twinkling
I’d be the smartest dog alive.
(If I managed to survive.)
I’d be careful (on my stroll)
Not to step in a black hole.
The other thing I would avoid
Was any speeding asteroid.
I took a little walk in space
I didn’t run, I didn’t race.
My feet were moving, treading air,
But I wasn’t getting anywhere.
I moved them faster, slippy-slip,
My tootsies couldn’t get a grip.
I took a little walk in space
But finished in my starting place
Selby
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Anna McFarlane and Laura Harris for hounding the author into writing this book and for their dogged determination to sniff out Selby’s mistakes.
Any similarity between Camilla Bonzer, the bomb-throwing librarian in the story ’Books, Bombs and Book Week’, and any of the wonderful librarians who the author has met in his travels around Australia is purely coincidental.
About the Author
Duncan Ball is an Australian author and scriptwriter, best known for his popular books for children. Among his most-loved works are the Selby books of stories plus the collections
Selby’s Selection, Selby’s Joke Book
and
Selby’s Side-Splitting Joke Book.
Some of these books have also been published in New Zealand, Germany, Japan and the USA, and have won countless awards, most of which were voted by the children themselves.
Among Duncan’s other books are the Emily Eyefinger series about the adventures of a girl who was born with an eye on the end of her finger, and the comedy novels
Piggott Place
and
Piggotts in Peril,
about the frustrations of twelve-year-old Bert Piggott forever struggling to get his family of ratbags and dreamers out of the trouble they are constantly getting themselves into.
Duncan lives in Sydney with his wife, Jill, and their cat, Jasper. Jasper often keeps Duncan company while he’s writing and has been known to help by walking on the keyboard. Once, returning to his work, Duncan found the following word had mysteriously appeared on screen: lkantawq … … ….
For more information about Duncan and his books, see Selby’s web site at: www.harpercollins.com.au/selby
B Y THE S AME A UTHOR
Emily Eyefinger
Emily Eyefinger, Secret Agent
Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure
Emily Eyefinger and the Black Volcano
Emily Eyefinger’s Alien Adventure
Emily Eyefinger and the Devil Bones
Emily Eyefinger and the Balloon Bandits
Piggott Place
Piggotts in Peril
Selby’s Secret
Selby Speaks
Selby Screams
Selby Supersnoop
Selby Spacedog
Selby Snowbound
Selby Surfs
Selby Snaps!
Selby’s Joke Book
Selby Splits
Selby’s Selection
Selby’s Stardom
Selby’s Side-splitting Joke Book
Selby Sorcerer
Copyright
Angus&Robertson
An imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers
, Australia
First published in Australia in 1996
This edition published in 2011
by HarperCollins
Publishers
Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
www.harpercollins.com.au
Text copyright © Duncan Ball 1996
Illustrations copyright © Allan Stomann 1996
The right of Duncan Ball to be identified as the moral rights author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000
.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968
, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollins
Publishers
25 Ryde Road, Pymble, Sydney, NSW 2073, Australia
31 View Road, Glenfield, Auckland 0627, New Zealand
A 53, Sector 57, Noida, UP, India
77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8JB, United Kingdom
2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Ball, Duncan, 1941—.
Selby spacedog / Duncan Ball.
ISBN: 978-0-207-20006-9 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-0-7304-9528-4 (ePub)
1. Dogs —
I’d be the smartest dog alive.
(If I managed to survive.)
I’d be careful (on my stroll)
Not to step in a black hole.
The other thing I would avoid
Was any speeding asteroid.
I took a little walk in space
I didn’t run, I didn’t race.
My feet were moving, treading air,
But I wasn’t getting anywhere.
I moved them faster, slippy-slip,
My tootsies couldn’t get a grip.
I took a little walk in space
But finished in my starting place
Selby
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Anna McFarlane and Laura Harris for hounding the author into writing this book and for their dogged determination to sniff out Selby’s mistakes.
Any similarity between Camilla Bonzer, the bomb-throwing librarian in the story ’Books, Bombs and Book Week’, and any of the wonderful librarians who the author has met in his travels around Australia is purely coincidental.
About the Author
Duncan Ball is an Australian author and scriptwriter, best known for his popular books for children. Among his most-loved works are the Selby books of stories plus the collections
Selby’s Selection, Selby’s Joke Book
and
Selby’s Side-Splitting Joke Book.
Some of these books have also been published in New Zealand, Germany, Japan and the USA, and have won countless awards, most of which were voted by the children themselves.
Among Duncan’s other books are the Emily Eyefinger series about the adventures of a girl who was born with an eye on the end of her finger, and the comedy novels
Piggott Place
and
Piggotts in Peril,
about the frustrations of twelve-year-old Bert Piggott forever struggling to get his family of ratbags and dreamers out of the trouble they are constantly getting themselves into.
Duncan lives in Sydney with his wife, Jill, and their cat, Jasper. Jasper often keeps Duncan company while he’s writing and has been known to help by walking on the keyboard. Once, returning to his work, Duncan found the following word had mysteriously appeared on screen: lkantawq … … ….
For more information about Duncan and his books, see Selby’s web site at: www.harpercollins.com.au/selby
B Y THE S AME A UTHOR
Emily Eyefinger
Emily Eyefinger, Secret Agent
Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure
Emily Eyefinger and the Black Volcano
Emily Eyefinger’s Alien Adventure
Emily Eyefinger and the Devil Bones
Emily Eyefinger and the Balloon Bandits
Piggott Place
Piggotts in Peril
Selby’s Secret
Selby Speaks
Selby Screams
Selby Supersnoop
Selby Spacedog
Selby Snowbound
Selby Surfs
Selby Snaps!
Selby’s Joke Book
Selby Splits
Selby’s Selection
Selby’s Stardom
Selby’s Side-splitting Joke Book
Selby Sorcerer
Copyright
Angus&Robertson
An imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers
, Australia
First published in Australia in 1996
This edition published in 2011
by HarperCollins
Publishers
Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
www.harpercollins.com.au
Text copyright © Duncan Ball 1996
Illustrations copyright © Allan Stomann 1996
The right of Duncan Ball to be identified as the moral rights author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000
.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968
, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollins
Publishers
25 Ryde Road, Pymble, Sydney, NSW 2073, Australia
31 View Road, Glenfield, Auckland 0627, New Zealand
A 53, Sector 57, Noida, UP, India
77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8JB, United Kingdom
2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Ball, Duncan, 1941—.
Selby spacedog / Duncan Ball.
ISBN: 978-0-207-20006-9 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-0-7304-9528-4 (ePub)
1. Dogs —
Similar Books
