Princess Mirror-Belle and Snow White Read online

  “All the cast gave excellent performances, especially Sally Hart as Snow White and Luke Page as the bossy dwarf, but the real star of the show was the child who played the Eighth Dwarf. Sadly, she was not present at the curtain call. Perhaps she was too young to stay up so late.

  “I have only one criticism of the show. Why did this child star’s name not appear in the programme? Everyone wants to know who she is, and everyone wants to see more of her.”

  Yes, thought Ellen. Everyone except me.

  Endnote

  * €1.50 in Ireland

  About the Author

  Julia Donaldson is one of the UK’s most popular children’s writers. Her award-winning books include What the Ladybird Heard, The Snail and the Whale and The Gruffalo. She has also written many children’s plays and songs, and her sell-out shows based on her books and songs are a huge success. She was the Children’s Laureate from 2011 to 2013, campaigning for libraries and for deaf children, and creating a website for teachers called picturebookplays.co.uk. Julia and her husband Malcolm divide their time between Sussex and Edinburgh. You can find out more about Julia at www.juliadonaldson.co.uk.

  About the Illustrator

  Lydia Monks studied Illustration at Kingston University, graduating in 1994 with a first-class degree. She is a former winner of the Smarties Bronze Award for I Wish I Were a Dog and has illustrated many books by Julia Donaldson. Her illustrations have been widely admired. You can find out more about Lydia at www.lydiamonks.com.

  If you have enjoyed this story, turn the page for an extract from another book you might like.

  Meet Jack and his talking chicken Betsy, Red, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, and a host of other Little Legends as they have fantastic new adventures!

  Jack walked through the Deep Dark Woods with his pet hen Betsy tucked under one arm. He took a deep breath of the woodland air. It smelt fresh and exciting. Today was going to be a good day, he could just tell.

  He walked towards a small wooden cottage surrounded by a neat wooden fence. There was a fountain in the garden, also made of wood, but instead of water, it was blowing sawdust high into the air.

  squawked Betsy.

  ‘Don’t worry, Betsy, it’s only sawdust,’ replied Jack. He wasn’t surprised that his hen had just spoken to him. After all, Betsy was a magical hen. Sadly, ‘What?’ was the only thing she could say, which made most of their conversations rather one-sided.

  Jack wiped his feet on the wooden doormat and knocked on the door. He heard booming footsteps from inside. The door swung open with a creak and a very woody smell.

  A large man stood in the doorway, covered in wood shavings and holding a lopsided wooden cup.

  ‘Well, look who it is!’ he exclaimed with a smile. ‘Come on through, Jack! Red and the others are all out back.’

  He ushered Jack inside, where every surface, and in fact every thing, seemed to be made from wood . . . including the carpet and the curtains.

  ‘So, how have you been, Jack?’ asked Red’s dad.

  ‘Good, thanks,’ replied Jack politely. ‘How about you?’

  ‘Oh, good, Jack, very good!’ exclaimed Red’s dad. ‘In fact, I’ve just made a breakthrough!’

  ‘A breakthrough?’ asked Jack.

  ‘With the wooden socks!’ replied Red’s dad.

  ‘Don’t you mean woollen?’ countered Jack.

  ‘Woollen socks?’ repeated Red’s father, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard, ‘I’m a woodcutter Jack, not a wool-cutter!’

  ‘Er, right . . .’ said Jack.

  ‘Do you want to try them on?’ asked Red’s father, holding out two very solid, very wooden-looking socks.

  ‘Um, not right now,’ replied Jack. ‘I’d better go and catch up with Red. But thanks for the offer.’

  Jack raced through the house and into the garden. The tree house towered up in front of him. Red’s dad had carved it out of one giant tree.

  Jack’s friends were all sitting in the main room when he climbed in.

  ‘Morning, all!’ he called out.

  Red grinned, Rapunzel did her very best curtsy, and the twins waved enthusiastically.

  ‘Hey –’ started Hansel.

  ‘– Jack!’ finished Gretel.

  Hansel and Gretel often finished each other’s sentences.

  Sometimes it could be confusing.

  ‘Hey, Jack!’ called Red. ‘Do you want the good news or the bad news?’

  ‘The good news?’ asked Jack hesitantly.

  ‘The good news . . .’ said Rapunzel, leaving a long pause, ‘is that there’s a ship coming into town from Far Far Away!’

  squawked Betsy.

  Jack gasped. A boat from Far Far Away! His dad might have sent him a letter . . .

  ‘Yep!’ added Red. ‘It should be arriving any minute! We’re going to have a race up to Look Out Point to watch it come in – last one there is a smelly troll!’

  ‘So what’s the bad news?’ asked Jack.

  ‘The bad news is that Hansel’s just tied your shoelaces together!’ said Rapunzel as she and everyone else scrambled excitedly from the tree house.

  Books by Julia Donaldson

  The Princess Mirror-Belle series illustrated by Lydia Monks

  Princess Mirror-Belle

  Princess Mirror-Belle and the Party Hoppers

  Princess Mirror-Belle and the Magic Shoes

  Princess Mirror-Belle and Prince Precious Paws

  Princess Mirror-Belle and the Flying Horse

  Princess Mirror-Belle and the Sea Monster’s Cave

  Christmas with Princess Mirror-Belle

  Poetry

  Crazy Mayonnaisy Mum

  Wriggle and Roar

  Shuffle and Squelch

  Poems to Perform (anthology)

  Plays

  Play Time

  Plays to Read (a series for schools)

  Picture books with Lydia Monks

  Princess Mirror-Belle and the Dragon Pox

  The Princess and the Wizard

  The Rhyming Rabbit

  Sharing a Shell

  The Singing Mermaid

  Sugarlump and the Unicorn

  What the Ladybird Heard

  What the Ladybird Heard Next

  This story first published 2003 and 2015 as ‘Snow White and the Eight Dwarfs’ in Princess Mirror-Belle by Macmillan Children’s Books

  This edition published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books

  This electronic edition published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-5098-4088-5

  Text copyright © Julia Donaldson 2003

  Illustrations copyright © Lydia Monks 2003, 2015

  Little Legends: The Spell Thief extract text and illustrations copyright © Tom Percival 2015

  Characters and ‘Little Legends’ world copyright © Tom Percival and Me Studios Ltd 2015

  The right of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.

  You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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