Sally-Ann Hopwood - 31 Bedtime Stories for October

This book is published by ditions Caramel.

Authors: Claire Bertholet, Sally-Ann Hopwood, Lenia Major, Jacques Bilstein, Michael Espinosa and Claire Grmontt

Illustrator: Elen Lescoat

Tomorrow morning, it will snow in the middle of the country. said the weather reporter.

The next day, Julie jumped out of bed eager to make a snowman. But there was no sign of snow. One of the snowflakes had been busy playing with the clouds and he had missed the weather report. He decided to go to the beach. A little boy spotted it.

Look mum, its snowing! he exclaimed.

Dont be silly. Eat your ice cream before it melts!

The other snowflakes went to fetch him and hurried back to the centre of the country. By the time they got there, Julie was coming out of school.

The little snowflake was the first to fall and he landed right on Julies nose.

She was pleased, but surprised to hear him say: Sorry Im late!

In a faraway land, a dragon was destroying all the villages. The people gathered and agreed that a knight was needed to get rid of it. But all the knights had gone away on missions. All except the puny, little and not very brave Hughes.

As soon as he saw Hughes in front of his den, the dragon wanted to burn him.

But Hughes suggested a game of chess. This new form of combat intrigued the dragon and he accepted. They moved their pieces until nightfall. Hughes won. The dragon was annoyed, but enthusiastic and he wanted to play again.

So they played again for days and days! Nothing was ever heard of the dragon again!

And would you believe it?

All the dragons disappeared one after the other.

Perhaps you will find them at a chess tournament near you.

This summer, Rudi the snail decided to go on holiday, with his caravan on his back. He wanted to go to the mountains. So, after taking care to gather some provisions for the journey, he set out. Like all snails, Rudi travelled very slowly. And by the time he reached his destination, he had taken so long that summer was over. He was very sad and a large tear rolled down his cheek. Then another one But no! Actually, it was a snowflake. Winter had arrived. In the end, Rudi decided to stay. He would have a ski holiday!

Fiona was learning to draw. She could already draw circles, triangles and squares, but her favourite was the squiggle. She drew a lovely blue squiggle right in the middle of the page and then she went to have breakfast. When she returned to the table, the squiggle had gone! She looked for it everywhere: Under the table, between her books, in her schoolbag but the squiggle was nowhere to be found. She would have to look for it after school otherwise she would be late. At school, the teacher asked the children to draw a house, using the shapes they knew. Fiona opened her pencil case and there was the squiggle, stuck on the end of her pencil! He became the smoke coming out of the chimney.

As he liked doing nothing like anyone else, Sam adopted the largest dog he could find. The hound was enormous and reigned with terror over the other dogs in the suburb. Sam was very proud and didnt cease to brag to his friends:

Mastok is afraid of nobody! he said proudly.

But when they went for a walk, Sam and Mastok came across a tiny Pekinese dog.

Not the least bit frightening, it barked annoyingly. Mastok was terrified and ran away!

And Sam was dragged all the way home by his dog that was very strong but above all very fearful!

Lila loved going to the market with her grandmother. She liked helping her choose the fruit. She even helped carry the shopping in her little backpack.

But most of all, she loved the carousel ride at the end.

Today, Lila decided to ride the horse.

She imagined that it was a real horse and she was riding through the prairie rounding up the cattle.

Grandmother watched her go round and round.

Lila was dizzy from all that spinning around and when she got off the horse, the apples fell out of her backpack and one landed right into the horses mouth!

Grandmother said: The horse must be hungry after that long ride!

And so am I! replied Lila, Lets go home.

Mini, the marmoset was afraid to jump from tree to tree.

He thought that he would fall. His mum brought him a bunch of bananas: They are special and rare. They are the Bananas of Courage. If you eat one every morning, nothing will happen to you.

Every morning, Mini ate one of the bananas and jumped from branch to branch.

Mum, I cant jump any more, there are no Bananas of Courage left, cried Mini one morning.

You dont need them, Mini. You have all the courage you need!

Ever since, Mini is the best acrobat in the marmoset tribe!

Flip the dog went for a walk with his nose in the air, one lovely spring day. Suddenly, he smelled a delicious aroma.

When he looked through an open window, he saw little Francis at the table in front of his plate.

If you dont eat your steak, you wont have any dessert! his mum told him.

So when he left the table for a moment, Flip slipped into the kitchen and licked Francis hand, who gave him his steak. When Francis mum came back, she was delighted: Well done! You see, it wasnt that bad!

Now, do you want strawberry or chocolate ice cream?

Both please! said Francis beaming.

Simon the pig led an easy life: He spent his days eating and sleeping

One day, he heard the farmer say to his wife: Well make sausages, bacon and smoked ham from him!

Simon understood that they were talking about him!!! He ran away from the farm and took refuge in the forest, where he met a wild boar. He explained his problem to the boar. Stay with us! Didier suggested. Roll in the mud, leave it to dry and you will go unnoticed. Welcome to the Corkscrew family!