A Wonderlandiful World by Shannon Hale

Author:Shannon Hale
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Puppets, Juvenile Fiction / Toys, Juvenile Fiction / Fairy Tales & Folklore / General, Dolls
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2014-08-26T06:00:00+00:00

THE GIRLS RAN. THE WALLS GROANED WITH stress, and each painting they passed only compounded their worry.

“It’s right behind you!” yelled a girl in a painting holding a watering can.

“It will eat us all!” shouted a painting of a wide-mouthed man on a bridge.

“Run, stinky pooters, run,” the daisies in a bright watercolor chanted.

“Behave!” Lizzie shouted at the daisies. “I am a princess of Wonderland and I will not be insulted by stained canvas!”

The Narrator warned her to keep running, but Lizzie was all red-face and up-chin and pointing-finger, and didn’t listen. The Jabberwock was right outside the window, looking in with those milk-white eyes that seemed blind and yet saw. It opened its square, toothy mouth.

“Duck!” Cedar shouted.

“Where?” said Lizzie, looking around for a duck.

Cedar pulled her down just as the Jabberwock hissed, a spray of magic exhaling over their heads. The paint on the walls curdled and flaked off, pulling itself together into a huge mass of daddy longlegs. The paint-spiders began to crawl all over the girls, tickling them with their featherlight feet.

Cedar screamed. “Stop it! I’m finally real, and I’m not going to waste this realness getting attacked by tickle-spiders!”

Lizzie leaped into the path of the oncoming spiders, pointed her scepter, and commanded, “Retreat, multilegged paint chips! Do not touch my friend!”

Cedar blinked. So did Maddie. Lizzie swallowed. Had she just admitted to having friends? Her mother would not approve. All this madness was making it hard to keep her mother’s good advice in mind.

The girls shook off the spiders and kept running.

SNAILS DON’T ROCK OR ROLL.

Behave now, not-me-Narrator! You know better than to interrupt a story.

“Where do we go?” Cedar asked.

“If it doesn’t matter where you end up, any path will do,” said Kitty.

“But I do know where I want to end up,” said Cedar. “Away!”

“There is no getting to Away,” said Kitty. “Away is wherever we aren’t.”

“Then let’s make sure the Jabberwock stays in Away,” said Lizzie.

Ahead, several tiny cows with pink butterfly wings hovered in the corridor, gripping wands between their bitty hooves.

“Are those the fairy-godmothers-in-training?” Cedar said. “The FiGITs?”

“DiGITs,” Kitty whispered.

Above the crowd of cows fluttered tiny cheese slices and milk cartons on wispy wings.

“Right. Dairy-godmothers-in-training,” Lizzie said.

“Help us?” said Cedar.

One winged cow pointed her magic wand at Cedar. Cedar ducked just as a pink bolt of magic flew over her head. The vase in the nook behind her turned into a large glass pitcher full of milk.

“Keep running!” Lizzie said.

Shrinking down to the size of a dog, the Jabberwock darted through an open window. It flapped behind them, its breath sizzling the air. The milk pitcher melted and covered the floor, making it slick as ice. The girls slipped and slid and almost fell.

They turned a corner, and all fell flat to the floor as fire shot through the air, temporarily slowing the miniature Jabberwock. Squinting to see the source of the fire, Maddie spotted a four-wheeled cart blocking the hall.

“A fire-breathing wagon,” Kitty murmured. “Everything is Ever After and Wonderland confused together.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.