The Caterpillar
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry; Take your walk
To the shady leaf or stalk�
May no toad spy you, May the little birds pass by you; Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly�
Christina Rossetti
Flight
Faster and faster, the wheels spin around� Wings catch the wind, lift the plane off the ground�
Higher and higher, it climbs through the air� Up over the clouds, blue sky everywhere�
Sital Gorasia Chapman
Snail a long day’s journey to cross this mighty dock leaf don’t give up now, snail
Catherine Baker
Birch tree
buds on the birch tree tapping against my window come outside! it’s spring!
Catherine Baker
It was so clever that one day, it threw of f its wings and it grew, and it grew.
… taller than Elena’s house!
Taller than the pink hibiscus bush,
taller than the startled lemon tree …
When the family came back from holiday, Elena ran straight to the garden. Their neighbours wandered in to greet her.
‘What’s the matter?’ said Ms Vega.
‘I’ve grown … a pineapple,’ Elena responded, nervously.
‘Well, I can’t see a pineapple,’ said Mrs Sanchez.
‘You’ve made a mistake, Elena,’ said Mr Garcia.
‘There’s nothing here.’
A large shadow fell over them.
‘Look UP!’ shouted Elena.
The colossal pineapple towered above them.
It was as big as a building. It blocked out the sun.
It had hundreds of honeycombed hexagons, each armed with a spear.
It was topped with an explosion of green leaves.
‘W-wow,’ said Mrs Sanchez hesitantly.
‘That’s quite some pineapple,’ said Mr Garcia.
‘I’d better go,’ said Ms Vega, heading back towards the gate.
‘We go on missions in the human world,’ added Clementine.
‘What’s our motto, everyone?’ asked Matilda. The animals stood up.
‘We help. We share. We learn. We care!’
they said together.
‘Today, Otto,’ said Matilda, ‘you’ll be going on your first training mission. Clementine will look after you.’
Otto gulped. ‘Today?’
Otto trailed after Clementine.
‘In the human world no one knows we’re real animals, except the children we help,’ Clementine said.
‘So we have to pretend to be toys most of the time. That’s what we’re going to do today.’
‘I don’t know how to pretend to be a toy,’ said Otto miserably.
‘Just stay very still,’ said Clementine. ‘It’s easy.’
But Otto wasn’t convinced.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Clementine, seeing the look on his face.
‘Practice makes perfect.’
They reached a huge, hollow log. Clementine strode in and Otto followed slowly behind. It was dark and echoey inside the log, and Otto could feel his heart thumping.
Then suddenly everything was dazzlingly bright. Otto blinked.
‘Wow! Humans are BIG!’
Before Otto could move to safety, he heard the spinning of wheels.
A bicycle was heading straight towards him!
He was so busy looking up at the humans that he stumbled on to a path.
‘Otto!’ Clementine whispered. ‘Come back!’
My imagination is even busy while I’m asleep!
Dreams are thoughts and pictures imagined by your brain as you sleep .
They often mix real memories with things that could never really happen.
Scientists keep learning new things about why we dream.
Dreams may help our brains to organize and link memories to feelings.
Sometimes my imagination drifts off into a daydream!
Sometimes, when somebody says ‘write this!’ or ‘paint that!’ ... my imagination seems to disappear. Nothing seems appealing.
It’s there when I need it. With one exception.
I think my imagination gets discouraged when it’s told what to do.
I try to find out how to make my imagination happy again.
What can I learn from people with the world’s
Arab cryptology
Hundreds of years ago, Arab thinkers (from the part of the world that is now Iraq, Syria and Egypt) shared their ideas with each other. They studied and wrote about the art and science of codes.
One of the most skilled specialists in the Arab ‘school’ of cryptology was called al-Kindi. He devised a cipher-breaking method called ‘frequency analysis’.
Frequency analysis counts how often certain encrypted letters are used, and then compares them to how often letters are usually used in normal writing.
So, if you know S is the most commonly used letter in your language, then whichever letter appears most often in the encryption is likely to correspond to S.
People from this area formed the Arab 'school' of cryptology.
Do you know which letter is used most often in the English language?
