By ANDREW MATTHEWS, Illustrator TONY ROSS
Mrs Armitage changed the words of nursery rhymes. Goosey Gander ended up in an oven, Little Miss Muffet mashed the spider into her curds and whey and Simple Simon mugged the Pieman.
Arabella didn't mind - she didn't know the real versions. In fact, Arabella didn't
mind anything very much. She did what her parents told her to do. When they said things like, "Eat up your dinner like a good girl,' she did.
Things might have gone on this way for years, with Arabella getting fatter and fatter, but then two things happened that changed everything.
The first thing that happened was going to school. Arabella's first day at school was terrible. At morning playtime, some boys came up to her in the playground and stared at her rudely.
"Why is there a lot of you?' one of them asked.
"There isn't a lot of me,' replied Arabella. "There just isn't very much of you.'
"I thought you were a group,' said another boy. "Are you sure there's no one hiding in your dress?'
"W-A-A-H!' wailed Arabella.
Nobody had ever been cruel to her before; but worse was to follow.
Publisher: Mammoth, $10.95
Age group: 8+ years
