The Garden Pond at Night
When little hedgehog Tuck sees the moon in the pond, he wants to save it—but something goes wrong.
by Ellie Marsh
Fen hides behind a piano in a dark village hall, torch in hand, to find out why the old clock's hands keep jumping back to seven before the concert.

1/8Front cover
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Fen hid behind the piano in the dark village hall. She held a torch and watched the old clock on the wall.
All week, its hands had jumped back to seven, and there were tiny muddy footprints across its face. Ezra the caretaker said that if it was wrong again tomorrow, he would throw it away. But the concert always began when that clock struck seven, and Fen was singing the first song.
Just after midnight, something scratched inside the clock. Fen held her breath and switched on her torch.
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When little hedgehog Tuck sees the moon in the pond, he wants to save it—but something goes wrong.
Femi is building a big snowman in the white garden for Dad, who is coming home tonight, but will the snowman last until then?
Bo runs to the bathroom, ready for a warm bath full of bubbles, but something is already sitting in the water. What can it be?
Lark has a new robot called Moss, but when she asks him to tidy her room before Grandma arrives, he does something very strange.
Tuli catches clouds in a silky net and keeps them in glass jars, even a tiny one with a rainbow inside. But Mum's garden badly needs rain, and Tuli's clouds are too small and white to help.
On a windy day, Tam chases his big yellow hat down the lane, but the wind keeps grabbing it away from him, so where will it land next?
A big cross goose hisses at anyone who tries to cross the little wooden bridge, and Lila wants the blackberries on the other side. Then she has a very silly, very clever idea.
Eli wakes in the dog basket with a strange golden paw, then a boy in striped pyjamas grabs his school bag and runs off.
Frightened Ada runs into the kitchen, shouting that a red dragon is roaring in the old oak, so Otto grabs a saucepan lid and creeps up the windy hill.
At the school science fair, Uma switches on her shoebox machine, and soon her trainers leave the grass, the footballs rise, and the number 12 bus starts floating away.
Sana is too scared to climb the tall oak on the day of the Great Nest Swap, while her parents stand locked out of their own home.
Can Sylvia win back her new friend on Sigma-23 before the lander leaves at sunset, after a squealing translator scared it away?
Bored fifteen-year-old Adam lives in sleepy Little Hadley, where nothing has happened all summer, until he pins up a strange poster for a Festival of Ordinary Things.
Remi is halfway across his first solo kayak trip to Gran's lighthouse when a thick white mist rolls in and hides everything around him.
When Josie's ginger cat, Quibble, goes missing, Gran's magic patchwork quilt vanishes too. Where could they both have gone?
When Mop the ghost gets stuck in a cobweb at Monster Academy, Pudding the monkey must find a way to help him down.
In Robot City, the tall tower has a loose wire, and a little robot called Pip is lost. Pip has long, bendy legs. Mira has clever hands. Can they climb to the top and help Pip find his way home?
When the big clock stops, all the toys freeze still—but Cleo the rag doll and a tiny moth have an idea to fix it.
When a warm, glowing stone rolls to Olive's paws, she sets out to find where it belongs, but the stone circle holds no answers.
A baby monkey clings to a broken bridge over a misty river, but Noah's arms are too short to reach her. Can he find a way to save her?
When Ada's mushroom lights fade one by one down the tunnel and a sad humming rises from the dark, she must find the lost Glow Seed before the whole city goes black.
When Mango spots a tiny blinking light deep in a dark cave and hears a voice calling for help, he must find a way to reach whoever is trapped inside.
Ravi races through a sandstorm with lamp-oil for the Watch Tower, but the sand grows thicker and darker, and he does not know how to get through.
When Dumpling hears a frightened whimper in the snow, she finds a wolf cub lost and alone, far from its pack.
When a wet kitten tumbles off a tram into Sprout's arms, he must follow its mysterious clues through the rainy town to find where it belongs.
When a glowing egg rolls out of a smugglers' broken crate and a sea serpent rises from the dark water, Tomas must decide what to do with the mysterious treasure.
When Lumi the trapeze girl loses her shadow at the Midnight Circus, she cannot fly, and the whole circus will fade away by morning.
Nell must reach the airship Skylark with a brass valve before it leaves the ground, but the gangway is rising and empty air lies between her and the deck.
When a fluffy sky-calf crashes into Arjun's washing line, wrapped in his socks, he must cross three swaying rope bridges to bring it home.
When a distant hold's hearth-fire dies and its eggs will freeze, Mira flies through a deadly storm on her young dragon to save them—but the guards think she has come to fight.
When the sunlamp fails and Oolum's seedlings begin to freeze, Priya must cross a tunnel filled with floating water to reach the spare fuse.
When the lighthouse beam goes dark, Ada climbs to find a mysterious ticking sound hidden in the silent lamp-room.
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