The Great Brain Robbery Read Online Free PDF Page A

squirrel with a blocked nose. ‘My name is Teddy Manywishes and I
make children’s wishes come true!’ The enormous bear made a sweeping gesture with his paws and a burst of rainbow sparkles drizzled down over the gobsmacked children. ‘Now, which
of you kiddlywinks likes toys?’ Dozens of hands shot into the air as the assembly hall erupted into shouts of ‘
Me! Me! I do! Me!
’ Some of the children were so excited
they were up on their feet, bouncing up and down like Mexican beans. Frankie wasn’t sure he liked being called a kiddlywink but, as the air fizzed around him, he felt his worries dissolve
like a spoonful of sherbet.
    ‘Well, let’s just see what ol’ Teddy Manywishes can do.’ The giant bear clapped his furry paws and –
SHAZZAM!
– a large pink envelope appeared
between them.
    ‘Oh, wow! Oh, wow!’ gasped Neet, jiggling about in her chair.
    ‘Now what’s this?’ piped Teddy Manywishes in his cheery, squeaky voice. The children held their breath as the bear drew out an even pinker card. ‘Oh, my! It looks like an
invitation! Who’d like to come up and read out what it says?’
    Frankie found himself springing to his feet and waving his arms in the air.
    ‘What’s your name, little feller?’
    Frankie couldn’t believe it – Teddy Manywishes had picked him, HIM! Frankie burbled his name.
    ‘Well, come along now, Frankie Blewitt, we’re all waiting.’
    Frankie dashed to the front before the teddy changed its mind. He took the card between his hands. It looked just like the party invitation that his cousin Amelia had sent him the year before
– all pink and sparkly, and decorated with rainbows and unicorns. He took a deep breath and read it out loud:
    ‘
M
is
s Marvella Brand would like you, the children of Cramley Primary, to come to a party a
t her new store. There will fun, games and
surprises!’
    The children of Cramley gasped with delight. Nothing this exciting had happened in Cramley-on-the-Crump since the giraffes escaped from Mr Jojo’s circus and went stampeding down the high
street.
    ‘Carry on now, Frankie,’ trilled the bear, staring down at him with his big furry face and blinking his enormous mechanical eyes. ‘What else does it say?’
    Frankie felt slightly unnerved by this huge smiling face hovering above him like a fuzzy balloon. Or was he just overexcited? He could no longer tell. He continued reading:
    ‘You will spend the whole day at my magical H
appyland before taking home a toy of your choice!
    ‘Lots of love and kisses
    ‘
Marvella XXX’
    Frankie’s heart was beating like a hamster’s as the children whooped and cheered around him.
    ‘You can sit down now, Master Blewitt,’ said the teddy in his strange, squeaky voice. But Frankie was so dizzy with excitement he hardly heard him.

    But not everyone was as excited as the schoolchildren of Cramley Primary. Alphonsine hummed and hawed and wrinkled her nose as Frankie told her about the visit over dinner.
    ‘I do not trust it,’ Alfie sniffed, mopping up some sauce with a crust of bread. ‘I do not like it. I am most suspishy. Why would a toy
shop
be giving toys away? They
must want something. They must be up to something. I smell a fish!’
    ‘You smell a
rat
,’ Frankie grumbled, disappointed that Alfie couldn’t see how great it would be to spend a WHOLE DAY at Marvella’s. He might even get his hands
on a Mechanimal Generation Three.
    ‘Yes, yes,’ said Alphonsine, ‘there is something very ratty about it. I do not like it at all.’
    ‘Alphonsine is right.’ Eddie nodded. ‘I wouldn’t put much past Marvella Brand. I’d stay away from that toyshop if I were you.’ Frankie poked at his dinner,
crossly. He didn’t see what was so very ratty about it. But, all the same, Alphonsine’s doubts left a niggle in Frankie’s mind. A niggle that he couldn’t quite shake,
however hard he tried.

 

    As Class 5C made their way to the playground, Neet reached into the inside