PIPPI AND THE ROLLERCOASTER

There was once a twelve-year-old girl named Pippi, who really liked amusement parks even though she had never been to one.  Her parents had never let her go because they said they were very dangerous, but they would make an exception on her birthday and take her to the biggest amusement park of them all.

So on Pippi’s birthday, her parents bought her an all-day ticket for the park. Pippi was very happy about that, as you can imagine.

When she got there, Pippi’s jaw dropped in amazement at the amount of rides, and just how big the park actually was. Pippi and her sister ran to a new ride that had just been opened - the biggest rollercoaster in the world.

Short stories - Pipi and the rollercoaster

Just as they were about to get on, Pippi felt a fluttering in her tummy that made her stop in her tracks…

“Come on, Pippi! Get on, it’s about to go!” cried her sister. Continue reading…

THE CHILDREN AND THE SWIMMING POOL

Once upon a time there was a summer camp that was very popular with children aged up to 10. The camp had a large swimming pool for the children to enjoy refreshing dips in the water, as it was very hot.

The children usually played and dived near the edge of the pool, which really annoyed the swimming pool.

One day, the swimming pool got tired of this and decided to frighten the children so that they wouldn’t play and jump around near the edge.

Short stories - The children and swimming pool

So without warning she started to talk in a very stern and serious voice: “Boys and girls at the summer camp!! If you don’t stop jumping and playing near my edge, I will open my mouth and gobble you all up!!” Continue reading…

GEORGE AND HIS LITTLE BABY SISTER

My name is George, and I’m going to tell you a story that happened last year just after my birthday. For a few months, I had noticed that mum and dad were acting differently towards me – they weren’t paying me so much attention.

My parents were very happy; they laughed a lot, and even my father, who is quite serious, wouldn’t stop cracking jokes to everyone. I just couldn’t understand why they were behaving so differently. Maybe it had to do with my mum’s growing tummy…

One day at breakfast, they said to me: “George, we’ve got some good news for you; you’re going to have a little sister!”

Short storie - George and his little baby sister

“A little sister? So… that’s what’s wrong with you!” I said.

“What do you mean?” Dad asked.

“Well, you’ve been ignoring me because you’re going to have another baby!” I said. Continue reading…

THE LITTLE VILLAGE SHEEP

Many years ago when I was a little girl, there were lots of shepherds with their flocks of sheep. It was very strange not to find one in each village, for being a shepherd was a very normal job in those times. These days, very few children have seen a flock of sheep, except in stories and photos.

The little sheep in my village lived in an enclosure where they had a basin of water on one side for when they were thirsty, and straw on the other side for when they were hungry. Inside the enclosure was a shed that the sheep used as a shelter on days when it was rainy and cold.

The shepherd looked after them very well. It was he who gave them the straw to eat and water to drink. He also milked them and went out into the fields with them all.

Short stories - The little village sheep

What I remember most about this time was the noise of the little sheep coming back from grazing in the fields, for Nino the shepherd would put a bell on them and you would hear a tinkling “ding ding ding” sound as they trotted by, and all the children would run behind them laughing and jumping around.

The flock of sheep always passed in front of my house, and I have to admit that I was a little scared when I saw the shepherd go with them, for Nino also had a couple of goats and they frightened me a great deal – for these goats had horns. Continue reading…

LAWRENCE’S TOY

Lawrence was a little boy of 8 years old who loved playing with his toys. On the whole he was a good boy and always got very good marks at school. That’s why one Christmas Santa Claus had arrived loaded with toys for Lawrence, for Lawrence had written to tell Santa that his school results were better than last year’s and that was why he wanted more toys.

Among the presents Santa gave Lawrence was a magic blackboard where you could write or draw anything you liked, but which erased everything when you shook it. Without a doubt, it was the Christmas present he liked most of all, for he spent hours and hours playing with it.

After the holiday was over, Lawrence decided to take the magic blackboard to school to show his classmates. But Liam, the naughtiest boy in the class, ran off with Lawrence’s board and teased him all through break.

Short stories - Lawrences-toy

“Liam, give me my board back!” shouted Lawrence. But Liam was taller than Lawrence and held it above his head so that Lawrence couldn’t reach it.

“Go on Lawrence, jump!” teased Liam. Continue reading…

THE PICTURE OF THE BEACH

Once upon a time there was a village called Benidorm in Spain, which had a very big beach that got very busy every summer. It was also the home of Julian and Florrie, who originally came from the Spanish capital city of Madrid. They loved the beach, and they knew they would never leave Benidorm.

One day, they decided that when they grew old and could no longer travel, they would like their future grandchildren to come and spend time with them. And as they believed in magic, they thought up a plan to make their dream come true.

Julian was a good artist so he painted a picture of Benidorm beach. On the back, Julian and Florrie left a message for their future grandchildren, which was: “Think of your grandparents and you will appear on Benidorm beach with us.”

Shortstories-the-picture-of-the-beach

Julian and Florrie gave the picture to their children to pass down the generations, and told them to show it to future grandchildren and hang it in their room.

And years later, Continue reading…

THE HONEST PRINCESS

Once upon a time there was a princess called Tanya, who lived in a very, very, very big castle. The princess’s parents, that is to say, the king and queen, wanted her to marry a handsome knight called Norman, who would often visit them to discuss the land they shared, so Tanya and Norman saw plenty of each other.

