Lottie Luna and the Bloom Garden. Vivian French

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       COPYRIGHT

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2019 Published in this ebook edition in 2019 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

      The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is www.harpercollins.co.uk

      Text copyright © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019 Illustrations copyright © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019 Cover design copyright © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008342982

      Ebook Edition © September 2019 ISBN: 9780008342999

      Version: 2019-09-27

      For the real Lottie,

      with much love

       CONTENTS

       Cover

       Half Title Page

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       About the Author

       About the Publisher

       CHAPTER ONE

      KING Lupo jumped and looked up at the ceiling. Water was oozing through a zigzag crack and splashing on his head.

      ‘I did warn you, dear,’ said Queen Mila. ‘If you will insist on sitting at the head of the table, you’ll get dripped on.’ She passed the king a napkin and he wiped his ears.

      ‘A king should always be kingly,’ he announced. ‘I may not have been king for long, but I do know how to behave. A king is head of his people, so he should sit at the head of the table – drips or no drips! And talking about behaving, ‘WHERE is Lottie? She’s late for breakfast!’

      ‘I think she’s getting ready,’ Queen Mila told him. ‘Do remember, dear – it’s her first day at her new school, so she’s bound to be a little nervous.’

      ‘Nervous? Why would she be nervous?’ King Lupo dodged another drip and took a bite of his toast. Finding it was soggy, he made a face and put it back on his plate.

      Queen Mila sighed. ‘You know how happy she was at her last school, dear. She had lots of friends and was popular with the teachers too. She doesn’t know anyone at Shadow Academy. She’s starting all over again.’

      ‘But she’s the daughter of a king now!’ Lupo raised his whiskery eyebrows. ‘She’ll find that she’s treated with the greatest respect!’

      ‘I don’t think—’ Queen Mila had been about to say that she didn’t think that would make any difference, but she was interrupted by the door being flung open with a crash, and Lottie appeared. She was clutching her school bag in one hand and a bunch of pencils in the other, which she waved wildly at her mother.

      ‘Ma! I can’t find my pencil sharpener anywhere. It’s hopeless! Ever since we moved, everything’s been upside down. Nothing’s where it should be – and there are ZILLIONS of spiders in the bathroom! Do we have to live here?’

      Boris, Lottie’s older brother, stopped admiring himself in the cracked old mirror by the fireplace and joined in. ‘But we’re royalty now, Lottie! Pa’s a king, and kings live in castles – even if they are a bit crumbly and falling down.’

      ‘Well said, Boris my lad!’ King Lupo beamed at his son. ‘Dracon Castle is our home. I’m sure once we’ve done a few repairs we’ll be extremely comfortable here. Now, Lottie, sit down and eat your breakfast.’

      ‘Hmmmph…’ Lottie sighed thoughtfully as she remembered her old home. Although it had been small and cramped, it had been warm and very cosy. The castle they had inherited had so many rooms she couldn’t count them all, and every single one was freezing cold.

      ‘I’m not hungry,’ she said. ‘Honestly, Pa, I couldn’t eat a СКАЧАТЬ