Keeping blood cool
When hares get hot, blood f lows to their long ears. Their skin is thinner there, which lets heat escape.
Elephants’ large ears work a bit like this, too. They also use their trunks to spray water on themselves.
Elephants use their ears like fans, too!
Giraffes have patches on their skin, which keep them cool.
Under each patch is a place where blood comes closer to the skin so heat can escape.
Keeping cool as a team
Bees work as a team. They live together in hives. If it gets too hot, the worker bees go out to find water.
That’s teamwork!
When the bees return with the water, they put it around the hive. Then they f lap their wings to dry the water. As the water dries, the bees are successful : the hive is cooled.
Bees will get water from ponds or puddles.
If you are successful, you do or get what you planned or wanted.
Finding shade
Sometimes the best way to cool down is to find shade. Crocodiles use where they live to keep warm or cool.
To warm up, crocodiles lie in the sun. To cool down, they rest in the shade or in cool water.
On hot days, we like to find a cool location. A location is the place where
At a nearby river ...
Ooh, that’s better. I can feel the water going up my roots!
I’ll just stop for a drink.
But Jay predicts trouble …
Oakley – WAKE UP!
To predict something is to say that it will happen in the future.
It’s a boat race!
There wasn’t a tree there yesterday!
BRAKE!
Boats don’t have brakes!
Let’s get out of here …
There’s a field over there. I often fly over it.
We’ll dash through it.
Oof! I’ve been tackled! Oops – a rugby match!
Oakley’s beehive falls out.
I’ve got the ball! The hive bounces ...
We only wanted to join in the game.
It’s not a ball – it’s a BEEHIVE!
SO MANY BEES! HELP!
Oakley ran away again …
ZZZZ!
We can’t cause trouble here –there are no humans. And it’s peaceful!
On Monday morning:
It was peaceful – until Oakley started snoring!
It must be a school field!
Where did that tree come from? No idea, but the children love it!
When the kids have gone inside …
A WALKING TREE! I need a disguise ... Let’s find somewhere quiet.
Well, it’s not very quiet here.
To involve something is to need it or result in it.
What does that involve?
Fruit or vegetable?
Some people think we grow vegetables. Actually, they are all fruits!
See the seeds inside this tomato? That is the proof. Fruit comes from flowering plants and usually contains seeds.
seeds
Vegetables are the leaves, stem, or roots of a plant.
Proof is a fact or thing that shows something is true.
The nursery
Here’s Dad! He’s in the plant nursery. This is where plants are grown until they are ready to be moved to the greenhouses.
Dad makes sure the young plants get the right amount of sunlight, water and fertilizer.
The plants grow from tiny seeds that we plant in the soil.
Sometimes Dad lets me help him take care of them.
I have to be very careful because the seedlings are fragile.
seedlings
seed tray
Kofi, Yaa and Mary are waving at us. They work on the farm when Mum and Dad need their help.
Sometimes, I help by watering the plants. I have my own special watering can!
Kofi
Mary
Yaa
Hello!
Hello Ama
These young plants are big enough to be moved now. Kofi, Yaa and Mary will help Dad plant them in the greenhouses.
Dad checks all the seedlings first. He rejects the damaged and unhealthy ones.
To reject something is to get rid of it.
bell pepper plants
cucumber plants
tomato plants
Using greenhouses means we can grow crops all year long, even in rainy weather.
This is Esi. She is a soil expert. She visits the farm to tell Dad what the soil needs. Today she is taking some soil to test in her lab.
Esi
Words to look out for
assume verb
To assume something is to think it is true or likely without being sure of it.
enquire verb
To enquire about something is to ask for information about it.
ideal adjective per fect, or exactly what you want inspect verb
To inspect something or someone is to look carefully at them, especially to check them.
original adjective
Something that is original is new, and not a copy or an imitation.
resilient adjective
Someone or something that is resilient is able to deal with dif f iculties and to recover from them.
suppose verb
To suppose something is to think that it is likely or true.
thoughtful adjective
thinking a lot
Chapter 3
Mega Merle and Hurricane followed the trail of muddy paw prints. The trail led them to a compost heap.
