by Sally Rippin
We have written stories and drawn pictures of what we think your life looks like in the future. We hope you enjoy them.
Signed,
Mr T. Barton and schoolchildren
‘He was the principal at the school when it first opened,’ Billie’s dad explains to the others.
The expert carefully unfolds some of the drawings and holds them up to the camera. Some of them are very funny.
‘Look! They thought we would be travelling around in flying cars!’ Alex laughs.
‘And is that an alien sitting in the classroom?’ Mika giggles.
‘Well, I’m sure they couldn’t have imagined that we would be watching this on TV!’ Edwina’s mum says. ‘The world was a very different place back then.’
The expert gently places the bundle of letters back into the box. Then she promises that they will organise an exhibition of all its contents at the museum. ‘Meanwhile,’ she says, ‘we want to thank the five clever children who uncovered this treasure. Would you five please step forward?’
The camera pans over all the excited kids in Billie’s school, waving and jumping about. Finally, it rests on the five nervous faces of Billie and her friends as they walk towards the mayor.
‘Three cheers for the Secret Mystery Club!’ Billie’s dad calls out as on-screen Billie shakes hands with the mayor. Everyone joins in. ‘Hip, hip, Hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray!’
‘Well, we can’t really call it the Secret Mystery Club now,’ Alex says.
‘True,’ Billie says. ‘We’re definitely not a secret anymore. Everybody knows about us now.’
‘Just when I’ve joined, too!’ Edwina says, looking a bit sad.
‘Don’t worry,’ Billie says, smiling mysteriously. ‘I’m sure I’ll come up with something else just as fun!’
The End
For Matilda, Tessa and Olivia,
storytellers and treehouse dwellers.
The character of Edwina is based on the winner of the Newest Member of the SMC Competition.
Treasure Hunt
published in 2014 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
This ebook is also available as a print edition in all good bookstores.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.
A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.
eISBN 9781743582671
Text copyright © 2014 Sally Rippin
Cover illustration copyright © 2014 Aki Fukuoka
Series design and internal illustrations copyright © 2014 Hardie Grant Egmont
Design by Stephanie Spartels
Illustrations by Jon Davis, based on original characters by Aki Fukuoka
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