The 26-Story Treehouse: Pirate Problems! (The Treehouse Books, 2) - Hardcover

CHAPTER 1
THE 26-STORY TREEHOUSE
 
 
Hi, my name is Andy.
 
This is my friend Terry.
 
 
We live in a tree.
 
Well, when I say “tree,” I mean treehouse. And when I say “treehouse,” I don’t just mean any old treehouse—I mean a 26- story treehouse! (It used to be a 13-story treehouse, but we’ve added another 13 stories.)
 
So, what are you waiting for?
Come on up!
 
 
We’ve added a bumper car rink,
 
a skate ramp (with a crocodile-pit hazard),
 
a mud-fighting arena,
 
an ice-skating pond (with real, live ice-skating penguins),
 
a recording studio,
 
a mechanical bull called Kevin,
 
an ATM (that’s an Automatic Tattoo Machine, in case you didn’t know),
 
an ice-cream parlor with seventy-eight flavors, run by an ice cream-serving robot called Edward Scooperhands,
 
and the Maze of Doom—a maze so complicated that nobody who has gone in has ever come out again.
 
 
As well as being our home, the treehouse is also where we make books together. I write the words and Terry draws the pictures.
 
As you can see, we’ve been doing this for quite a while now.
 
Sure, Terry can be a bit annoying at times …
 
but mostly, we get on pretty well.
 
CHAPTER 2
THE STORY OF HOW WE MET
 
 
If you’re like most of our readers, you’re probably wondering how Terry and I met. Well, it’s a long story, but it’s a pretty exciting one and it starts like this.…
RING! RING!
RING! RING!
RING! RING!
Excuse me for a minute. That’s our video phone.
I’d better answer it. It’s probably Mr. Big Nose, our publisher.
Yep, I was right. It’s Mr. Big Nose. Nobody else in the world has a nose that big.
“What took you so long?” he says. “I’m a busy man, you know!”
“But it was only six rings,” I say.
“Don’t argue!” he says. “I’m a busy man—I don’t have time to argue. How’s the new book going?”
“So far, so good,” I say. “I’m telling the story of how Terry and I met.”
“Great idea!” says Mr. Big Nose. “How did you two clowns meet, anyway?”
“Well, it’s a long story,” I say, “but it’s a pretty exciting one, and—”
“I don’t have time to listen to long stories,” says Mr. Big Nose. “Save it for the book. Just make sure it’s on my desk by next Friday!”
The screen goes blank.
Friday?
But that’s only next week!
That doesn’t leave much time. I’d better get moving. Now, where was I? Let me see …
 
“Andy!” says Terry, bursting into the kitchen. “We’ve got a problem!”
“What sort of problem?” I say.
“The sharks are sick!”
“What’s the matter with them?”
“They ate my underpants!”

 
Text copyright © 2012 by Backyard Stories Pty Ltd.
Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Terry Denton