Answer: E – so you’d expect the most frequently used letter in an encoded sentence to represent ‘E’. That sentence has more E’s than any other letter – and so does this one!
IN the middle of Dreadmere Forest, an old manor house sits and gently rots. No one has lived in Dreadmere Manor for decades. No humans, anyway.
Only the listeners dwell there now.
They dangle head-down from the chandelier in the imposing hall, wrapped in their wings as tightly as sushi rolls. They’re listening to the approaching storm.
Outside the Dreadmere Forest Visitor Centre, Josh stands with his classmates, looking around nervously. His teacher, Mrs Johal, is putting the class into groups.
Josh hopes he will be with one of his friends.
‘Ziggy, I would like you to work with Josh,’ Mrs Johal calls.
Ziggy nods and shuffles over to Josh.
‘Hi,’ says Josh politely.
Ziggy used to be his best friend, but Josh can’t imagine that things will return to the way they were in primary school. They used to spend a lot of time together then. But Ziggy made more friends when they started high school, spending less time with Josh.
‘Let’s focus on our task,’ Ziggy mutters as they head off into the trees with their clipboards.
Unfortunately, Josh doesn’t think it’s possible for him to conform and focus today. He’s concerned about the approaching storm. He’s already talked to Mrs Johal about it. Apparently, no one else can hear the distant thunder, but Josh can and it’s going to be apocalyptic. This is a real problem, because he’s lost his headphones, so his ears and brain are going to be defenceless. Josh cannot stand loud noises.
Dreadm fores
Visitor Cen
Sure enough, as Josh follows Ziggy through the forest, a massive flash of lightning splits the sky. Thunder booms as rain cascades down.
There’s a distant shout from Mrs Johal. ‘Back into the visitor centre, class!’
Josh runs, clutching his ears. The trees get thicker. Branches lash at his face.
Behind him, Ziggy is yelling at him to stop, but he can’t. He HAS to escape the persistent, thunderous noises that are overwhelming him.
A huge house looms in front of Josh. Another flash of lightning illuminates an ancient front door and a crooked sign: Dreadmere Manor. It’s not the visitor centre, but somewhere even better – it looks safe and quiet.
Josh hammers on the door.
‘Is there anybody there?’ he yells.
No answer. Desperately, he kicks the ancient door with all his strength. It slams open and the wind blasts inside, pulling him with it. He skids to a halt in the middle of a grand hallway, dark doorways looming either side, cobwebs everywhere. Shivering, he pushes the door and slams it shut. The noise of the storm lessens.
Meanwhile, the listeners are hanging upside down in the manor’s gloomy hall.
Darth is watching his favourite cartoon about toys. It’s better than studying humans and their wars. Ariana is trying to contact Josh.
‘He told me to call him at midday,’ she complains. She imagines him having his lunch.
‘But he’s not answering. Where is he?’ ***
‘Ziggy, wait!’ calls Josh, as the final bell goes.
Ziggy pauses and Josh catches up with him.
‘I know how Ronnie flew backwards.’ Josh says.
Ziggy stares at Josh. ‘How?’
Josh gulps. ‘This might not sound rational, but it’s true. An alien bat-girl caused it with an ultra-high sound wave.’
Ziggy’s mouth drops open. ‘A what-girl?’
‘A bat-girl, who is actually an alien called a listener from another world. I met her in Dreadmere Manor. Now alien-hunters are going to capture her. It’s pretty much my fault, so I have to rescue her!’
Ziggy stares at him and thinks for a moment.
He looks Josh straight in the eye. ‘This sounds serious,’ he replies.
‘It is! I have a plan to save them. But I need your help right now. Are you in?’
Ziggy grins. ‘This, I’ve got to see.’
Josh sighs with relief. ‘Get your bike and meet me at my house. I need to get my parents’ hiking rucksacks. We’re going to Dreadmere.’
The wind blows through Dreadmere Forest, swirling the leaves and sending twigs flying like arrows. In the visitor car park, Mr Flores and Ms Smith organize their team of alien-hunters, handing out drones, cameras, nets, and small bat-detectors.
Beneath the manor’s dusty chandelier, Darth suddenly shrieks. ‘Hunters nearby!’ He unfurls his wings with a leathery swoosh. ‘Our cover’s blown. We must fly away.’
