The Fintastic Diary of Darcy Dolphin. Sam Watkins

      

      First published in paperback in Great Britain 2017

      by Egmont UK Limited

      The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

      Text copyright © 2017 Sam Watkins

      Illustrations copyright © 2017 Vicky Barker

      The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted

      First e-book edition 2017

      ISBN 978 1 4052 8422 6

      Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1756 4

       www.egmont.co.uk

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

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      CONTENTS

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

Week 1

       My Perfect Pet

       Week 2

       My Dream Role

       Week 3

       The Rumbling Reef Mystery

       DIVE INTO DARCY’S UNDERWATER WORLD!

       MEET THE CHARACTERS

       HOW TO DRAW A DOLPHIN

       ABOUT THE AUTHOR

       ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

       Back series promotional page

      (That means ‘hello’ in Dolphinese, in case whoever is reading this is not a dolphin.) Yesterday was my birthday and my aunt Ditzy gave me this book. She said it is a diary.

      I’ve never had a diary so I didn’t really know what to write in it. Aunt Ditzy wrote a recipe book called Super Seaweed Smoothies, so she is a proper real-life author. I don’t think anyone has actually bought it yet, but anyway she knows loads about writing and books and stuff. I asked her what you should write in a diary and she said, ‘Oh, you know, feelings, that sort of thing.’ I said I would try to write down at least one feeling a day.

      So here goes – my first diary! Does that make me a proper author too, I wonder? I hope some interesting things happen this week. I can’t write ‘Went to school, had fish fingers for tea’ every day, can I? That would make pretty boring reading. But I’m sure I’ll have loads of exciting stuff to write about – I can just feel it in the water . . .

WEEK 1:

       My Perfect Pet

      MONKFISHDAY

      So this morning I was feeling excited!

      This is because in assembly Mr Snapper, the head teacher, announced that there is going to be a pet show on Salmonsday! There will be loads of different competitions for different skills, so if your pet is super-good at something you can enter them into that competition and maybe win a prize!

      Our teacher, Miss Carp, stuck a big poster up on the classroom wall. Everyone crowded round to have a look. It was covered in stars and in big sparkly letters it said ‘PETS FACTOR’. Underneath that was a list of all the competitions. My friend Ozzie Octopus said that he will enter Cuke, his pet sea cucumber, in the ‘Animal or Vegetable?’ game. And Myrtle Turtle said she’d put Squishy, her vampire squid, in for the Talent Show. Squishy can turn herself completely inside out, which I think is quite talented.

      I looked at the poster. ‘Pet Fancy Dress – that sounds fun! I’m going to sign up for that one,’ I said.

      ‘But Darcy, you haven’t got a pet,’ Myrtle said.

      ‘I’ll ask Mum tonight if I can get one. She’s bound to say yes.’

      So earlier this evening I told Mum all about the pet show and how I really wanted a pet.

      Mum gave me her ☹ face and said, ‘Darcy we’ve talked about this before and you know how I feel. Pets are too much trouble and blah blah blah blah blah . . . anyway, the answer is NO.’

      I think she might be thinking about it.

      Hmmph. Everyone has a pet except me. It’s not fair.

      Flippering fishsticks, I didn’t realise you could have so many feelings in one day!

      TUNASDAY

      Last night I couldn’t sleep thinking about how I could persuade Mum to let me have a pet. Then – click! I had a brainwave. Mum’s always moaning she’s got too much to do. If I was really, really helpful she might let me have a pet as a reward!

      I got up really early so I could get as much helping done as possible. I even made a chart in case I needed proof of my helpfulness to show Mum (she can be very forgetful sometimes).

      HELPFULNESS CHART

      Morning:

      5 am: Took Mum and Dad prawnflakes in bed. Dad groaned and Mum rolled over but I know they were secretly pleased.

      5.30 am: Vacuumed the floor. Not a huge success. The vacfish got too full up and, well . . . it exploded!

      6.30 am: Tidied the toy cave and got rid of loads of old toys. My little brother, Diddy, screamed his lungs out until I