The Frightful Fire

By Jamie Brooke

Teaching children about bravery, friendship and building a community in the face of adversity. This middle-grade book is perfect for your new reader to explore the land down under and the animals that live there.

Wilbert the Wombat prefers to stay in his burrow. He likes being alone in his burrow more than bein

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brave Moon Publishing
• Release date: May 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9780645287578

Jamie Brooke

Jamie Brooke is a storyteller and animal lover who believes in doing what you love and exploring what sparks your curiosity. As a kid, Jamie spent countless hours in her bedroom lining up teddy bears, then reading books to what she was sure was a captive audience.This playtime was the journey into her love of books, and Jamie often found herself walking around the house reading or sinking into corners to dive headfirst into stories. After years of reading, storytelling became deeply ingrained in what Jamie knew and loved about the world.As an American who now loves living in Sydney Australia, with her husband and rescue dog Riggs, Jamie has developed a passion for Australian animals and culture. She believes Australia has many beautiful stories to share that the rest of the world hasn't had a chance to hear.

Book preview

Tales Down Under

Fig Tree

The Frightful Fire

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By Jamie Brooke

Category: Middle grade

Reading age: 9 - 12

Genre: Literary fiction

Copyright © 2022 Jamie Brooke

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available upon request.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data is available upon request.

ISBN: 978-0-6452875-6-1 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-0-6452875-7-8 (Ebook)

Author: Jamie Brooke

Illustrations: Moch Fajar Shobaru

Book and cover layout: Brave Moon Publishing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First printing edition 2022

Brave Moon Publishing

www.bravemoonpublishing.com

For ordering information, contact [e-mail].

Disclaimer: All the information, techniques, skills and concepts contained within the publication are of the nature of general comment only and are not in any way recommended as individual advice. Should any reader choose to make use of the information contained herein, this is their decision and the author and publishers do not assume any responsibilities whatsoever under any condition or circumstances.

Table of Contents

The Normally Quiet Burrow

The Surprise Visitor

The Tasmanian Devil Express Ferry

The Returning Visitor

The Gum Tree Hospital

Where There’s Smoke

The Full Burrow

After the Fire

The Clean-Up

The Mob of Animals

CHAPTER 1

The Normally Quiet Burrow

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Wilbert was displeased. He had been peacefully reading his book only minutes ago. But now he kept hearing thumping. The loud thumping came from above him, rattling the ceiling of his home. Dust rained down on him, tickling his nose and bothering his eyes.

Over and over again, the loud thumping from above forced Wilbert to look up with narrowed eyes. And, of course, when he would look back down at the page, he would forget where he was and have to start all over. This meant Wilbert had been trying to read the same sentence in Chapter 1 for 15 minutes. And he wasn't happy about it.

When Wilbert first moved to this area a few summers ago, he had been content with his decision. The seasons were pleasant. Winter was only chilly in the mornings; spring and fall were mild. And summer was a little too warm for his liking, but only for a few short weeks. It was quiet. His home was tucked into a large green hill, under the roots of a big fig tree whose long branches reached out over a meadow. A gurgling creek ran right by his home at the bottom of the hill. It was a perfectly decent place to call home.

Every evening, Wilbert would set out for his usual walk. He'd listen to the breeze stirring up the nearby grassy meadows. And pause to watch the fig tree branches swaying above his head.

Sometimes Wilbert would hear a kookaburra making its call in the distance. Or he'd listen to a cockatoo screeching loudly from the other side of the creek. But Wilbert rarely ran into anyone else in this area. And he liked it that way.

Wilbert preferred being alone. His home was clean and orderly, with everything in its place. He feared that making friends would mean they would come over and make a mess of everything. It also felt like a lot of effort to figure out what to talk about. The weather? Politics? No, thank you. Wilbert simply thought he was better suited for a more solo lifestyle.

Wilbert wasn't close with his parents, either. But he was okay with that.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Wilbert used to be close with his mum, who had raised him alone. His first memories were of her. She was tough, always making sure he completed his chores and homework. But he remembered she also made time to play with him. When Wilbert and his mum would go on walks together, they would make up funny stories as they went. He remembered feeling a coziness on those walks like everything was right in the world.

Wilbert's mum also made the most delicious home-cooked meals. His mouth would water in anticipation of the smell of buttered carrots, steamed greens and warm radish soup. At night after a full meal, she would tuck him into his cosy bed, and they would read books about adventures around the world. He'd go to sleep dreaming of the wild Australian outback and far-off lands he only knew from books.

They were pleasant memories, Wilbert recalled. But the memories of his mum were cut short. It was something he didn't like to think about.

Wilbert didn't have any memories of his father. He had left when Wilbert was just a joey, and his mum never explained why. He had occasionally wondered what it would be like to have grown up with a father. But as the years passed, his curiosity faded. Maybe his father preferred to be alone in the world. Perhaps they had that in common, Wilbert would wonder sometimes.

Over time, Wilbert grew up into a young adult and moved