagine if Uncle Max and Yana fall in love and get married,” I cried, grabbing hold of the postcard and floating to the floor as if I were riding a magic carpet. “That’s one wedding I would DEFINITELY to be a bridesmaid for!”
Huge thanks to Alice Swan and all the team at Scholastic for being TOTALLY brilliant – especially Alison Padley for her fonts and design. To Kirsten Collier for the wonderful illustrations. Also Pat White and Claire Wilson at RCW for looking after me so well. And to Sophie McKenzie for yet more TERRIFIC advice. Thanks to my friends and family too, and to Willesden the dog, who snoozed by my feet while I wrote this book.
Scholastic Children’s Books
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First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 2013
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Ltd, 2014
Text copyright © Lou Kuenzler, 2013
Illustration copyright © Kirsten Collier, 2013
The right of Lou Kuenzler and Kirsten Collier to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them.
eISBN 978 1407 14670 6
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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