The Secret Cat. Sarah Lean
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2016
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,
1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
The HarperCollins website address is: www.harpercollins.co.uk
Text © Sarah Lean 2016
Illustrations © Anna Currey 2016
Cover illustration © Simon Mendes
Sarah Lean asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.
Anna Currey asserts the moral right to be identified as the illustrator of the work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Source ISBN: 9780008165666
Ebook Edition © April 2016 ISBN: 9780008165727
Version: 2018-11-14
To Fallon, one of the bravest I ever met
Contents
Chapter 3: What’s That Strange Noise?
Chapter 8: Do You Love Warthogs Yet?
Tiger Days didn’t know anyone who loved tigers as much as she did.
She wore tiger pyjamas, socks and slippers, and spent a lot of time in her bedroom reading about tigers and drawing tiger pictures. Her parents would often suggest bike rides and trips to the swimming pool on Saturday afternoons, but Tiger would much rather be in her bedroom doing tiger things.
One Saturday afternoon, her parents appeared at her door.
“You’ll never guess who that was on the phone …” said Mum.
“Hmmmm?” said Tiger, not really listening.
Dad rolled his eyes as Tiger’s nose stayed firmly buried in her wildlife book. “It was May Days!” he said.
Tiger looked up, surprised. May Days was her grandmother and had been living in Africa on a wildlife reserve since Tiger was a baby. Whenever May Days phoned, Tiger asked when she was coming to visit, but May Days said it was hard to know because the giraffes or rhinos always needed her more. This time, May Days had phoned with wonderful news. She had finally come back to England and bought a place called Willowgate House.
“She wants you to go and stay,” said Dad. “You can have your first adventure together at the new house.”
Tiger wrinkled her nose. She was sometimes nervous about doing new things and the idea of a real-life adventure with May Days was a little scary. She had a feeling May Days wasn’t going to be like everyone else’s grandmother.
“Won’t you be worried about me?” she asked her parents.
“While you’re with May Days? Not even for a second,” said Mum, although it was obvious that somebody was worried.
But Tiger put on a brave smile for her parents. An adventure with May Days would be great, wouldn’t it?
“Are you sure this is the right house?” said Tiger.
She stood close to her dad by the gate, beneath a large drooping willow tree.
Willowgate House was unexpectedly huge, and it stood at the end of a long driveway. It had wide windows and tall chimney pots, and a conservatory that leaned slightly to the left.
Tiger tilted her head to the side to see if it looked any straighter. But it didn’t. The lopsided building made her feel wobbly.
Tiger waited on the doorstep behind Dad while he pulled the bell on the wall beside the door.
The next surprise was May Days.
Weren’t grandmothers