The Adventures of Isabelle Necessary

By Martii Maclean and Sharon Clark

A gutsy girl, a cool beach town, awesome friends and oodles of adventures.
Once upon a beach, there was a girl called Isabelle Necessary, who had an unusual name and a rather extra-ordinary and adventurous life. Join Isabelle and her friends Tammy, Nin and David, along with Draino the cat and Champ the wonder dog as they go on awesome adventures -

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kooky Cat Books
• Release date: Aug 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9780994540874

Book preview

mmaclean-isabelle-cover-interior.jpgmmaclean-isabelle-titlepage

Published by Kooky Cat Books 2018

Copyright © 2018 Martii Maclean

www.martiimaclean.com

Illustrated by Sharon Clark

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from both the copyright owner and publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia.

Book cover design and formatting services by BookCoverCafe.com

First edition 2018

ISBN 978-0-9945408-6-7 (pbk)

ISBN 978-0-9945408-7-4 (e-bk)

For Trevor and Minerva,

the best buddies to have along on any adventure

Contents

1Isabelle Necessary and the Super Sand-sculpting Competition

2Isabelle Necessary Goes Cat-fishing

3Isabelle Necessary and the Surprise Party

4Isabelle Necessary and the Rainy-Day Boat Races

5Isabelle Necessary and the Tadpole Project

6Isabelle Necessary Goes Rock Collecting

7Isabelle Necessary and the Haunted House

8Isabelle Necessary Meets Champ the Wonder Dog

9Isabelle Necessary Goes Snorkelling

10Isabelle and the Great Lighthouse Mishap

11Isabelle Necessary Helps out at Halfway Percy’s Shop

12Isabelle Necessary goes Horse Riding

13Isabelle Necessary Builds a Treehouse

14Isabelle Necessary and the Parrot Mystery

15Isabelle Necessary and the School Concert

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Other titles from Martii Maclean

Once upon a beach, there was a girl called Isabelle. She was a girl with a beach face: sparkly blue-green eyes, sand-coloured hair and a sunny smile.

She was an absolutely ordinary girl who lived an ordinary life, which included things like school, bicycle riding, chores, homework, swimming, friends, and aunties and uncles. Oh, and she lived in a retirement village.

Come to think of it, maybe Isabelle was an ordinary girl with an unusual life.

Okay, she wasn’t really all that ordinary, either.

Why don’t I just tell the story and you can see for yourself?

1

Isabelle Necessary and the Super Sand-sculpting Competition

Today was Sunday and Isabelle had exciting plans. She rushed out of the house onto the veranda and gathered together a bucket, spade, trowel and old chopsticks, plus her collection of shells, dried seaweed and driftwood. She packed everything carefully into her backpack and hurried back inside to have breakfast.

AIN-(2)-Ch

‘You’re in a rush,’ said her dad, from behind the newspaper.

‘I’m riding down to meet Tammy before the competition starts,’ said Isabelle, sitting down and gulping mouthfuls of cereal.

‘Don’t forget to wear your helmet, Isabelle,’ her mum said from behind the kitchen bench.

‘Yes, Mum.’

‘Fishing? Where are you going fishing?’ her dad mumbled, without looking up from his paper.

‘I’m not going fishing, I’m in a competition.’ Isabelle was used to her parents only half listening; they always did that.’ Invisible Isabelle, that’s me,’ she always joked to Tammy.

‘Today is the sand-sculpting competition,’ she said, in the direction of the paper. ‘Remember, Dad? Tammy and I have been planning and practising for ages, and today we’re going to become the champion sand artists of Saggy Beach.’

‘Sandcastles, eh?’ came another mumble from behind the newspaper.

‘Not just sandcastles,’ Isabelle said, ‘sand everything. Sand anything. If you can think it, you can make it. Sand’s like that, you know, Dad.’

‘And it gets in your socks, it’s messy.’

‘Why are you bothered by a little sand, Dad? You and Mum do all kinds of exciting things when you’re away. Sand must be nothing compared to …’

Isabelle realised she didn’t know what her parents did when they went away. She just assumed it had to be adventurous because they never took her. She didn’t mind not going, because she had plenty of adventures of her own right here in Saggy Beach.

