Bedtime stories about the sea
20 stories of harbours, tides and boats
Harbours, tides, little boats and the people who live by the water. In Pim Puts the Sea to Bed, the sea itself is overtired and too cross to admit it, so Pim goes down to the harbour to put it to bed.
The Tide Key leaves Tess to wind the tide back into the harbour at midnight with a big brass key, while a seal who loves showing off gets in the way. In The Little Iceberg in Gull Harbour, a small iceberg turns up in a warm summer harbour, a long way from home, and the whole village works to keep it cool.
There are seals, a walrus with a ticket, lighthouses and rowing boats, and the sea is a big, moody neighbour to be talked round.
Pim Puts the Sea to BedNobody on Button Island has slept for a week because the sea is overtired and too cross to admit it, so a small boy in one boot goes down to the harbour to put it to bed.
As Far as the StoveOn pancake night, a small girl in a harbor village asks the fog to move so her dad can get home, and the fog asks for something back.
The Fiddler Who Wanted the North Wind to DanceA girl who can only play fast, cheerful fiddle tunes climbs the cliff to make the North Wind dance, so that he will stop blowing her dad’s boat out to sea.
Slow Feet, Flat WaterNell has never done anything slowly in her life, but tonight she has to carry the moon up a hundred steps in a bucket.
The Night the Tide Came Up the LaneOne evening the tide forgets to stop at the beach and sits down on Grandma’s doorstep, and Bo, who can’t sing a note but can whistle anything, has to get it home before bedtime.
Post for the Middle of the BayBea rows the island post across a wide grey bay, and lately the trip has been getting faster in a way that no current can explain.
Hattie and the Hundred and Twelve StepsHattie is a very old tortoise who lives at the bottom of a lighthouse, and she has spent a whole winter working out how to get up a hundred and twelve steps to watch the star come down.
The Harbour Moon Won’t Lie StillOn the night her dad is out with the late boats, the moon on the harbour water gets up and wanders off, and Nell has one hour to get it lying still again.
The Tide KeyWith her grandad away at a wedding, Tess has to wind the sea back into the harbour by herself at midnight, and the key turns exactly nine times, so a seal with a bucket on his nose is the last thing she needs.
The Tide in Ollie’s ShellEvery night Ollie listens to the sea inside his big pink shell, until one bedtime the shell goes quiet and the whole family goes looking for it.
The Ship in the BathtubA girl who knows every knot but has never been further than the bath finds a tiny mail ship that has come up her drain by mistake. It needs to get back to the sea before morning.
Butter-Fingers Molly and the Eight BowsEverything Butter-Fingers Molly drops into the harbour comes back at low tide, cleaned and done up in eights, and she means to find out who is sending it.