Meerkat Madness

Meerkat Madness
Ian Whybrow

Sam Hearn

The first book in the hilarious Awesome Animals series – awesome adventures with the wildest wildlife.Told in Ian Whybrow’s unique style, this hilarious animal adventure starring ever-popular meerkats is a funny, fast-paced, sure-fire hit.Meerkat Madness is the story of a burrow of meerkat pups and their eccentric babysitter, Uncle Fearless who once travelled to the Blah-Blah camp at the edge of the desert. Truth be told, Uncle is a bit of a show-off but the pups love his colourful stories even if they don’t really believe them.But then they find a mysterious object buried in the sand and it isn’t long before they are caught up in a daring adventure of their own!A hilarious story about ever-endearing meerkats from the creator of Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs.

Meerkat Madness

IAN WHYBROW

Illustrated by Sam Hearn

For Judith Bows, Library Supremo, and all the children of ICS, Zurich and especially for Abbie, Lara and Caroline, who asked me to do an adventure story for them; for Nilou who likes yellow, Esther who likes dark blue and Maria and Malti who prefer purple.

Contents

Cover (#u477d01cd-fed7-505e-b7ed-c012d2c28a65)

Title Page (#u39ae671c-be36-5757-81a0-ce54ac47e123)

Beginning

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Also available by Ian Whybrow

Copyright

About the Publisher

Beginning

In the chamber, three meerkat kits were squeezed up close on their uncle’s lap, because this was in fact a nursery.

Once Uncle Fearless had been a king; now he was their babysitter. That is the meerkat way when things go badly.

One of Uncle’s eyes was missing and his fur was a bit patchy and ragged in places. His left arm had an unusual bend in it. “War wounds, what-what!” he would often explain. He had not lost his royal pride.

This secret nursery was completely dark. Once or twice Uncle had shown the kits how to dig away the thick sand that served as their main door, but there was no light in the tunnels outside. So the kits had not yet seen what their uncle looked like.

He had just come down from the Upworld with supper. He hadn’t had much time to forage, for a fierce sandstorm was raging outside the safe fortress of the burrow. Still, he had brought them each some worms. And for a treat, there was a plump Flap-Neck Chameleon to share. Delicious!

“Make us big and strong!” piped Little Dream. He was growing fast but he was by far the smallest of the kits. That meant he was always last in line. He was born a moment or two before his brother and sister, Skeema and Mimi, but they had always treated him like the baby. He often seemed slow, he talked in a strange way, and, to tell the truth, they thought he was a bit dim.

Uncle wanted the kits to settle down and go to sleep. “For tomorrow,” he promised them, “you must all be ready to leave the nursery and join the rest of the tribe!”

How they squeaked and squealed and squirmed when they heard that! They weren’t at all sure that they wanted to leave the safe and cosy darkness. It wasn’t easy for Uncle to calm them down, and he had to put on his warning voice before they settled.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’ll be fun.” He told them that there were some older, more important kits in the burrow; some princes and a princess. Now that Skeema, Mimi and Little Dream were old enough, he was ready to lead them personally along the tunnels to the Upworld and introduce them. And then, if they were very good, they would meet the King and Queen.

“You’ll be able to see them,” said Uncle. “It’s like smelling with your eyes. The sun will show you how. It’s lovely.”

“And will we see you?” asked Skeema.

“Oh, yes. As a matter of fact I look wonderfully handsome in sunlight,” he answered. The kits weren’t sure what that meant. Still, for the moment they were happy just to know that he was there to defend them and that he had a sharp and special smell that they were very fond of. They could not remember their mother, Princess Fragrant. She had been taken by a wild dog when they were just three days old. They could just remember Flower who had nursed them and fed them milk in the very early times. But it was Uncle whom they loved. Even if he did puff himself up, he meant the world to them.