Hurricane snif fed. “Ugh, it smells like old socks!” she said. “The Gerbilator must be hiding nearby.”
“Get down!” yelled Mega Merle. The heroes crouched down just in time. A bright-orange object whizzed over their heads. It was half a carrot!
Mega Merle peered up to see where the carrot had come from.
“Gerbilinos!” he shouted.
Three gerbilinos sat on the compost heap throwing bits of food at them. Mega Merle caught a piece of orange peel in his paw.
“This is ideal,” he thought. “I can use it as a shield!”
“We need to f ind cover!” Hurricane cried, dodging a bit of turnip that f lew through the air.
“Over there,” said Mega Merle, pointing at a pile of plant pots.
The heroes ran to shelter. Mega Merle gripped his orange peel shield tight above his head, as apple cores and eggshells rained down on them.
“That was close,” said Hurricane, crouching behind a large plant pot.
“We have to get past them if we’re going to f ind the Gerbilator,” said Mega Merle. He was thoughtful for a moment. “We need a distraction!”
“Leave that to me,” said Hurricane. “I’ve been practising my loudest bark.’
“Perfect!” said Mega Merle, putting his paws in his ears.
If someone is thoughtful, they are thinking a lot about something.
Hurricane tilted her head back and … WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!
The noise made the gerbilinos jump and they fell down the compost heap.
Mega Merle made a run for it. As he headed round the back of the compost heap, he came to an obstacle course.
“I bet the Gerbilator built these obstacles to slow me down,” he said, “but nothing can stop Mega Merle!”
This is like playing Mega Missions, but for real !
Words to look out for ...
articulate (verb) articulates, articulating, articulated
To articulate a word, phrase, or idea is to pronounce it or express it clearly.
convert (verb) converts, converting, converted
To convert something is to change it into something else.
empower (verb) empowers, empowering, empowered
to give someone the power or confidence to do something function (noun) what someone or something does or ought to do
identify (verb) identifies, identifying, identified to recognize or find something
outcome (noun) The outcome of something is what happens at the end of it or as a result of it.
persevere (verb) perseveres, persevering, persevered
To persevere is to go on with something even though it is difficult.
retrieve (verb) retrieves, retrieving, retrieved
To retrieve something is to get it back or find it again.
Chapter 2
On the other side of the road, everything is green. The grass is much taller than Rollo.
There are lots of trees. They’re taller than the building Rollo lives in with Joey. Their silvery-green leaves are shivering in the breeze. Rollo can’t see or hear any people. Rollo buries his nose in the grass and breathes in. Soon, he is hopping in the grass, sniffing all the wonderful smells. The rain has now stopped and the wet grass feels so good on Rollo’s feet.
Further on, there are leaves on the ground – red, brown and gold. Their smell is delicious. Deep down in the leaves, there’s a hidden warmth. When Rollo nuzzles his nose underneath the leaves and finds soil, the warmth disappears. Rollo digs furiously, feeling the soil crumble and give way.
With a bounce, Rollo lands on the next interesting smell, and then the next. He follows the smells, digging there, hopping everywhere. Soon, Rollo is deep in the grass – he is lost, but he is happy.
Rollo looks up at the sky and closes his eyes. He listens to the wind’s tales of everywhere it has been. When Rollo opens his eyes, he watches a little brown bird pull an insect from the grass.
Rollo looks at the bird and wonders: Does such a different creature have different thoughts to me?
Then a new movement surprises him.
A small rabbit is staring at Rollo.
The small rabbit’s light brown fur is hard to see against the roots of the trees. Its whiskers are twitching with curiosity.
It is a wild rabbit. Suddenly, Rollo’s memories flood back to him in a rush of colours and smells.
Welcome to Trinidad
Trinidad is part of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago – an island country in the Caribbean. The first people who lived in Trinidad came from South America.