‘No,’ says Ariana. ‘You know what humans are like! They’ll send drones to chase us, they’ll video us, catch us … we’ll never escape! We have to stay and scare them off.’ Darth groans.
Josh peers at the hunters from behind a tree.
‘There’s too many. They’ll take different paths; we’ll never get past them.’
‘I’ve got an idea,’ says Ziggy. ‘Which way is the manor house?’
Josh has memorized a map of the forest. He points to a path.
‘Leave it to me.’ Ziggy runs over to the hunters, his face a mask of terror. ‘Help! I just saw alien creatures in the forest. L-l-l-like big freaky bats!’
‘Where?’ demands Ms Smith.
Ziggy points in the opposite direction, his finger shaking. ‘They’re h-h-h-hanging from the big oak tree.’
The hunters don’t wait to hear more. They’re off.
Ziggy and Josh leap on their bikes and head for the manor. Josh hates the loud noise of the wind and the creaking branches, but he must do this for Ariana.
Ariana’s ears twitch. ‘I can hear Josh. He’s on his way here, and the hunters are heading away from us!’
‘You’re trusting a human?’ gasps Darth.
Josh and Ziggy speed down the forest path, leaping tree roots, skidding around bends, until they reach Dreadmere Manor.
Inside, Ariana and Darth are waiting upside down in the shadows as they rush in.
Ziggy sees vague shapes at first, then he gasps as Ariana jumps down. ‘Oh, hi, er, bat-girl,’ he hesitates.
‘Hello, human-boy.’ Ariana gives him a smile full of fangs. ‘So, what’s the plan?’
Ziggy can only hear a faint whisper, and he has to strain to focus on the bat-girl over the noise of the storm. But Josh can focus and hear Ariana as clearly as before.
‘We fooled the hunters,’ says Josh breathlessly.
‘Now, squeeze into these rucksacks and we’ll bike you to safety.’
‘They’ll be too heavy! They’ll never fit!’ gasps Ziggy.
‘Lightweight bones,’ says Josh. ‘And they’re skinny under their fur.’
Suddenly, in the doorway looms Mr Flores. ‘You didn’t fool me. I’ve called the others. You’re trapped.’
Ariana begins to squeak, higher and higher until there’s no sound at all. The air crinkles.
‘Duck!’ Josh pulls Ziggy to the ground as a huge ultra-high sound wave blasts overhead. Whoosh! Mr Flores disappears backwards into the trees.
‘Awesome,’ whispers Ziggy.
‘Bat attack!’ Ariana grins as she squeezes into Josh’s rucksack. ‘Let’s go!’
Following Butterflies ............ 4
Winter Butterfly ............ 6
The Lake Isle of Innisfree ............ 8 Environment ............ 10
Wild Child ............ 12
Happy Birthday Moon ............ 14
You May Have Heard of Me ............ 16
from The Song of the Open Road ............ 18
Pleasant Sounds ............ 20
How to Conjure a Poem in Eight Easy Steps ............ 21
I Do Solemnly Declare It … ............ 22
Counting Out Rhyme ............ 23
Praying ............ 24
Wild Child
she knew the rhythm of the seasons celandine to violet, her eyes were mirrors to her dreams of butterflies and blackbird eggs
and still water was her special place fat notes of nymph and dragonfly would leave her staring far away part of meadow, earth and sky
not there the teachers told her mother not all there the doctor said and though she sat beside the window always she was somewhere else
though the squirrel understands a tree a bird clouds, fish rivers, sea yet no one knows well a child that’s wild as briar rose or honey bee
Sue Hardy-Dawson
STAYING ALIVE IN THE PAST
Imagine you find yourself all alone in an unfamiliar place. A place like nowhere you’ve seen before. You’ve travelled 1200 years back in time to the ancient Maya civilization in 800 CE.
What will you need to do to survive? A time-travelling explorer will need essentials like food and water to stay alive. But you’ll need more than a water bot tle and a few snacks. They do things differently in the past , so you need knowledge to keep you safe.
What are you worried about?
• How do I explore a place I don’t know without a map?
• Where will I find shelter?
• What can I eat for lunch?
