Trouble at the Zoo Read online

  Copyright

  Copyright © Random House Australia 2010

  Cover photograph © Australia Zoo

  Cover and internal design by Christabella Designs

  Cover and internal design © 2011 Sourcebooks, Inc.

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

  (630) 961-3900

  Fax: (630) 961-2168

  www.jabberwockykids.com

  First published by Random House Australia in 2010.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.

  Source of Production: Versa Press, East Peoria, Illinois, USA

  Date of Production: December 2010

  Run Number: 14207

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dear Diary

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Animal Fact Family: The Eastern Water Dragon

  Animal Fact Family: The Green-Winged Macaw

  Back Cover

  As the sun rose on another beautiful day on the Sunshine Coast, an enormous Burmese python slithered slowly into a bedroom. In the distance, the call of the ring-tailed lemurs signaled the start of a new day. Lying asleep in bed, the young girl didn’t notice the snake’s progress.

  Hisssssssssssss. The snake took a leisurely route toward the bed, slowly winding up the bedpost until its head came to rest on the pillow. The snake’s tongue flickered in and out, touching the girl’s face.

  The girl’s face twitched a little, but her eyes remained closed. The snake let out another quiet hisssssssssssss.

  The girl’s hand reached out and slowly came to rest on the head of the snake.

  “Hmmm. Feels…scaly?” Bindi Irwin opened her eyes and smiled.

  The snake smiled back.

  “Have you come to wish me a happy birthday, Basil?”

  Bindi’s mum, Terri, and her brother, Robert, entered the bedroom, still in their pj’s, and started singing. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…”

  Bindi jumped out of bed, super-excited. “Yay!”

  She rushed over to her mum and brother, and gave them both a big hug.

  “Robert thought Basil would make a perfect birthday alarm clock,” Terri said with a smile.

  “Good thinking, little buddy,” Bindi replied. “What’s for breakfast, Mum?”

  “I think you might already know the answer to that, Bindi,” Terri replied.

  “Woohoo, it’s pancakes!” Robert and Bindi high-fived. Robert moved over to the bed to pick up Basil, who looked like he would be quite happy to snooze on Bindi’s bed for the rest of the day.

  “Come on, lazybones,” Robert said as he lifted the snake onto his shoulders. “We’ve got pancakes to eat!”

  He zoomed out of the room toward the kitchen.

  Terri looked down at Bindi and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Our little girl’s growing up. Your dad would have loved to have been here today, sweetheart.”

  Bindi gave her mum’s hand a squeeze. “I know, Mum,” she said. “He’d have wanted it to be a fantastic day.”

  “And it will be,” Terri replied, looking at her watch with a worried expression. “Oops. As long as we get a move on!”

  Bindi and Terri headed off down the hallway. “You and Basil better have left some for us, Robert!” Bindi called out along the way.

  The Irwin family lived at Australia Zoo. They were a family dedicated to wildlife conservation. Bindi’s dad, Steve, had helped change attitudes toward crocodiles with his huge enthusiasm and love for the creatures. Australia Zoo had started off as a reptile park, and they still loved their reptiles, but it had now grown into a big beautiful zoo, complete with giraffes, tigers, and elephants, as well as a whole swag of gorgeous Australian animals.

  After Bindi’s dad had passed away, Bindi had made a promise to continue her dad’s great work alongside her family. She planned to keep that promise for the rest of her life. And her birthday was a yearly reminder of all the good that could come of passing on the message of wildlife conservation to as many people as possible.

  She loved her birthday parties at Australia Zoo. This year was an underwater-themed birthday, and money earned from the day would go toward preventing whaling in Antarctica.

  Bindi and Robert had just finished their last mouthfuls of delicious pancake when there was a knock at the front door.

  “I’ll get it,” Robert said, and ran to open the door. There on the doorstep was a very pretty mermaid. “Ummm, Bindi, there’s a mermaid here.” Robert cast a suspicious look at the mermaid and sped off down the hallway.

  Bindi raced to the door. “Oh my gosh, you look amaaaazing, Rosie!”

  Rosie Bellamy was Bindi’s best friend. They had known each other since they were tiny. Rosie’s dad was a vet at the Wildlife Hospital, and her mum worked at the zoo too, so Rosie and Bindi got to spend heaps of time together.

  Rosie laughed. “I wasn’t sure if all the glitter was a bit much. I think I sort of scared your brother away!”

  Bindi giggled. “I promise you, Robert doesn’t scare that easily.”

  Rosie held up a bag. “Happy birthday! I’ve got it. And it’s gonna look awesome.”

  Bindi squealed with excitement. “Come on, let’s go to my bedroom and try it on.”

  “Okay. But don’t walk too fast. Mermaids are more used to swimming than walking!”

  Ten minutes later a very regal-looking emperor penguin was knocking at Bindi’s bedroom door. “Bindi, Rosie, are you ready? We’ve got a zoo to open!”

  From behind the closed door, Terri the emperor penguin could hear giggling. “Come on, girls…”

  “Almost ready, Mum. Just putting the finishing touches—” Bindi’s voice dissolved into giggles once more.

