The Riverbank Otter

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2018

Published in this ebook edition in 2018

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,

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Text copyright © Sarah Lean 2018

Illustrations copyright © Anna Currey 2018

Cover illustration © Polly Noakes 2018

Cover hand-lettering type © Anneka Sandher

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2018

Sarah Lean and Anna Currey assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator respectively of the work.

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

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008165758

Ebook Edition © 2018 ISBN: 9780008165765

Version: 2018-01-08

To Peter Lean and Wells Rotary Club for helping to bring stories to the children of the Korup region in Cameroon.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Map

Chapter 1. Surprises

Chapter 2. Spinaway

Chapter 3. Lucky Day

Chapter 4. Holding On

Chapter 5. Walking the Plank

Chapter 6. Happy Day

Chapter 7. Letting Go

Chapter 8. Diamonds

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Also by Sarah Lean

About the Publisher

Tiger Days loved tigers. She lived in a busy town and spent a lot of time indoors where she liked to draw pictures of tigers. But ever since Tiger had been visiting her grandmother, May Days, at Willowgate House in the countryside, she was beginning to be more adventurous outdoors. May Days used to live on a wildlife reserve in Africa, and even now she sometimes looked after animals that were in need of helping hands.

Tiger was on her way to Willowgate with her dad. She never knew what might happen during her stays and was often nervous about new things. But she was looking forward to sharing the summer weeks with Holly the cat and her friend Tom, who stayed with his grandfather next door during the holidays too.

While driving along the country road, all of a sudden Mr Days slammed on the brakes.

“What happened?!” said Tiger, frowning. Her tummy was now turning in a worried twirl even before they had arrived.

Mr Days asked Tiger to stay put while he got out of the car and walked cautiously around to the front. “No need to panic, Tiger,” he said. “Come and look.”

Toddling across the road in front of the car was a duck with an emerald green head and orange beak and feet. It could have been unfortunate for the duck crossing the road at that moment.

“You are a very lucky duck,” Tiger said and sighed with relief.

“Animals have no road sense,” said Mr Days, hurrying the flapping, quacking duck to the verge on the other side. “Nobody teaches them to cross the road.”

“They need to go to duck school,” Tiger said, and laughed thinking about lessons for ducks: Feather Fluffing, How to Waddle Nicely, and How to Land on a Pond Without Doing an Embarrassing Roly-poly.

“Hopefully you won’t have any more unexpected surprises at Willowgate,” her dad said as they set off again.

Tiger wondered about this and felt annoyed at herself for always feeling wobbly when something unexpected happened. Tiger decided that this visit would be different. She would stop feeling worried and instead be prepared for anything. Tiger made a plan …

“This time I am going to surprise May Days,” she told her dad.

“How will you do that?” asked Mr Days.

“I’ll think of something,” said Tiger. She would have to wait for a good opportunity, but she was very determined she would surprise her grandmother for a change.

Willowgate House looked as raggedly grand as ever, with its tall chimney pots and the conservatory on the side that leaned slightly to the left. Tiger asked her dad to park the car at the end of the drive, so they could go quietly up to the house.

The grass was even longer than the last time they visited and they had to lift their legs up high to get through.

“I am going to surprise May Days straight away,” Tiger said.

Tiger crept around to the back of the house. May Days was in the kitchen putting biscuits on a plate. Holly the cat was sitting on a chair staring at the open back door, her eyes wide like green glass marbles, as if she already knew her favourite friend was about to arrive.

May Days saw Holly prick her ears, and turned round. “There’s a tiger in the house!” she said, before Tiger could creep up on her.

Her first attempt at a surprise had not worked, but Tiger quickly decided she’d think of something bigger and better.