From 1498 to 1814, different European countries wanted to rule Trinidad, including Spain and Britain. Many people who already lived in Trinidad were enslaved by the new rulers. They were treated badly and many of them died. They fought for their freedom for a long time. For over 150 years, Trinidad was considered part of Britain. However, in 1962, Trinidad gained independence from Britain. Fourteen years later, Trinidad became a republic. Did
Trinidad and Tobago are just off the coast of South America
Trinidad’s
history has had a big impact on its art and culture.
Trinidad
Tobago
Art in Trinidad
FACT FILE: Trinidad
Capital city: Port of Spain
Climate: tropical
Sunshine hours per day: around 7
Rainy days each year: around 156
National instrument: steelpan
Did you know?
In Trinidad, art is a huge part of people’s lives.
For example, Carnival, also known as ‘mas’, takes place every year in Trinidad. People wear colourful costumes and dance.
When steelpans vibrate, sound is created.
Trinidad is known for calypso (say: kuh-lip-so) music – a lively style of music that often tells stories through songs. It is associated with Carnival. Enslaved people sang calypso songs to communicate as they weren’t allowed to talk
Create a Carnival costume!
1 Get some paper and colouring pencils.
2 Design a colourful carnival costume. Use the picture of Carnival on this page for inspiration.
To associate one person or thing with another is to connect them in your mind.
Who is Winifred Atwell?
Winifred Atwell was famous for playing the piano. Most people called her Winnie.
Winnie grew up in northern Trinidad near the capital city, Port of Spain. Her father was a pharmacist (say: faa-muh-sist) and her mother was a nurse.
Port of Spain
Trinidad
Tobago
Did you know?
There is some confusion about which year Winnie was born. Some of the information is inaccurate. Most people think she was born around 1913.
Winnie loved music. She started playing the piano when she was four years old. After a few years, she started teaching other people how to play the piano!
Winnie practised for many hours every day to refine her piano playing.
Inaccurate means not correct. You refine something when you improve it, often by making small changes.
Practise, practise, practise
When Winnie was older, she began working in her father’s pharmacy. However, she really wanted to become a concert pianist (say: pea-uh-nist ). She loved to play classical music.
Winnie did not allow anything to distract her from achieving her goal. She continued to practise playing the piano in her spare time. She passed many music exams. Winnie became well known in Trinidad for her classical music concerts.
Did you know?
Music exams test how well you play a musical instrument. The first music exams took place more than 100 years ago!
Create a drawing from music!
Analyse music:
1 Listen to your favourite music.
2 Draw a picture of what you hear.
Imagine the music is telling a story. Draw what you feel when you listen to it.
To distract someone is to take their attention away from something. You analyse something when you think carefully about it, or look carefully at it, considering each part in detail.
Chapter 2
The A Team
Everyone started talking all at once. This was pointless because the alarm was REALLY loud. Everyone started SHOUTING at once instead.
Ms Turry called for quiet. ‘Listen, please!’
Nobody listened, obviously.
Ms Turry appealed to another teacher, Mr Marvello, for assistance. Mr Marvello stood up. Now, I can guarantee your teachers will be jealous of Mr Marvello’s power …
There was a whoosh. The children’s mouths all kept moving, but no sound came out. Mr Marvello had the power to control sound!
Mr Marvello folded his arms and looked pleased with himself. ‘I’ll only give you your voices back on one condition. You all need to be quiet.’
Sanjit was still moving his mouth and looked a bit like a goldfish.
A condition is something that must happen if something else is to happen.
Asma was trying to yell something.
Gradually, everyone calmed down. Whoosh! Suddenly, their voices were back!
The annoying fly was back, too. Asma batted it away again. ‘I hate it when Mr Marvello does that,’ she grumbled.
Ms Skipper, the sports teacher, stretched out an arm. Her arm stretched, stretched and stretched some more!
In fact, her arm stretched across the whole length of the assembly hall. There was a rumour that Ms Skipper once stretched it all the way to Italy. She must have wanted a real Italian pizza for her dinner that night!
