The Second Forever (13 page)
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W
hat do you mean you haven't got any photos?' said Peter's mother when the trio arrived home.
âI forgot to take my camera,' said Peter. âSorry.'
Three days later the rain paused and then it was the night of the full moon. Peter and Festival stood facing each other in the fossil gallery, where the giant bat that Peter's father, under his
father's instruction, had painstakingly rebuilt, hung above them. Peter had hoped it wouldn't be able to be re-created so that Festival would have to stay, but he was too shy to say anything.
âOh for goodness sake, you two,' said Peter's grandfather, pushing Peter towards Festival. âDon't be
so formal.'
As midnight arrived, the old man played the recording of the Journey Bell and the bat drifted slowly to the ground. The two children hugged each other, both knowing that the next time they met they would no longer be children. Then Festival climbed up into the creature's soft fur and they rose into the air, silhouetted briefly in front of the windows before vanishing around the dark corner.
Since he started writing and illustrating children's books in 1990, Colin Thompson has had more than 65 books published. He has received several awards, including an Aurealis Award for the novel
How To Live Forever
, CBCA Picture Book of the Year for
The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley
and CBCA Honour Book and the Family Therapists' Award for
The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness
. He has been shortlisted for many other awards, including the Astrid Lindgren Award â the most prestigious children's literature prize in the world. Colin lives in Bellingen, Australia. His books with Random House Australia include
How To Live Forever
, numerous picture books, The Floods series, The Dragons series,
The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness
,
Free to a Good Home
and
Barry
.
Visit his website at:
www.colinthompson.com
HOW TO LIVE FOREVER
By Colin Thompson
Inside the museum, nothing is as it seems . . .
Peter lives with his mother and grandfather in the museum, which has the most weird and wonderful exhibits and a hundred secret doors.
When his grandfather gets sick, Peter decides to search for his long-lost father. Instead, he finds a strange old woman who gives him book called
How To Live Forever
but makes him promise never to read it.
Trapped in a world where books are houses, Peter meets a girl called Festival, and together they look for the Ancient Child, who has the answers to everything.
Out now
(Also available in ebook format)
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian
Copyright Act 1968
), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
The Second Forever
Published by Random House Australia 2012
Copyright © Colin Thompson 2012
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House Australia book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW, 2060
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
www.randomhouse.com.au/offices
First published by Random House Australia in 2012
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry
Author: Thompson, Colin (Colin Edward)
Title: The second forever [electronic resource]/ Colin Thompson
ISBN: 9781 74274 833 7 (ebook)
Target Audience: For primary school age
Subjects: Museums â Juvenile fiction
Children's stories
Dewey Number: A823.3
Cover and internal illustration by Colin Thompson
Internal design by Midland Typesetters
Ebook Production by
Midland Typesetters
Australia
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