Why is my neck so long?

Why is My Neck So Long?

Why is My Neck So Long?

Inspired by Nadine Written By Lisa Ball Illustration by Lisa Ball

Alice the alpaca lives on a farm. She has soft fluffy fur, a smiling face with big brown

eyes and long, long eye lashes.

She is very friendly and very curious. She lives on Jessie’s farm with lots of other animals.

Alice likes to lay in the field and tuck her long legs under her fluffy body.

When the sun goes down, Alice likes to sleep outside under the stars unless it rains, then she likes to sleep in the barn.

Alice can look out of the barn door because she has a long neck. Her head is as high as Harry the horse’s head.

She loves to watch the horses on the farm.

Horses clippity clomp around with their hard hoofs.

Alpacas have toes

instead of hooves. Two toes on each of their four feet. They walk around very quietly.

Horses nay very loudly but alpacas quietly hum. They both have long necks and they both love to eat hay.

One day, Alice watched the little birds playing by the fence. She noticed that the birds had little necks.

She watched as the birds pecked at seeds then flew away.

Maybe birds have short necks so they can fly?

Then Alice saw chickens and laughed because they were pecking and cackling and running all around. They were flapping their wings and trying to fly!

They didn’t get very high in the sky. They have short necks but they don’t fly. Alice was very confused. Why is her neck so long?

Alice thought that animals that eat hay and grass like her, must all have long necks. That was until she met Cody the cow.

Cody’s neck was not long at all,

yet he could reach the grass.

She wondered how could he reach the grass with such a short neck. Then she noticed his short legs and long head.

Animals that eat hay can have long or short necks.

Alice was eating her hay one day and saw a wild coyote sneaking around. She was so glad she had a long neck so she could see over the bushes and see the angry coyote. With her

long legs, she ran as fast as she could and hid in the barn.

The coyote finally gave up and left the farm.

Maybe that is why she has a long neck.

She could see if any dangerous predators are sneaking around.

Her neck kept her safe.

Alice watched Danny the farm dog play with his toy. He was so little and cute. He had a short little neck and a long tail.

Alice had a long neck and a short tail. They had just the opposite.

Danny loved Alice. He made cute little barking noises and wagged his tail.

Alice lowered her head, with that long neck of hers, and could look at Danny right in the face.

Alice was so glad she had a long neck.

Alice saw nice green grass on the other side of the fence.

Her long neck allowed her to easily stick her head through the fence and reach that green goodness. She munched for hours.

Alice wondered if she would ever figure out why her neck was so long.

Alice saw Gayle the goat eating flowers.

She saw big horns on her head and forgot all about her long neck after seeing that.

All she could do is wonder about those horns.

Peggy the pig was eating her corn when Alice stopped by for a snack. Peggy looked like she didn’t even have a neck!

She was really round with a cute little nose and a curly tail.

She didn’t have any fuzzy fur either. She was very different than Alice.

Alice was tired and hungry.

She took a break from thinking about her neck.

She joined Harry for a bite to eat.

She smiled when she saw Sue, Sean and Steve. Sheep have soft curly hair just like Alice’s soft hair. They made cute little sounds as if they were saying baaaaa baaaa.

They too were grazing on grass just like Alice.

One day a big truck came to the farm and it was towing a horse trailer.

When they opened the trailer, out came another Alpaca! Her name is Erin.

And Erin also has a long neck.

Alice’s long neck came in handy the day Maddy, Leon and Evie were playing in their treehouse.

Alice walked right up and looked eye to eye with the children.

And now Alice had an alpaca friend to play with. She had so much fun playing with Erin and the kids.

One day, Evie, Leon and Maddy where holding hands. Alpacas don’t have hands to hold, but they had long necks. So instead of holding hands, they wrapped

their necks around each other.

The kids laughed at the alpacas and yelled, “look they are hugging�.

Alice finally knew why she has a long neck.

It is for hugging!

The End