A rumour is something that a lot of people are saying, although it may not be true.
Ms Skipper turned the alarm off.
‘That alarm means that someone has broken into the school,’ Ms Turry said grimly. ‘I need the A Team. Khalid, Willow and Camille, please come with me.’
‘Super-strength, moving things with your mind, and electro-power,’ Ned murmured.
While the A Team hurried out of the hall, Mr Marvello started giving the rest of the pupils instructions.
Ned tried to listen, but that fly was buzzing around again. He brushed it away.
Sanjit stared hard at the fly.
Ned stared at his friend. He knew that look.
Sanjit was reading the fly’s mind. From the expression on Sanjit’s face, he was learning something very interesting.
‘What’s going on?’ Ned asked Sanjit.
Mr Marvello stopped talking and stared at Ned. ‘Ned, I will take your voice again if I have to,’ he threatened.
Ned shut up.
Mr Marvello told everyone that they could go to break a bit early. ‘Be sensible, everyone. There’s no need to panic. Ms Turry has our top heroes on the case!’
Ned and the others hurried into the corridor.
Usually, the school had a strict “no powers” rule in the corridors. Today, the teachers were too distracted to notice.
One pupil took a shortcut by walking through a wall. Another avoided the crowds by climbing on the ceiling.
Ned dragged Sanjit into an empty classroom so they could talk. Jade and Asma quickly followed them.
‘What did the fly say?’ Ned asked as soon as the door had shut.
‘Well,’ said Sanjit, ‘the fly was buzzing around Ms Turry’s office. It was eyeing up the olive and onion sandwiches on her desk.’
‘Who eats olives with onion?’ squealed Ned. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.
Asma rolled her eyes. ‘Now’s not the time to question people’s lunch choices,’ she said. ‘What else did the fly say, Sanjit?’
‘It heard a noise at the window,’ Sanjit explained. ‘Someone was breaking in!’
Jade gasped. ‘Who?’
‘It was a woman,’ Sanjit said. ‘She climbed through the office window. Then she rummaged around in Ms Turry’s desk.’
‘What did she take?’ Ned asked.
Sanjit frowned. ‘The fly said it looked like one of our school ties.’
Ned looked puzzled. ‘I don’t get it. Why would someone go to the effort of breaking in to steal a school tie?’
Sanjit sighed. ‘Well, that’s the weird thing. The fly said the tie was glowing.’
‘It sounds like no ordinary tie,’ Asma said.
‘Yes, and this special tie is now in the hands of a villain,’ Sanjit said.
‘How can we work out what’s special about the tie?’ Jade asked.
‘By seeing what evidence there is in Ms Turry’s office,’ Asma answered. Jade gasped. ‘We can’t do that! We can’t just walk into her office!’
‘Of course we can,’ Asma replied. ‘She’s with the A Team. We’ve got about twenty minutes left of break time. No one will miss us until the next lesson starts.’
Once Jade had reluctantly agreed, our heroes headed towards Ms Turry’s office.
On the way, Mr Marvello marched past with Ms Skipper jogging alongside.
‘The tie is gone!’ Ms Skipper shrieked. ‘This could be the end of the academy!’
Ned looked at his friends in fear. They needed to hurry!
The dorm was full of books (mostly history and mysteries), stuffed toys and a football-shaped clock. Crisp and biscuit wrappers were littered around Max’s bed. Christophe’s bed was expertly made. A bag of marshmallows had been placed on the pillow of the third bed in the room.
Jeremy’s new roommates were sitting on a rug, throwing paper balls into a rubbish bin.
‘Welcome to the top floor, Jeremy,’ said
Christophe, patting the floor beside him. ‘This is our usual Friday-evening game. The loser gets to buy the sweet supply for the week!’
Jeremy joined in, trying to look cheerful – not that his friends expected him to. They didn’t say anything, but he guessed that they knew about his parents by now. The whole school would, in the morning.
