The Weaver Bird's Nest

Once upon a time there was a little girl named May Mc Fair.She had two friends, Amy Flewstock and Ann Mc Fish.She and her friends were eight years old , went to the same school and were in the same class as well.They all loved nature and animals.One day,they were at May’s house and were playing outside in the garden when Ann spotted a fallen weaver bird nest.

Amy picked it up and said,” What a cute nest Ann found!” Ann and May agreed.They all went inside to show to May’s Mom .May said,” Look Mom! What a cute nest Ann found in our own garden.” May’s Mom agreed that it was very sweet.They all wondered where to keep it.May then suggested that they could take it to school to show it to their class.Amy and Ann agreed.

The next day when they brought it to the class, Mrs.Tofeluck ,their teacher,kept it on the ‘ Amazing nature display ‘ table.It was a table where children could bring things related to nature to show to the class.Now,in their class,there was a boy named Giggy Eggstill,the class clown.Everybody called him Giggy Iggy.He nearly always got detention from Mrs.Tofeluck as he disturbed the class and seldom did his classwork or homework.He was particularly fond of birds.When he saw the weaver bird nest,he wanted it for himself but since he knew that things on the display table were only for display,he ,made a plan to steal it.

Giggy’s birthday was close and his Mom wanted to throw a surprise party for him.She sent out invitations for his birthday to all his friends.The invitation said:

“Come to my party!
Where : 32,Bleakenfeld House
When : 14th April, 2.00 pm
RSVP : My Mom.

Giggy then planned to sneak out the next day but when he was about to put his plan into action,he got detention for three hours ! He had to write a report about ‘ How to be kind’ with Ms.Kremshel .She was a very kind hearted teacher and also fond of Giggy.So Giggy found it safe to ask Ms.Kremshel if he could go outside and play instead of writing the report.She told him that he was under detention and so was not allowed to do that.He pleaded and pleaded till Ms.Kremshel said,”Naughty boy!Get back to your work!”

Giggy Iggy was very disappointed.He finished his report and checked his watch.There was still another one hour to go before his detention was over.He asked Ms.Kremshel “ What should I do now?May I go home?”
Ms.Kremshel said,” Do this test” .He was once again very disappointed but he went back to work.When he was done,he went home .
His mom then asked as to why he was so late.He then told her about his plan to steal the nest.His Mom said,” What? Naughty boy! Stealing is bad,you are not supposed to do that.You are grounded for two months but not on holidays and birthdays”.Giggy was horrified but said,”ok,I’ll go to my room .When his father came home ,Giggy told him the whole story from beginning to the end,Since Mr.Eggstill was not as strict as Mrs.Eggstill ,he managed to persuade Mrs.Eggstill to let Giggy be grounded for only one week.

One week passed and Giggy made another plan to get into trouble and stay in the school on detention.His plan was to say to his teacher that he forgot his bag in the class,then get permission to get it and when he gets there,he will do something mischevious .In the little time he has,he will steal the nest,put it in his bag so no one knows that its with him.

His plan worked.He triped John,a very cute,chubby and kind boy.John fell on his face and cut his left cheek ,very close to his eye.Mrs.Tofeluck got very worried for John and send him to First Aid Room with May.She then gave detention to Giggy who was actually very happy to get it.He got the opportunity to steal the pretty nest!

Giggy then came home with the nest in his bag and when he was taking it out,his father saw it.Mr.Eggstill then told Mrs.Eggstill about the nest.Mrs.Eggstill was shocked but then she said that they must take it from Giggy’s room at night when he is asleep and put it on ’ Take to school ‘ table.

Next morning,Giggy woke up to a surprise birthday song by his mom.After a special birthday breakfast,Giggy went to school.All the children exclaimed ,” Mrs.Tofeluck ! the weaver bird nest is missing!!” She then organized a search to find the missing nest.Of course they didn’t find it as it was on the ‘ Take to school table’ at Giggy’s house.Giggy didn’t know it was there.He thought it was in his bag and was very surprised when no one found it there !

After school he went home.Soon all his friends from school came to Giggy’s home as it was time for his birthday party.Giggy and his friends played hide and seek and had lots of fun.May,Ann and Amy wandered into the living room where the ‘Take to school’ table was kept.They were taken aback to see their nest there!