  A moment later, the door opened.

  Rosie the mermaid stepped out, pulling the door closed behind her. “Hi, Terri. Wow, nice outfit. I have something very important to tell you: Bindi is no longer in the bedroom. Instead, I would like to introduce you to the one, the only, Stella the sea horse!”

  Rosie opened the door and a twirling, whirling vision of sparkliness made her way out of the bedroom. Bindi was dressed in a golden-colored leotard with a layered golden skirt. The back of the leotard was draped in shimmery golden material, which looked like the frill along a sea horse’s spine. She also wore a mask with a long, delicate nose. Bits of emerald green material, looking like seaweed, were strewn across Bindi’s costume.

  Terri was impressed. “Wow, girls. I think this underwater-themed birthday is going to be a hit! You’ve made such a great costume for Bindi, Rosie.”

  Rosie blushed. “Oh, it
was nothing really. You know me and Mum like sewing—”

  Bindi interrupted her friend. “It is NOT nothing. It’s awesome. I love sea horses. They’re such graceful and gentle creatures, and this costume is the best present ever.” Bindi gave Rosie a big hug.

  Terri pulled out a camera. “Okay, girls, we’ve got time for a quick photo. Now hold it—one, two…”

  “Cockatoo!” The girls struck a pose, which was interrupted a millisecond later by Robert, dressed as a blue-ringed octopus, launching himself between the two girls. Robert misjudged his jump—“Ro-bert!”— and the two girls shrieked as all three sea creatures tumbled down in a tentacled, seaweedy heap, just as Terri took the photo.

  Picture perfect—not!

  In the parking lot, families were already spilling out of their cars, attaching snorkels, masks, flippers, goggles, or floaties, and making their way toward the zoo entrance. There was lots of excited chatter.

  Holly Brown, aged six, was dressed up like a blue swimmer crab. She had been looking forward to coming to Bindi’s birthday ever since the day she was born (so she said), and this year her dream had come true. Today also happened to be her brother’s birthday, so normally she would be hanging around while her brother and his friends threw sand at each other and had competitions to see who could eat cake the fastest or who could do the biggest burp after drinking lots of fizzy drinks. Yuck! She was glad she wasn’t ever going to be a boy! This year Holly’s mum and dad had promised her they would all go to Bindi’s birthday.

  Holly’s brother, Zac, stood out from the rest of the excited crowd. It wasn’t that he looked any different. He was wearing goggles, like plenty of other kids, and his mum was trying to slather him in sunscreen, like plenty of other kids.

  The difference was that Zac Brown wore a frown.

  Not one single other person, young or old, big or small, was doing anything but smiling.

  Holly just couldn’t understand it. She knew her brother really loved animals, especially reptiles, so even though he had been the grumpiest brother a sister had ever had to put up with during the car journey here, she knew he’d really enjoy being at Australia Zoo today.

  It’s just that to look at him, you wouldn’t know.

  “Hurry up, Zac. I don’t want to be last in the line to get in.” Holly was holding her mum’s and dad’s hands, and skipping fast, making a beeline toward the entrance.

  Zac was sulking behind them. “There’s no rush, okay. We’ll be waiting in line forever anyway. And it’s not even nine o’clock yet.”

  Mr. Brown, who was dressed as a sea monster and covered head to foot in seaweed, turned and gave his son one of those stern be nice to your sister looks, before he was dragged away.

  Zac watched as a bakery van pulled up to the zoo entrance and two delivery men maneuvered a large birthday cake out of the van’s back doors. Well, on the plus side, he did love cake, and that cake looked big enough to feed an elephant! He moved closer to the delivery men. Perhaps he could run up and sneak a taste of the icing. It looked really good. He inched a little closer.

  Mrs. Brown glanced over at her son. “Zac, keep out of the men’s way. Come over here and join the line.”

  Zac sighed as he watched the cake being carried through the front entrance. No, he did not like the way his tenth birthday was turning out, and it had only just begun.

  All over the zoo, staff members dressed as dolphins, swordfish, slippery eels, and every underwater creature you could think of were buzzing around, helping set up for the day’s many activities.

  Bindi, Robert, and Rosie made their way around the zoo, taking in the extraordinary sights—slippery slides and music stages were ready for action, aquamarine helium balloons were tied to signposts, and enormous bubble machines were getting a test run.

  A few of the zoo’s employees, with walkie-talkies in hand, were busy making sure the three kids didn’t see anything that would spoil the surprises the day had in store.

  “Keeper One to Keeper Three?” a zookeeper dressed as a puffer fish whispered into his walkie-talkie as he sped past the kids in a golf buggy. “There’s a mermaid, a sea horse, and an octopus heading to the croc enclosures now. Move that cake outta there, pronto!”

  Over by the crocs, a dolphin and two clown fish were moving the whale-sized birthday cake when the walkie-talkie crackled through its message. The three froze in position for a moment, and then started scampering off in the opposite direction. The clown fish kept hold of the cake while the dolphin answered the call. “Copy that, Keeper One, or should I call you Puffer Fish One? Cake taking a detour via the Tasmanian devils, over.”