The fact they didn’t mention it made them the best roommates ever. They were the best roommates, in the best dorm, in the best boarding house in the academy: Poirot House.
The academy’s four boarding houses were named after four famous fictional detectives: Poirot, Marple, Wimsey and Drew. Each house was split into several dormitories, home to students with minds for mysteries: future superstars of the detective world.
That was exactly what Jeremy knew he needed to become. He couldn’t wait a week for his grandmother to return. He needed to settle quickly into boarding so he could focus on one thing: solving the mystery. He would become a great detective, just like his family hoped. He’d be the great detective they needed.
CHAPTER 2
Innocence
Jeremy woke up with a start. It was his first morning as a full-time boarder at Manor Academy. Luckily, it was Saturday – no lessons that day.
Christophe sat up, bleary-eyed. His usually neat pyjamas, covered with mini magnifying glasses, were rumpled. His dark brown skin was criss-crossed with lines made by pillow creases.
‘How was your first night as a boarder?’ he asked, throwing a pair of tightly rolled socks to silence the alarm clock. He fist-bumped the air as they fell tidily into the washing basket.
‘Not bad,’ mumbled Jeremy, beginning to dread the thought of going to breakfast. Everyone would have heard the news by now. They’d stare at him: Jeremy Swift, the son of disgraced detectives. It would feel strange, thought Jeremy, not having his parents across the breakfast table. They’d have been ready with pancakes and chocolate spread. Max came out of the bathroom, his wavy blond hair tied up in a small ponytail. His freckled face already looked alert.
‘Breakfast’s usually pretty good,’ Max said.
Jeremy smiled. ‘Thanks for making me feel at home, guys. I … I didn’t expect to be staying here.’
‘Another roommate will be fun,’ said Christophe, heading to the bathroom. ‘As long as you’re happy to share your sweet supply!’
They mentioned nothing about his parents, just as last night. Jeremy felt another swell of gratitude. He didn’t want to speak about it yet. Maybe, in the next few days, once the police realized that they’d made a genuine mistake, he’d feel able to talk about everything – joke about it, even.
Everyone said talking about stuff helped. Mostly, it did. Sometimes, though, Jeremy needed time to think about things on his own. He’d come to understand that through the Mindful Detective classes they had on Monday mornings, just after their Language of Sleuths lessons.
Dictionary definition of sleuths sleuths: detectives
The students kept notes on special words used in the detective world. It was one of their first lessons on entering the school: writing clear and accurate dictionary definitions.
As the Panthers approached the dining hall, the great Poirot Clock bonged eight times.
The clock was made from walnut wood, and was as tall as Principal Croft. It was powered by little grey cogs that you could see through the clock face. It stood on the landing of the main staircase, and its hourly bongs could be heard everywhere in the school.
The dining hall was filled with the annoying slam of metal trays. It was lined with what seemed like an endless queue of yawning, pushing, chattering students. It was also full of enticing scents from the academy’s kitchen.
The Panthers loaded their plates with warm toast, buttery scrambled eggs and juicy chunks of grilled tomato. Bowls of steaming porridge and glasses of juice were crammed alongside on their trays.
They made their way to a table at the far side of the dining hall. It was less busy, and Jeremy hoped he might not be noticed as much.
Halfway through their breakfast, three of their classmates headed for their table. They were the Mystery Machine, a group of student sleuths named after a detective cartoon series. These students – Jahita, Cassie and Fred – were
constantly top of the school leader board for solving the school’s end-of-term mysteries. Everything about them screamed brilliance.
‘We heard about your parents, Jeremy,’ said Cassie, a girl with blonde hair, pink cheeks and a frown. She tucked a curl behind her ear, revealing a neon green hearing aid spotted with small black skulls. ‘Any idea where the Golden Pen is?’
Jeremy looked up, and faced her so she could read his lips. ‘No, and neither do my parents.’ He carried on spooning up creamy porridge spotted with raspberry jam, but it now seemed tasteless.
‘You’ve got no clues, I assume,’ said Jahita carelessly, clearly hoping to find out some details.