She went fishing at Mermaid Cove. She built super skyscraper sandcastles and then pretended to be a giant and trampled them back into the warm squeaky sand. She went swimming, and she wanted to go snorkelling and surfing one day. And she loved to go tobogganing down the sand dunes on old cardboard boxes.

Best of all, Isabelle loved staying at her great-aunt Emma’s place when Mum and Dad were away. Aunt Emma was never too busy for a proper chat.

Her dad finally put down the newspaper. ‘We don’t have sandy adventures, Isabelle.’

‘What do you think of a mermaid, Dad?’ She was excited to have his attention at last.

‘Oh, we haven’t seen any mermaids on our trips.’

‘For the competition, Dad. Tammy and I are going to sculpt a mermaid. It’s going to be the Saggy Beach mermaid, the one they named Mermaid Cove after. We’ll win for sure.’

Her mum leaned over the kitchen bench. ‘You know I’d love to go with you and see your sand … castle, but …’ She shrugged.

‘I know, Mum, you’ve got important things to do.’

Isabelle’s mum and dad travelled to amazing places in their very own helicopter, looking for important and special things. These things were put in museums for people to see, but they were protected behind glass so they couldn’t be damaged.

Isabelle and her parents had moved to Saggy Beach because her great-aunt Emma lived here in the Saggy Beach Retirement Village, which meant that Isabelle could stay with her when her parents went away, which was often. Staying with Aunt Emma was always fun. She only had one real rule for Isabelle and that was to be home before the streetlights came on. She never told Isabelle she couldn’t do anything, so Isabelle got to do lots of things other kids were told not to do because they had parents making the rules instead of a great-aunt. And Isabelle never felt invisible when she was with Aunt Emma.

After breakfast, Isabelle said goodbye to her parents, who were busy doing important things. In the driveway, she put on her helmet and shoved her backpack into the basket on her bike.

Isabelle lived in an extra-large house in the Loops, on top of a hill overlooking Mermaid Cove. From her house she could see the beach, Little Lake and Big Lake to the north, Bendy Creek to the south, and the lighthouse that spread broad beams of light across the sea every night.

The view from her house was great, but she liked Aunt Emma’s bungalow in the retirement village better. The village was nestled between the beach and Little Lake. Isabelle could hear the waves when she was in bed at night. She loved falling asleep listening to the surf.

‘The whispering waves are a mermaids’ lullaby,’ Aunt Emma had told her once.

But Isabelle’s big house had one great advantage. Being on top of the hill meant she could ride very fast down to the bottom. She pushed down hard on the pedals and took off down the footpath. The salty air blasted her face as she raced down the steep hill. She could see Tammy and her big brother David on the corner at the bottom. They got bigger and bigger as she sped towards them.

Tammy was Isabelle’s best friend. Her family had lived in Saggy Beach for generations, even before it was called Saggy Beach. Aunt Emma and Tammy’s aunties had been friends since they were all young, and Isabelle’s aunt trusted the old knowledge.

Isabelle hit the brakes.

‘Nice skid,’ David said as she stopped at the corner.

‘Thanks,’ she said, but he was already walking away.

AIN-(4)-Ch

‘Yay, competition day!’ Isabelle squeezed Tammy’s hands with excitement.

‘So your mum and dad still here?’ Tammy asked, looking up the hill.

‘Yeah, but I think they’re going again soon. I'm invisible Isabelle again.’

‘In-vis-ible Is-a-belle,’ Tammy said, in a silly-spooky voice. She closed her eyes and reached out with zombie arms.

Laughing, they walked their bikes across the street to the beach.

At the surf club, the lifeguards looked like red-and-yellow ants, marching up and down the sand carrying flags and equipment. Isabelle and Tammy dropped their bikes on the grass and joined the queue at the official competition table, where they registered and got their team number.

They were given area seven, which was close to the water, just above the high-tide line. The air was still and the sea looked like sparkling glass. Tiny waves flopped gently onto the sand. They set up their equipment and sat down to have one last planning meeting.

‘Do you still want to do the mermaid?’ Isabelle whispered quietly to keep their idea a secret.

‘Yeah, David heard that some kids are doing sharks and others are doing an octopus.’

‘No one’s ever done a mermaid before.’ Isabelle clapped her hands together. ‘Yay, I can see our names on the trophy already.’

‘Isabelle, sweetie!’

Isabelle turned. Coming up the beach from the direction of the retirement village was Aunt