Unfortunately Tanya didn’t love him. Although they got on well enough, she didn’t much like him, for Norman was very boastful.

One day, Tanya the princess was talking to Norman about the new decorations the king and queen were going to make in the castle, when suddenly Norman changed the subject and said: “Tanya, I like you a lot. In fact, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

The princess was shocked but instead of firm “NO“, she said: “Norman, you’re a very handsome knight, but I like to be honest with people. So I’m going to tell you what I don’t like about you, which is this: firstly, you’re a show-off, because you like boasting about the clothes you wear when really a person’s clothes aren’t that important; secondly, you spit in the street which is disgusting, and lastly, I’m not going to marry you just because my parents tell me to: I’m going to marry a man I really love.”

Norman reflected long and hard on what the princess had said. To begin with, he felt bad about her opinion of him, but he soon cheered up when he realised that all the things she mentioned were things he could change. It wasn’t his personality that annoyed her, but his behaviour. Continue reading…

THE MAGICIAN AND THE MAGIC UMBRELLA

Legend has it that many, many years ago there was a wizard who had always wanted to fly like a bird to see what it felt like to soar through the air. Arion, for that was the wizard’s name, hoped that one day he would finally manage to fly, so every day as soon as he got up he would set to work in his laboratory searching for the magic formula.

One day, as the wizard was doing his experiments and inventing new potions, his cat Dabra arrived in the laboratory. He was so happy to see the wizard that in his haste he broke into a run and knocked over some of the potions Arion had made.

The wizard got very annoyed with Dabra and said: “Naughty cat!! I don’t want to see you ever again, get out of this house!!” And so Dabra went sadly out onto the street.

Short stories -the magician and the magic umbrella

Arion the wizard went round cleaning up all the liquid that had fallen on the floor and on top of an old umbrella that the wizard had had since he was a boy, for it had been a gift from his grandfather. Arion couldn’t believe it – the umbrella had been stained multicoloured by the potions! “Oh no!” he cried, “That cat has destroyed my grandfather’s umbrella, it’s ruined!”

But just as Arion the wizard was about to throw the umbrella in the bin, he accidentally opened it up and saw a blaze of colourful lights surrounding him. And then he noticed that his feet weren’t touching the floor – they were in the air!

In a flash, Arion realised that the umbrella was magic, and that by holding it he could fly. Excited, he shouted: “I’m flying like a bird at last!!” Continue reading…

THE DAY AND THE NIGHT

There was once a planet called Earth, half of which was night and the other half was day.

Five-year-old Julia had realised that during the day there was light but that at night everything went dark. One evening, Julia was reading a bed-time story when her mother came to give her a kiss and wish her goodnight. “Night night, Julia, sweet dreams,” said her mother as she tucked her in. “Mummy, why is everything dark at night and there’s no sun?” asked Julia.

So Julia’s mother sat on the edge of the bed beside her and said: “Ok, tonight I’ll tell you a story about night and day, and then I’m sure you’ll understand why they exist.”

Short stories - The day and the nigth

Julia was very eager to hear the story, because it would help her understand lots of the questions she had about the sun and the moon.

Julia’s mother started her tale. “A long time ago, the planets were created and among them was the planet where we live, called Earth. Our planet is like a spinning top, but there’s one difference: Earth spins more slowly; in fact, it takes 24 hours to go round once. That’s why it’s called earth rotation.”

All this while, Julia was listening hard to everything her mother told her, for she had never heard anything about the planets and the sun. Julia’s mother continued: “So as Earth spins around, the sun will shine its light on one side of it and it will be day. But the side facing away from the sun will be dark, and that means it’s night-time. So while it’s day on one side of the Earth, it’s night-time on the other.”

After the story, Julia understood that day-time is when the sun gives us light because we are facing it, and it becomes night-time as we move away from the sun’s rays.

Today Julia had learned something she didn’t know before, and even though she was only a little girl she sensed that what her mother had told her was very important for all the inhabitants of Earth, for thanks to the sun there is life on our planet.

THE END

THE MAGIC BINS

Once upon a time there were six hard-working rubbish bins, each a different colour depending on the rubbish that was to be thrown into it. The green one was called Glassy (he was in charge of glass for recycling); the blue one was called Papius (he was in charge of paper for recycling); Oilo was charge of collecting the used oil bottles; the yellow one was called Plastica (she was in charge of plastic for recycling); Batterius was in charge of used batteries and finally there was Generalia who was in charge of the rest of the rubbish, particularly food waste.

Whenever someone put the rubbish in the wrong place, the bins would pass it into the correct one for they were very good friends. That way, the rubbish was always correctly divided so that it could be recycled properly and help after the environment.

Every so often, the rubbish van would come along to empty them and was always happy to see the right kind of waste going into the right rubbish bin.

Short stories - the magic bins

But after a few days, the bins grew tired of ordering the rubbish because it was such hard work. They can’t move around very well, as you can imagine.

Soon Batterius, the youngest of all the bins, began to feel sick and very upset. He spat out everything that wasn’t a battery into the street, for he was so tired he could no longer contain it.

It wasn’t long before Plastica began to experience the same symptoms and spat out anything that wasn’t plastic. She was soon followed by Oilo, and finally all the bins began to toss out the rubbish that didn’t belong to them… Continue reading…