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Authors: Bernard Gallate

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BOOK: Monkey Come Home
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‘Don’t be silly,’ Mum said on the drive to Sam Hurley’s place. ‘You saved his life from Bagpipes, remember?’

‘Not really,’ I said. ‘Earl could’ve thrashed Bagpipes in a fight.’

‘Either way it would have been unpleasant to clean up,’ Dad said. ‘And Elsie would have been inconsolable if she lost Bagpipes.’

‘I still think she’s a secret agent for PUXCorp,’ I said.

‘Without a doubt,’ Dad humoured me. ‘And that toilet dolly in our bathroom is actually a high-tech listening device.’ Mum and Serenity thought that was hilarious, even though it was just as likely as all of the other crazy things that had been happening.

When Sam heard us approaching he came out to meet us, with Earl sitting on his back. I instantly felt jealous. Earl had been with me for only three days but he had been with Sam for three weeks. They looked like old friends.

‘Does Earl belong to you now?’ I blurted out, straightaway.

‘Of course not, Avery,’ Sam said. ‘Nobody owns Earl. He’s very much his own monkey.’

‘Apologise to Sam,’ Mum said. ‘He’s been very kind to look after Earl.’

‘Sorry,’ I said looking down at the ground. My face was burning.

‘Aren’t you going to say hello to your mate now?’ Sam asked.

‘Hi,’ I said, without looking at Earl. ‘I missed you.’

‘Ee Ee Ee!’ Earl said. He jumped onto me and gave my ears a good boxing.

‘See, he still loves you,’ Dad said.

‘What about me?’ Serenity pouted.

Earl climbed onto her and kissed her right on the mouth.

‘Eww, that was so vile,’ Serenity said, pushing Earl away and wiping her mouth.

‘At least he didn’t use tongue,’ I said.

‘He did!’ Serenity cried.

Everybody laughed, but I was the only one who caught Earl’s sly wink.

About the author/illustrator

The idea for
Monkey Come Home
came from a bunch of funny and true encounters my friends and I have had with monkeys over the years. My favourite story belongs to Wendy who went to the monkey show at Koh Samui, Thailand with her friend Philipa. After the show, the audience were allowed to touch the monkeys. Wendy became nervous when one of the monkeys started squeezing her finger a bit too tightly, but she managed to slip free. The monkey jumped onto Philipa’s head and proceeded to pull her hair out and then bit her finger till it bled.

Bernard watched way too much television when he was growing up, so it’s not surprising that his first proper job was making cartoons. Later he studied acting but couldn’t even get a part in a pizza commerical so he went back to animating for a multimedia company. He has a crazy notion that work can be fun and has been a ride operator at Luna Park, a guide on top of Sydney Tower and a climb leader on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Monkey Come Home
is Bernard’s fourth book and he still can’t decide if he prefers writing the story or illustrating. But the pictures take longer than the words.

Copyright
  The ABC “Wave” device is a trademark of the
  Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is used
  under licence by HarperCollins
Publishers
Australia.

First published in Australia in 2007
by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
This edition published in 2011
by HarperCollins
Publishers
Australia Pty Limited

Copyright © text and illustrations Bernard Gallate 2007

The right of Bernard Gallate to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under 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:

Bernard Gallate

Monkey Come Home/Bernard Gallate

For children.

ISBN: 978-0-7333-2099-6 (pbk.)

ISBN: 978-0-7304-9539-0 (ePub)

1. Monkeys - Juvenile fiction. I. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. II. Title.

A823.5

BOOK: Monkey Come Home
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