  Just past the croc enclosure, Bindi waved to a starfish setting up a popcorn stand. “The zoo is always an amazing place,” she said to Rosie and Robert, “but today it looks even more amazing than usual.”

  “Yeah,” piped up Robert. “Maybe everyone should dress up as underwater creatures every day.”

  “That’d be cool,” said Bindi. “Although I wonder if it would confuse the animals if their keepers began looking like animals themselves?”

  Rosie pointed to a creature who was busy trimming a tree nearby. “Is he dressed as a snail? That isn’t an underwater creature, is it?”

  The snail overheard the comment and turned to the kids indignantly. “I’ll have you know I’m not a garden snail, but a sea snail. Look at the stripes on my shell. I’m a Cabestana snail, of course.”

  Rosie giggled. “Well, excuse me, Mr. Snail. I do apologize. I don’t know as much about gastropods as I should.”

  “Apology accepted,” said the snail, bowing solemnly, “because you’re such a polite mermaid. Oops, nearly forgot. Happy birthday, Bindi. You’re in for a whale of a day.”

  “Ha ha. Thanks, Mac. Catch ya later,” Bindi replied.

  Rosie groaned. “Oh no, the under-water jokes have started already and the zoo isn’t even open yet!”

  An announcement came over the PA system. It was Terri. “Five minutes till showtime, guys. Take your starting positions. Bindi and Robert, stop ‘sea-horsing’ around, and start running!”

  The siblings rolled their eyes good-naturedly at their mother’s joke. Rosie gave her friend a quick hug good-bye and raced toward the admin entrance, where she would be in charge of organizing the music for the zoo opening.

  A large shiny scallop shell had been placed just inside the zoo’s entrance. Sparkling sand had been spread around the base of the shell and a watery blue curtain hid the scene from view.

  Bindi and Robert had just reached the shell when Terri came over to join them. She gave both kids a quick hug. “Showtime?”

  Bindi had a last-minute attack of butterflies. “I hope everything goes okay today!” she said as she glanced toward the entrance.

  Terri smiled. “Bindi Sue, we’ll make sure it does!” Bindi squeezed her mum’s hand and turned to Robert.

  Brother and sister high-fived each other. “Showtime,” they said in unison.

  “Three…two…one…Open those gates. Welcome, everyone, to Bindi’s Eleventh Birthday Underwater Extravaganza!” From the admin office, Rosie switched off the microphone and pressed play on the CD player. A medley of underwater songs started up, the first of which was one Bindi had chosen especially for Robert and his costume—Octopus’s Garden.

  Robert and Terri were busy operating the bubble machines, and thousands of bubbles floated into the crowd. Little kids jumped and popped as many bubbles as they could.

  As the guests flooded in through the gates, people were looking around. “Where is she? Where’s Bindi?”

  The sea curtain was pulled away and the large scallop shell was revealed. Slowly the shell opened and Bindi the sea horse hatched out, waving and smiling at everyone.

  Once the applause had died down, she welcomed the crowd. “It’s fantastic to see you all here and thank you so much for helping me c
elebrate my birthday today.”

  Bindi loved seeing heaps of people enjoying her zoo and caring about wildlife. She was glowing with happiness as she continued her speech. “Proceeds from today will go toward preventing whaling in Antarctica. Whales are the gentle giants of the ocean, and we just have to protect them. Earlier this year my family and I went to Antarctica, and we did see whales, but there seems to be fewer and fewer of them every year. I really believe we need to continue fighting for their survival.”

  The crowd clapped in support.

  Bindi continued, “We have lots of fantastic things to see and do at the zoo today, so please enjoy yourselves. And I’ll be seeing you all later on at the Crocoseum.”

  The zoo staff was busy on their walkie-talkies as streams of people made their way into the zoo and was on hand to help with any questions.

  Robert was pumping the last bit of bubble mixture out of the bubble machine when he decided it was time to take a turn on the slippery slide. As he went to leave, a boy, who looked about ten and was wearing goggles, caught his eye. He was frowning as he walked through the entrance gates. “Now that’s not right,” thought Robert to himself. “That boy obviously needs to laugh and he is lucky that Robert the Octopus is here to help out!”

  Robert ambled over to the older boy. “Hey there, goggle man,” he said, flicking out a few tentacles. “What did the boy octopus say to the girl octopus?”

  The boy looked slightly taken aback. Why was this octopus talking to him? “Ummm, don’t know,” he replied uncertainly.

  “Can I hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand?” replied Robert, laughing at his own joke.

  The boy wearing the goggles didn’t even crack a smile. “Oh, right, I get it. Eight tentacles.”

  Robert was horrified. Not even a smirk? Who was this kid? Hmmm, in his experience kids who didn’t have a sense of humor were trouble. He’d better keep an eye on this boy.

  “Yeah, well, enjoy your day,” Robert said before racing off, his tentacles streaming behind him.