The Crazy Collector: Part 6

By DIANA HENDRY

"Slate isn't really a stone," I said to Tess.

"That's what you think," said Tess.

"My teacher says it comes from rocks -- from cliffs. There's quarries full of slate. So there!"

Actually I really liked the slate. It was so thin and fine and you could write on it in chalk. Mum said that once upon a time children used slates and chalk in school, instead of paper and pencils. I got Tess to give me a piece of slate as a swap for -- you've guessed it -- another box.

Anyway, it got to the point when Mum and I began to think that all those stones would fall through the floor of Tess's bedroom and into the living room below.
We might even be killed one day by an avalanche of stones.

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" Mum said very loudly and slowly, so we knew she meant it.

"You can choose your favourites and keep them in ONE box," Mum said.

"The rest will have to go. And the boxes."

Publisher: Barrington Stoke

Price: $14.95

Age group: 8-13 years


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