Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Map
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Copyright
About the Book
Poppy is feeling very sorry for herself. She is convinced that everyone likes her best friend Honey more than they like her and that they think she is prettier too! Poor Poppy doesn’t even believe that she is a true princess any more!
Find out what happens when she tries to become just like Honey. Will is make her realize that everyone is different and that every little girl is a true princess?
With thanks to Alice Corrie
for her dedication to Princess Poppy
Chapter One
POPPY OFTEN THOUGHT about what she might be when she grew up. Usually she imagined that she was a princess living in a pale sandstone palace, wearing a beautiful dress complete with a diamond tiara. It was one of Poppy’s dreams to visit a real palace one day, where a real princess had actually lived.
Her best friend Honey had been taken to a palace in the city once, when her mum and dad came to visit. Poppy was still very jealous of that. In fact, even though Honey hardly ever saw her parents, Poppy was always envious of her friend when they did visit because they did wonderful things with Honey and took her to amazing places. Honey’s parents were away working most of the time so she was looked after by her grandmother, Granny Bumble. But when her mum and dad did see Honey, they really spoiled her. What Poppy didn’t realize was that Honey would much rather have seen them every day than be given big treats once in a while. She missed her mum and dad so much when they were working.
“I’ve hardly seen Honey recently, now that her parents are here,” Poppy complained to no one in particular. “Every day she seems to go on a fancy trip and I’m stuck here with Mum and her big baby tummy for company!”
This was the complete opposite of what normally happened. Honey practically lived with Poppy most of the time. The two girls were inseparable and Honey really looked up to her best friend. Poppy adored Honey too: even though they’d once had a huge falling out over the ballet show, they’d made up in the end – they always did.
Poppy loved ballet. In certain moods she dreamed of becoming a ballerina when she grew up rather then a princess. In her mind she could imagine curtseying on the stage at Covent Garden after performing Swan Lake, just like Madame Angelwing had many years ago. But the truth was that Honey was a better dancer and Poppy was starting to think she might not be good enough to be a famous ballerina after all.
At other times Poppy thought she would like to be a schoolteacher. She loved Miss Mallow, her teacher at Rosehip School. As well as being a brilliant teacher, Miss Mallow made fabulous jewellery. But Poppy often thought that Honey was Miss Mallow’s favourite: whenever there were new pupils at school, Honey was always asked to show them around. Poppy thought this was very unfair – she would have loved to do that job and she was sure she would be really good at it too!
Today Poppy didn’t dream of being a princess or a ballerina or even a teacher. She dreamed of being a nurse. She didn’t know anyone who actually was a nurse, but she knew that she loved looking after other people and animals, especially her hamster Posy and her pony Twinkletoes. She also took very good care of her many soft toys and dolls, particularly when she thought they weren’t feeling well. Poppy really enjoyed making others feel better so she thought she might be a rather good nurse. Perhaps the fact that Aunt Marigold, Mimosa and Madame Angelwing had all come down with a horrible bout of flu had given her the nurse idea – Poppy wasn’t sure, but she hoped they would all feel better soon and that no one else in the village would come down with it. It also occurred to her that when Mum had the babies, she would have to learn to look after them too, especially if they were ever sick. Grandpa had told her that they would be quite a handful – whatever that meant!
“I had better start practising to be a good nurse,” Poppy said to Ruby, her big rag doll.
She sat on her bedroom floor and opened the hospital kit that Grandpa had given her last Christmas. But before she started on her nursing jobs she began to think about what had happened to her the day before, and as she did so, a hard lump came into her throat and she felt as if she might cry. It was all so unfair . . .
Chapter Two
SAFFRON HAD PHONED Mum to see if Poppy would like to model some children’s fashion accessories and clothes over at her shop. The local newspaper, the Honeypot Herald, was doing a feature on the shop and was sending a photographer over.
“How exciting – I’m going to be a model. I’m going to be famous – of course I would like to!” Poppy cried when Mum told her about it. “But I will have to wash my hair first, it’s really dirty.”
“Oh, Poppy! Your hair will take ages to dry and you might miss the photographer – he’s far too busy to hang around all day,” said Mum. “Why don’t I just brush it for you?”
“Mum! If I’m going to be in a newspaper, I want to have clean shiny hair,” said Poppy stubbornly as she raced up to the bathroom.
Mum was right. Poppy’s hair did take a long time to dry even with the hairdryer.
When Poppy and Mum finally arrived at Saffron’s shop Honey was already being photographed. She was dressed in a fabulous purple skirt with a pink top, gorgeous lilac glass beads and a sequinned hairband. She looked great!
“That should be enough pictures now, Saffron,” said the photographer. “What a great kid Honey is. She’s stunning, and a natural in front of the camera!”
Poppy couldn’t believe it. She had only arrived a tiny bit later than Honey but she had completely missed her chance to be photographed.
She was very angry and upset – mainly with herself for taking so long with her hair – so she stomped off in a grump.
“Poppy, don’t go off in a bad mood,” said Saffron. “I’m really sorry. The photographer was in a rush and Honey got here first and it was all very last minute. I’m sure you’ll have another chance to get in the local paper.”
But Poppy was feeling quite tearful and did not reply. It seemed to her as if Honey was always getting to do all the things she wanted to do – life was so unfair!
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