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Tails of Bears: A fantasy story about the way bears lost their tails. The bear is a bully and wants to take the fish caught by the fox. But the fox is too clever, and teaches the bear a thing or too about taking what is not his. (402 words) Themes: Greed, Arrogance, Consequences (Zip Stage 4) (Flesch grade 1.6)(Lexile 310) |
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Loose Undies: Anna finds her undies are slipping down all the time at school. She is terribly embarrassed. Things go from bad to worse with sports and a trip to the sick bay, until a teacher lends her spares and the situation is saved. (623 words) Themes: Embarrassment, Solving Problems (Zip Stage 5) (Flesch grade 2.5) (Lexile 480) |
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Loo Blues: Anna locks herself in the toilet, and can’t get out. What on earth can she do? Her Dad tries to rescue her, but he can’t budge the door. Finally they have to find a really unusual way out. (403 words) Themes: Embarrassment, Emergency situations, Solving problems (Zip Stage 4) (Flesch grade 2.7) (Lexile 300) |
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Starkers: A boy climbs a tree, to win a bet. But in the process he accidentally rips off first his shorts, then his undies. The fire brigade is sent for. He is rescued, but is mightily embarrassed. Themes: Taking risks, Embarrassment, Dealing with adversity (Zip Stage 5) (Flesch grade 3.3) (Lexile 590) This story is much simpler than the readability measure suggests, and more appropriate for younger children. |
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The Exterminator:A mouse is driving the people in the house crazy. They call the pest exterminator. He sells them a cat to get rid of the mouse. But the cat drives them crazy. They call the exterminator, who sells them a dog. Then the dog has to be got rid of, and so on. (929 words) Themes: ‘Solutions’ can be their own problem, Buyer beware (Zip Stage 4) (Flesch grade 3.3) (Lexile 170) |
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Peabrain: A peacock comes to live with a family and causes all sorts of trouble. They try to get rid of it, but it stays, no matter what they do. They aren’t too happy about it until the peacock shows them he’s more than just a Peabrain. (918 words) Themes: Relationships, Coping with change, Acceptance (Zip Stage 4) (Flesch grade 0.8) (Lexile 220) This clever story is more sophisticated than its readability measure suggests, and is more appropriate for children beyond the early years. |
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Tortured by Fairies: Brad is horrified to find himself the only boy at an all-girl fairies party. He is suffering and hoping that things will go wrong. They do. Then a funny event breaks the ice and he discovers that he feels much better. (598 words) Themes: Gender differences, Making friends, Tolerance, Problem solving (5) (Flesch grade 2.4) (Lexile 320) |
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Snow White Super Rat: Charlie’s pet rat Snow White is his special friend. But when he accidentally brings her to school, it’s chaos. Will she be discovered? Will she be eaten by the school’s pet snake? How will the madness end? (954 words) Themes: Caring for others, Problem solving, Coping (Zip Stage 6) (Flesch grade 3.6) (Lexile 660) |
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Hiccups: Freddie has to present a science project, but he has the hiccups! Everyone has ideas on how to cure them, but will any of them work? A series of crazy events follow as he tries to present his project despite his little affliction. (993 words) Themes: Embarrassment, Problem solving, Coping (Zip Stage 5) (Flesch grade 2.9) (Lexile 490) |
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Gobwit: Two school friends, forced to do yard duty, discover a monster living in the garbage skip at school. They feed it and make friends with it. When the school goes into recycling, the supply of rubbish goes and Gobwit vanishes. (1031 words) Themes: Caring for others, Responsibility, Consequences (Zip Stage 7) (Flesch grade 4.3) (Lexile 710) |
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The Caped Crusader:Billy wants to be a Caped Crusader. He practises in his ordinary day-to-day life with hilarious consequences. But no one he rescues wants his help. Finally however, his special talent finds an outlet, and all is well. (1200 words) Themes: Perseverance, Helping others, Jumping to conclusions (1200 words) (Zip Stage 7) (Flesch grade 4.4) (Lexile 770) |
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Sitting on Sophie: The little sister (Sophie) is irrepressible. It’s necessary to sit on her to keep her from spoiling the Christmas surprise. The children find a present for their mother, but they have trouble keeping Sophie from giving it away. All ends well, of course. (1185 words) Themes: Sibling rivalry, Tolerance, Family feeling (Zip Stage 8) (Flesch grade 5.2) (Lexile 930) |