BACK COVER
Illustrations by Jordan Holden
Margaret Eliot
Go to the Seaside Margaret Eliot
Illustrations by Jordan Holden
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
It was a bright sunny day, all the little birds were chirping and the leaves on the trees were rustling in the breeze. What a lovely day for Cat and Tiger to be out and about looking for some adventure. They began wandering through the forest chatting away about the things they would love to do, when they saw a piece of paper caught up in a tree. It must have been blown into the forest by the wind the night before. Tiger got his little paw and reached up high into the tree and grabbed the piece of paper. On it he read, “A Holiday at the Seaside”. “Wouldn’t that be exciting, we have never been to the seaside, I wonder what it would be like” said Cat. “Yes I wonder too” said Tiger. “It could be a wonderful adventure couldn’t it Cat?” and Cat agreed. At this point, Tiger needed time to ponder the possibility of this new adventure, so he lent up against a log by the tree and started scratching his head with his little paw wondering what to do. When a thought came to him “Cat I know, we need to go and see Worthington the bear, he knows about most things and just maybe he knows about the seaside”. Cat thought it was a good idea and off they went to see their friend Worthington.
Now Worthington lived on the edge of the forest in a house that was built in the trees and the only way anyone could get to his house was to climb up a very long ladder that had 40 steps. Cat loved climbing and she was eager to get to Worthington’s house. "Come on Tiger, lets go!" she said, but Tiger was not so keen as he hated climbing. He was a tiger that was happy to be on the ground but to be able to talk to Worthington about the seaside he had to be courageous and climb the 40 steps. When they arrived at Worthington’s house Cat began jumping up and down with excitement, she was very keen to begin the climb up the ladder. So off she went, but as she got half way up she stopped and looked at the amazing view of the forest. It looked so beautiful, so lush and green she felt so happy and alive, then she kept climbing and within moments she had arrived at Worthington’s front door. But poor tiger he was feeling very nervous and frightened. His mouth felt dry and his head started to spin and he wasn’t feeling to good at all but he needed to be brave, so slowly he began to climb, halfway up the 40 steps Tiger began to feel dizzy. Cat and Worthington were cheering him on saying “You can do it Tiger! You’re doing so well! Keep climbing!” and eventually he arrived. He felt very proud of himself and Cat and Worthington were overjoyed at how brave Tiger had been.
With a lot of chatter and congratulations to Tiger, the three friends went into Worthington’s house and sat together and enjoyed a nice cup of tea and some delicious chocolate cookies. After they had finished their sweet tea and cookies they all felt refreshed and Tiger began to tell Worthington about the piece of paper and what was written on it. Do you know where the seaside is Worthington?” asked Tiger. “Yes I do” said the bear, with that he went to an old wooden bookshelf and took out a map of the forest, but first he had to blow the dust off as it had been many years since he had looked at the map. All three friends were eager to find exactly where the seaside was so they lent over the map looking for it. Moments later, in a loud voice Cat said “There it is, it’s very near to our forest. “Wow” said tiger, “This is going to be some great adventure!” and they all looked at each other with great delight and excitement. The first thing that Worthington thought after they had discovered where the seaside was, was how they were going to get there. You see Cat and Tiger had never been out of the forest but Worthington had although he’d never been to the seaside.
The seaside was about a half days walk from the forest so the three friends needed to begin planning their journey and had questions they needed to discuss. How long were they going to stay at the seaside? What would they take? What would they eat? How would they travel? There was a lot to decide so Worthington took charge, he went to the cupboard and took out a pencil and some paper as they had to make a plan before they could set out on this amazing adventure. After a lot of organization and talk the three friends were ready to go on their first big adventure. They had decided they would walk to the seaside and if by chance they saw Mr. Eagle their friend who lives on the mountain tops, they would ask him for a ride. They packed some very yummy food, their swim suits and towels and decided to go the seaside for two days. The next morning bright and early with their back packs full of goodies the three friends set off their journey.
They walked through the forest and down a long path that would lead them to the seaside. The three friends had been walking for some time, enjoying each other’s company and chatting about what they would do when they arrived, when they heard a screech, they stopped and looked up into the sky and there was Mr. Eagle flying around. As soon as he saw his friends he made a dive and landed at their feet. “Where are you off to?” He said. “We are going to the seaside for an adventure” said Tiger. “Do you want a ride?” said Mr. Eagle. “Oh yes please” said Cat.
They all jumped on Mr. Eagles back and off they went, soaring through the sky, it only seemed moments before they arrived at the seaside. The three friends climbed off Mr. Eagles back and stood for a moment looking at the view. None of them had ever seen the sea before they were absolutely overjoyed at what they saw. Cat asked with great delight. “What shall we do first?” “I think we should go for a nice swim said Tiger.” So they put on their swimsuits and ran into the water. They splashed around allowing the waves to wash over them; there was lots of laughter as they swam around enjoying the sea. After a while Mr. Eagle said good bye to his friends and as he began to fly away they called out to him “Thank you for the ride.” He gave a big screech and slowly flew away.
Worthington was so happy to be with his two friends relaxing and loving the sun and the surf. After a nice long swim he lay on the sandy beach enjoying the beautiful sunny day, but not Cat and Tiger, they just wanted to swim and swim and after many hours of being in the water they began to feel very hungry. They both decided to see what food they had bought with them. We do know that Cat and Tiger's favorite food is strawberry ice cream but you can’t bring that to the seaside, so they bought other delicious food instead like chocolate chip cookies, a big apple pie, strawberries and homemade lemonade, which Worthington had prepared before they left the forest. The three friends sat happily on the sand eating the cookies and pie and drinking their lemonade feeling very contented. Later in the day after they had enjoyed a very satisfying time the three friends began to feel rather tired and thought it would be a good idea to put up their tent that they had packed and prepare for an early night’s sleep. After the job was completed the three friends snuggled down under their blankets and began to feel very sleepy. Cat gave a big yawn as they all drifted off to sleep.
They all slept soundly and woke to hear the roar of the sea. The next morning they were quite excited about another day at the seaside. “I wonder what they have planned for today.” After breakfast, they started to walk along the beach. Cat was picking up beautifully colored shells and she thought she’d make a necklace for herself to go with the red ribbon that she wore in her hair. But Tiger and Worthington had other ideas; they wanted to catch some fish. They had little rods made from sticks with a string line and a hook on the end. “What were they going to do for bait?” “Why don’t we use some of the cookies, I’m sure the fish would like to nibble on them” said Tiger. With that, Tiger and Worthington put their lines into the water they were so happy because they had never done anything like this before. Tiger was laughing when suddenly he felt something on his line. “WORTHINGTON” he shouted “I think I’ve got a fish.”
By this time Cat had joined them. Cat and Worthington went quiet and held their breath, waiting as Tiger pulled the fish into shore. Tiger felt very proud of himself as they looked down at the fish. Worthington said “Let’s make a fire and eat the fish, the cookies and drink our lemonade. And that’s just what they did…