Lulu Bell and the Magical Garden Read Online Free Page A

suggestions and Millie wrote them down.
    â€˜A really cool cubbyhouse,’ said Daniel.
    â€˜Somewhere to play hide and seek,’ said Sam.
    â€˜Stepping stones so we can play hopscotch,’ said Rosie.
    â€˜Lots of pretty flowers,’ said Mia. ‘And herbs.’
    â€˜Passionfruit and strawberries!’ called Max. ‘Yum!’
    â€˜A worm farm,’ said Zac.
    â€˜A garden of Asian greens,’ said Molly.
    â€˜Little bird houses,’ said Amira.
    â€˜A chicken coop!’ called out Lulu.
    Mrs Fisher raised her eyebrows. ‘Chickens?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Lulu. ‘We could keep all the little chicks and watch them grow up. When they’re old enough, they could live outside near the veggie garden. The chicken run could go between the hall and the back fence so it’s out of the way.’
    Lulu held up one of her drawings. Her chook house had doors and windows and verandahs where thechickens could roost. With its white walls and bright red roof, it looked like a miniature farmhouse.
    All the children whispered excitedly.
    Mrs Fisher smiled. ‘Well, I’m not sure about that idea.’
    Molly shot up her hand. ‘There are lots of families like ours who live in apartments. We can’t have many pets, so it would be really cool to have pets at school that we could share.’
    â€˜That’s true, Molly,’ said Mrs Fisher. ‘I’ll think about it.’
    Once everyone had shared their ideas, Millie stood back and looked at the whiteboard.
    â€˜Wow,’ said Millie. ‘We certainly have a lot of brilliant ideas.’ She took a large piece of paper from her bag. ‘Today I drew up some rough plans for the space.’The plan showed garden beds, paths, benches and hedges, all neatly drawn to scale.

    â€˜Now I can adapt the design to incorporate as many of the kids’ ideas as possible,’ she explained.
    Using a marker, Millie drew on her plan. ‘For example, we can change these paths into hopscotch pavers. The worm farm can go here. This area can be ascented shrubbery, with twisting paths for running and hiding.’
    Millie continued adding things to the drawing. ‘The strawberry patch can go there. The compost bins can go here.’
    She shot a smile at Lulu. ‘And as Lulu said, a chicken run could tuck in behind the hall very nicely.’
    Lulu glowed. It looked like this might be the best garden ever.

Chapter 9
Working Bee
    It was a busy week. Everyone wanted to be part of The Magical Garden Club. Mum and Molly’s mum Tien organised a lunchtime barbecue on Thursday to raise money. They sold sausage sandwiches, ice-creams and drinks. Families baked sweet treats for a cake stall on Friday. Kylie sold chocolates at the vet hospital. Millie used the money raised from the barbecue, the cake stall and thechocolates to buy soil, compost, plants, mulch and everything else they needed.
    At school, the students decorated pots with mosaics and made wooden signs for the garden. And there was even more excitement that week at school because by Friday, all the chicks in the incubator had hatched from their eggs. There were now twelve chicks to feed every day.

    At last it was the working bee. On Saturday morning, everyone came to school early. The whole Bell family came to help, including Gumpa. He had been working hard all week in his garage, building benches for the garden from leftover timber.
    Lulu thought it looked funny to see everyone wearing gardening clothes at school, instead of uniforms. She wore denim overalls, a colourful T-shirt, yellow gumboots and a big straw hat to shade her face from the sun.

    Lulu felt a bubble of excitement rise in her tummy as she looked around the playground. It was buzzing with activity. Parents were unloading sacks of soil and bales of mulch. Teachers were moving planks of timber and bags of manure. Millie was drawing chalk marks on the ground to mark where everything