They then went to find Giggy to ask him to explain how the nest got there.When they found him,he told them everything about his plan.His parents also told that how they wanted Giggy to find the nest on the table and take it back to school.

Giggy felt very bad and made a promise that he would not be naughty again.Everyone was very happy.He then cut the birthday cake and all his friends wished him a very happy birthday.

My Honey Badger Club Experience

I have joined the Honey Badger Club at the Johannesburg Zoo as a birthday gift. I will now be able to visit the zoo once every month and do different activities along with Imelda , Themba and about 40 other children .

In this visit , we got to see a half a metre high pile of dead chicks and carcasses , which are dead animal remains. First ,we went to the seal enclosure to give a fish to the seal. The fish was enclosed in ice . The seal was swimming around but when the fish was dropped into the water, it flipped the fish over with it’s nose about five times before eating it. After that , we went into the caracals cage while the caracals were somewhere else , to hide meat in their enclosure for them to eat . I touched a piece of meat and it felt gooey .Then we went to the spotted ganet’s cage to put in crickets and meat for it . While a few children were in the cage I saw the ganet climbing onto the wire railing.It looked at the children nervously,like a very cute cuddly kitten.

Later we went on the ferry.While on the trip ,we got off and saw the lions and then we went on to see the tigers.I made a new friend,Miran.When she and I were done looking at the tigers,we went to see the camels.On the ground there was lots of camel fur.We both picked up some up to bring it home.After the ferry ride,we went home.

It was a very fun experience.

Beagle in a Basket

by Lucy Daniels

Animal Ark is the veterinary practice at the back of Mandy Hope and her parents Emily and Adam Hope’s house .In all the Animal Ark stories , the story always revolves around Mandy and her best friend James Hunter.Geraldine O ’Mera ,a newspaper reporter for all country newspapers ,has two pets who are best friends .A beagle named Robbie and an old cat named Martha. One day, Martha fell ill with F.I.V -Feline Immunodeficiency Virus and died the next day. Robbie is very sad of losing his friend. Mandy and her best friend James Hunter try to cheer Robbie up.

Mandy brings a duck to Wood Vale, Geraldine’s home ,whose leg has been tangled in a nylon fishing line so that the duck can stay in the pond there.Mrs.Hope takes out the line out of the duck’s leg.Mandy asked Geraldine if she would help her with a biology project at school,to which Geraldine agreed.Geraldine provided lots of information about bees.The next day at school Mandy forgot to hand in her project and so she got a detention for a day from Mr.Marsh,the substitute biology teacher.But later next day when he sees the project,he is very impressed by it.

Its very funny when at Mandy’s detention,Mandy sees a tiny white head poking out of Mr.Marsh’s pocket and then another tiny black head out of another pocket.Rats.She gets speechless and points to Mr.Marsh towards his pockets.They are Eenie and Meenie.Mr.Marsh gives Eenie to Mandy to hold but she wraps herself around Mandy’s neck.Then they take both Eenie and Meenie to Animal Ark to get them checked over by Mrs.Hope as they both were sneezing and wheezing.

After her detention when Mandy goes home ,her dad ,Adam,shows Mandy a Burmese cat with her litter.She has three big males and one tiny female who seemed to be the runt of the litter and needed to be kept an eye on.The next morning,Mandy went around the residential unit and found that her dad was feeding the little female cat as her mother had rejected her.

After school,James comes to see the kittens and their mom.Mandy and James name the rejected kitten as Kitty.They fed her with some milk.When they went inside ,they saw Robbie and Geraldine in the waiting room.Geraldine told them that how Robbie was not as lively as before and was staying in the basket all the time.Mrs.Hope saw Robbie and promised to test his blood for F.I.V.

Then Mandy thought that maybe Geraldine could raise Kitty ,to which Geraldine refused.But the idea of adopting Kitty sat in her mind and Mandy hoped that she would take Kitty home one day.

It was a very good idea at last for which Geraldine thanked Mandy later.What made Geraldine change her mind and how did little Kitty help Geraldine is the mystery of the story.

It is a very nice addition to the Animal Ark series.I still have some more to read and write about.