Maddison's Tree Magic: The Adventure Begins

By Roger Cotton

Maddison is transported to a magical world, where on her tenth birthday her dad hands down his mystical pendant, making her the new Keeper of Tree Magic. Now gifted with animal powers, and guided by Sage, an ageless owl, she is sent via a portal tree to rescue, he

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roger Cotton
• Release date: Dec 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781802272871

Book preview

Maddison_s_Tree_Magic.jpg

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by Roger Cotton

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [e-mail]

First paperback edition

Book design by PublishingPush

Illustrations by Tiffani Deakin

ISBN, paperback: 978-1-80227-286-4

ISBN, ebook: 978-1-80227-287-1

This book is typeset in Lucida Bright

To Maddison Cotton, my Granddaughter. Thank you

for taking me into a world that few people ever see.

Alpha and Omega. Love Britedad xxx – R.C

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 1

Hi, my name is Maddison Baggley, and I live with my mum and dad in a big, converted barn in a quiet little town in Herefordshire. Herefordshire is full of farms and countryside with a huge old forest called Blackmore. It is the oldest forest in England, so my dad told me and home to hundreds of species of wildlife and an abundance of trees and plant life. It’s my favourite place to explore!

My dad owns his own shop, and my mum, well, my mum is just my mum, but she is also my teacher at school. She says I get my brains from her and the adventurous side from my dad.

I have lots of friends, but my best friend is Neive. We are the same age and like all the same things. She is so clever and funny, and when I am not exploring with my dad or helping in the shop, me and Neive are inseparable.

Life was perfect, but then on my 10th birthday that all changed, and beyond my wildest imagination, it became even better. So, if you are ready, then here is my story.

It all started on a sunny Sunday. It was my 10th birthday, and all my friends came around. I had a surprise party, which I had to act incredibly surprised about as Neive had already told me, but she said it was okay to tell me as ‘best friends never keep secrets from one another.’ I opened presents and played in the garden with everyone, climbing and balancing on the climbing frame. I was getting pretty tired when parents started showing up to collect everyone. Only Neive stayed a bit later so that we could go through all my cool new presents together. Dad took us to the woods so we could jump logs and feed the squirrels and birds before we finally walked Neive home. Neive was going on holiday with her mum and dad the next day, as school was closed for the summer, so we made the most of the time together that we could.

As me and dad walked the short distance back home, a small and graceful white owl followed us. At first, just behind us, then flying ahead and waiting on rooftops, lamp posts and the odd tree. Then, as dad opened the wooden gate to our path, the owl swooped just above us to land in the big chestnut tree outside my bedroom. There he watched us with large inquisitive orange eyes as we made our way up the path.

Dad... I said, gazing up with my head looking at the tall tree. That owl has followed us all the way from Neive’s house.

That’s old Sage, my dad replied.

Goodnight, Sage, I shouted to my new friend, and then I smiled to myself at how my dad always had different names for all the creatures in the woods we came upon on our adventures.

I always wondered why all the animals would seem to go to my dad, from squirrels to mice, badgers, and foxes to even the tiniest birds. They never were cautious or frightened of him; in fact, they all seemed to make