Lulu Bell and the Moon Dragon by Belinda Murrell Page B

were laughing. Lulu and Molly laughed too.
    â€˜They are like clowns at the circus,’ said Lulu. ‘They seem to like us watching them.’
    â€˜ Giant clowns,’ agreed Molly.
    â€˜Whales spend the summer months down near the Antarctic,’ said Miss Baxter. ‘They eat fish and tiny seaanimals called krill. In summer they can eat nearly a thousand kilograms of food in just one day.’
    â€˜Wow!’ said Molly.
    â€˜No wonder they are so big,’ said Lulu.
    Miss Baxter smiled and said, ‘They can weigh about thirty-six thousand kilograms. They don’t eat that much all year round. In winter they hardly eat at all. That’s when they live off their stored fat.’

    Miss Baxter looked around at all the children. Sam stared at her with big serious eyes.
    The whales breached again and then dived deep under the sea. When they surfaced they were much further from the shore.
    â€˜In autumn, the whales migrate up to the warm tropical waters. They have their babies there during winter,’ said Miss Stevens. ‘In spring, they migrate south again. Humpback whales can migrate more than twenty thousand kilometres in a year.’
    â€˜That’s a lot of swimming,’ said Molly.
    The whales swam on their sides and waved their flippers. The children waved back. The whales dived again and disappeared.
    â€˜Oh no,’ said Lulu. ‘I think they’ve gone.’
    The children waited patiently for a few minutes but the whales were nowhere to be seen. Sam edged closer to the fence to get a better view of the ocean.
    One of the boys bumped against Sam and grinned. Sam’s glasses were knocked sideways. He hurried back towards Lulu and Molly.
    â€˜Who was that boy, Sam?’ whispered Lulu.

    Sam shrugged as he straightened his glasses. ‘Oh, just Oliver.’
    â€˜Is he one of your friends?’ asked Molly.
    Sam looked away. ‘Not really,’ he said.
    Before Molly or Lulu could say anything else, Miss Baxter clapped her hands. ‘Okay, children,’ she called. ‘Time to go back to school.’
    â€˜Ooooh,’ groaned some of the children.
    Lulu didn’t mind. She loved being in Miss Baxter’s class.

Chapter 4
A Plan
    After school, Lulu’s mum Chrissie was waiting with Lulu’s younger brother Gus. Gus was wearing his favourite red-and-green superhero outfit. It had a black face mask, bobbly antennae and a green cloak that swirled as Gus ran.
    â€˜Hi, Lulu,’ called Gus as he dashed past. He headed straight for the climbing frame. ‘Bug Boy can fly …’
    â€˜Hi, Gussie,’ called Lulu. ‘Don’t try to fly off the top!’
    Molly’s mum Tien was standing next to Mum, chatting. Lulu’s younger sister Rosie and Molly’s brother Sam came running up to join their mothers.
    â€˜Hi, Sam,’ said Tien. ‘Did you have a lovely day?’
    â€˜It was great,’ said Sam. ‘I went to see the whales with Molly and Lulu.’
    â€˜That’s not fair,’ complained Rosie. ‘We didn’t get to see the whales.’

    Lulu and Molly describedtheir excursion to see the two humpback whales.
    â€˜You are so lucky to see whales in the wild,’ said Mum. ‘When I was growing up we never saw whales. They had been hunted nearly to extinction.’
    Lulu felt sad to think that the beautiful whales had nearly been wiped out.
    â€˜Now they are protected, we see whales at Shelly Beach quite often,’ said Mum.
    Gus came swooping back, his cloak flying.
    â€˜Come on, Molly and Sam,’ said Tien. ‘We’d better get home. We have lots to do today.’
    Molly picked up her schoolbag and swung it over her shoulder. ‘Mum, can Lulu come over this afternoon and helpus get ready for the Moon Festival?’ she asked.

    Tien smiled at Molly and Lulu. ‘Of course she can,’ she said. ‘I thought we could start making the dragon costume