Thank You, Ellie

By Joe Burnett and Gill Gill

During a relaxed family picnic on the edge of a forest, eight-year-old Grace becomes lost when she strays too far. Facing a series of tough and scary challenges, she discovers an inner strength and makes an unexpected friend who changes her life. Come and join Grace as she searches for a way home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Apr 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781398440814

Joe Burnett

Joe, his wife and their dog live mostly in the South-East of England near their daughter and two grandchildren. He has strong family connections to the North-East of England, so they spend the rest of their time near the beautiful beaches around the mouth of the River Wear. His first book, Thank you. Ellie was originally written as a story for his granddaughter to commemorate a much-loved family pet. His second book, Thank you, Grace, takes the story on to new adventures.

Book preview

About the Author

Joe, his wife and their dog live mostly in the South-East of England near their daughter and two grandchildren. He has strong family connections to the North-East of England, so they spend the rest of their time near the beautiful beaches around the mouth of the River Wear. His first book, Thank You, Ellie, was originally written as a story for his granddaughter to commemorate a much-loved family pet.

Dedication

For Grace, feisty from day-one, and Ellie, a much-loved and never-forgotten companion.

Copyright Information ©

Joe Burnett 2022

Illustrated by © Gill Gill

The right of Joe Burnett and Gill Gill to be identified as author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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 the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

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

ISBN 9781398440807 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398440814 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2022

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Sandra and Ian for listening, checking and their ideas, and Gill for the beautiful illustrations.

Chapter 1

Early September, the final weekend of the summer holidays, school resumed next week. Grace awoke to the sounds of birds singing in the garden below her window. Aged eight and a half years old, she lived at home with her parents, Lucy and Anthony. She also had an older brother, Tommy. The family loved doing things together whenever the opportunity arose, often going out for day trips.

Sunlight streaming through the gaps in the blinds created shimmering patterns on her quilt. Even at this early hour, she felt its gentle warmth soaking into her room. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was just after 7:00. Lucy had discouraged Grace from getting up too early from a young age, well before she could actually tell the time. In those days, deadlines were dictated by the changing colours of the light in the clock. Orange meant staying put; blue permitted her to get up.

Grace continued to comply with the ‘early rising’ rule but omitted to mention that she didn’t need to check the clock to know the exact time. Once at school, the class had considered how they each used sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste to understand and perceive the world around them. Grace found the lesson fascinating because she had experienced an extra, unusual ability for several years now. Although young, she realised it might be sensible to hold back on talking about her extra, ‘intuitive’ sense.

Partly because she would have struggled to describe it! ‘I just know things’ might have caused some puzzled looks in response; anyhow, she didn’t understand it herself, so how could she explain it to anyone else? But despite the uncertainty, she felt confident about putting her faith in it, trusting her instinct. At the end of the lesson, the teacher explained the meaning of ‘premonition’; how some people became aware of events before they happened. Grace had never heard the word before, but she knew all about the feeling.

She felt it now. In fact, it had been bubbling away for a few days. At first, she had put it down to anticipating a significant school change next week when she moved up a year. But it felt closer. Somehow, she knew things would be very different the next time she went to sleep in this bed.

Hearing movement on the landing, she decided to join the rest of her family. Rolling out of her bed to cross to the window, she opened the slats of the blind, bathing her face in the beautiful early morning sunshine. Briefly squinting, she gradually opened her eyes to inspect the garden laid out below. Tommy enjoyed working there with their dad; their efforts had paid dividends. Different shapes seemingly scattered randomly; little nooks, interesting crannies. She loved the diversity of visiting species; insects, squirrels, occasionally, hedgehogs and, of course, birds of all kinds. There always seemed to be a hubbub of movement centred around the feeders dotted on various trees.

Once, a