Illustrated by Pedro Penizzotto
PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published 2011
Text copyright © Ian Whybrow, 2011
Cover illustration copyright © Adrian Reynolds, 2011
Text illustrations copyright © Pedro Penizzotto, 2011
Character concept copyright © Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds, 2011
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author and illustrators has been asserted
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
ISBN: 978-0-14-196255-9
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
Ian Whybrow is a bestselling author of over a hundred books who is proud to have been listed as one of the top ten most-read writers in UK libraries. Among his most popular characters are the hugely successful Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs, the barking mad Sniff and the much-loved Little Wolf. Ian lives in London and Herefordshire.
www.harryandthedinosaurs.co.uk
Look out for more adventures with Harry and the Dinosaurs:
ROAR TO THE RESCUE!
For the Campbell children:
Anna, Thomas, Laura and Sophie
Harry had no idea that he was in danger.
His boots were too busy making prints on the crisp blank page of the bright white snow-filled garden.
He loved the way the snow crunched when his boots sank deep. He loved the creak it made when he stepped forward. They said on TV it was the best snowfall for a hundred years. And look at it now! At least another ten centimetres had fallen overnight – with more to come.
Harry hadn’t been to school for three days. Neither had the rest of his friends in the GOGOs (the Grand Order of the Great Oak), Jack, Charlie and Siri.
Could it get any better? He turned to admire his footwork.
WHUMP!
Out of the blue, two snowballs hit him. One knocked his woolly hat off. The other exploded right on his neck.
‘Yikes!’ Harry shrieked.
‘Shot, Boris!’ yelled Sam as they ran off, cackling with laughter.
Harry turned to see the grinning faces of his sister and her smug new boyfriend, Boris. What a sneaky trick! he thought. And how annoying that they had made him squeal like a piglet!
‘I never miss!’ boasted Boris as he and Sam ducked into the house.
Now there was no way Harry could get them back. He stared at them as they made faces at him through the kitchen door. ‘You wait!’ he yelled.
‘Ha-ha!’ they replied, acting as if they were as young as Harry.
I need back-up! Harry thought to himself.
Thankfully he knew just where he could call on some. He ripped off one of his gloves and thrust his hand into the pocket of his jeans. He found the little collection of shiny cards that had appeared on his key-ring one day … Help was at hand!
Not long ago Harry had stood up to a school bully, Rocco Wiley. Rocco and his friends had been teasing Harry about how he used to play with a bucketful of dinosaurs when he was younger. Rocco had set fire to a small toy spinosaurus.
Much to Rocco’s shock and surprise, Harry had defended it fiercely and rescued it from the flames. He couldn’t help it. Even though he was much too old and cool now to play pretend games, it had reminded him of the years of pleasure his dinosaur friends used to bring him.
But that night a huge living spinosaurus had turned up in his bedroom. A twelve-metre-long reptile with the smell of meat on its breath and a snout like some weird crocodile. In a voice like air escaping from a burst tyre the spinosaurus had told Harry he was a B.U.D. – a Back-Up Dinosaur. He explained that the dinosaurs that had meant so much to Harry as a little kid had never really gone away. Harry thought he had grown out of them, but the dinosaurs knew that deep down he still believed in them. They were just waiting for him to give them a sign.
They got their sign when Harry took the burnt and wounded spinosaurus from the playground, wiped it clean and hid it in an empty box of plasters at home. That simple act of kindness meant that dinosaurs still mattered to him. They wanted somehow to return his loyalty.
finger or thumb, nose-to-tail, and the right dinosaur would appear for the job. They would turn up full-size, though Harry could make them smaller if he needed to. And they would always be invisible unless he instructed them to show themselves.