7,19 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Little Animal Rescue
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Fliss loves animals and will do anything to save them! Join her on her adventures to save wild animals in danger. A swimming lesson takes an exciting turn when Fliss is magically whisked away to the Indian Ocean! There she finds a young dolphin in trouble and she knows she has to help. But she's scared of deep water, and who knows what other animals there might be out there! Can Fliss face her fears and save her new friend? Little Dolphin Rescue is perfect for fans of Holly Webb, the ZOE'S RESCUE ZOO series and animal-lovers everywhere!
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 64
Ähnliche
For Grace, who can’t choose a favourite animal but thinks it might be a dolphin
– Rachel
Contents
1
Splash!
“Look! There’s a sea monster in the swimming pool,” said Ella.
“Nice try,” laughed Fliss. “But I don’t believe you.”
“You never fall for my pranks any more,” moaned Ella.
Fliss and Ella were sitting on the edge of the pool, waiting for their swimming lesson. They dangled their legs in the water, swishing them backwards and forwards.
“Do you see that bug?” Ella said suddenly. “Over there. It’s drowning!”
“There’s no bug.” Fliss shook her head.
“This time I mean it, Fliss! There is, honestly.”
Fliss sighed. Ella knew her so well – she knew that Fliss would have to look, just in case it was true. Because if there was a bug and she let it drown, she would be upset. Fliss loved all animals and wanted to be a vet when she grew up.
“Where is it, then?” Fliss leaned forwards. “Show me.”
Ella put her hand in the pool but instead of pointing out the beetle, she cupped up some water and threw it in Fliss’s face.
“Got you!” she shouted happily.
Fliss shrieked. She was about to splash Ella back when their teacher blew his whistle. It was time for their lesson to begin. “I’ll get you later!” she said with a giggle.
The girls lined up by the pool with the rest of the swimming class – including their friends Maya, Karl, Huey and Kevin – and Mr Luck clapped his hands for attention. “Hello, everyone,” he said.
“Hello, Mr Luck!” The greeting echoed around the poolroom.
“I’m sorry you haven’t had a lesson for three weeks. It took longer than we thought to redecorate! But what do you think of the newly painted leisure centre?”
“That’s awesome!” said Maya, pointing to a beach scene painted on the walls.
“Just wait until you see what’s underwater at the deep end,” Mr Luck said with a wink. “Now, I have an announcement. We are starting an under-twelves swimming team and we need a name. Give me your best ideas at the end of the lesson and I’ll choose a winner.”
“What do we win?” asked Maya.
“Is it a tropical island holiday?” Ella squeezed Fliss’s arm and jumped up and down.
Mr Luck laughed. “You’ll have to wait and see!”
“Definitely a tropical holiday,” Ella whispered in Fliss’s ear.
“As a special treat, it’s a free-play lesson today. Help yourselves to inflatables but don’t forget to go for a swim in the deep end. I think you’re going to like what you see!”
The children jumped into the pool. By the time Fliss had adjusted the straps on her goggles, the whole of the shallow end was churned up with splashing. Ella had found a giant donut and was floating in the middle of the pool, as Karl and his friends tried to flip her over.
“Help me, Fliss!” Ella called, kicking water in their faces.
Fliss was tempted to join in with Karl to pay Ella back for her trick, but she wanted to check out Mr Luck’s underwater surprise while the deep end was quiet.
Fliss was nervous about being out of her depth, so she stayed close to the side of the pool where she could grip the edge if she needed to. When her feet could no longer touch the bottom, she put her face in the water…
Wow!
The walls of the deep end were painted to look like a tropical reef. There was coral, seaweed and marine life like fish, octopuses, starfish and sharks. And it wasn’t cartoony, like a lot of murals. In fact, with all the detail, it was easy to imagine that a real-life reef shark might suddenly appear…
Just then, a dark shape passed beneath her. Fliss caught her breath and grabbed the edge of the pool. But when she looked down, she saw it wasn’t a sea monster – it was Huey! What was he doing?
Huey was gliding along the bottom of the pool with his arms by his side and his legs together. He kicked them at the same time, as if he were flipping a tail! He looked very much at home against the backdrop of the reef. Fliss kept holding the edge of the pool and waited for him to come up for air.
“Hey, Huey, can you teach me how to do that swimming stroke?”
“The dolphin-kick? Sure, it’s easy! Just keep your arms by your sides and your legs together. Roll your body from head to toe, and kick your feet together last. Oh, and don’t forget to hold your breath!”
Huey disappeared back down to the bottom of the pool and Fliss took a moment to demist her goggles and think. The water was deep and that scared her, but if she stayed close to the side of the pool she’d be OK. She let herself sink a little below the surface and tried Huey’s dolphin-kick. But although she thought she had followed Huey’s instructions, it was more of a going-nowhere thrash than an elegant dolphin swim!
“What am I doing wrong?” she asked when Huey came up again.
“It works better if you go deeper.” Fliss look worried so Huey added, “Follow me and you’ll be fine. One, two, three…”
They both took a deep breath and swam down, using their arms to go lower and lower. Once they were at the bottom of the pool, Huey began to roll his body, propelling himself through the water with a final kick. Fliss soon got the hang of it too. Roll and kick, roll and kick! She even started to feel at home in the water, as if she was a sea creature herself.
Fliss reached the back wall of the pool and came up for air, grinning. She had swum underwater for at least five metres without panicking!
Huey popped up next to her. “You’re a natural,” he said.
“I am?” said Fliss, unable to hide her pride.
“Yep. A pod of dolphins would be happy to hang out with you!”
“Fliss!” shrieked Ella as Karl spun the donut round and round. “Come and get dizzy! It’s fuuuuuun!”
Not as fun as swimming like a dolphin, Fliss thought. She laughed at Ella then ducked back underwater. With her feet flat against the wall she pushed herself back down into the deep and Huey followed.
Rays from the ceiling lights pierced the water and sent reflections rippling across the mural. Fliss imagined that it was all real – the eel in the coral, the starfish on the rock, the shoal of blue and yellow fish. The more she thought, the clearer the pictures seemed and the brighter they became. And then Fliss stopped kicking. Was that shoal of fish actually moving? Of course not, she thought. It was just a trick of the light.
Then something swam alongside her. Huey? It glided by her with a flap of its enormous wings.
No, it wasn’t Huey.
2
Washed Up in Paradise
There was a manta ray in the swimming pool! Fliss had to tell someone immediately. Surely, that wasn’t part of Mr Luck’s underwater surprise?
