Violet Mackerel’s Pocket Protest Read online

  “I see,” says Albert.

  Violet asks him to tell the story about the monkey swing again so Nicola and Dylan can hear it and she and Rose can giggle about it all over again. Then Rose’s mama asks him about the hotel, and he tells them about the special herb garden he and Eva planted there and the French chef his son has recently found to cook lovely meals for the guests.

  Much later on, Vincent says he will drive Albert home as it is far too late to walk.

  “Before I go,” Albert says to Mama and Vincent, “could I offer you both a couple of nights in the honeymoon suite at Chateau Trivelli to say thank you for everything you have done to save the oak tree? I don’t suppose it will be much of a honeymoon really, though, since it’s only down the road.”

  Violet and Rose both squeak with excitement, and Mama squeaks slightly too.

  “It would be a wonderful honeymoon!” says Mama.

  Vincent shakes Albert’s hand and says thank you a lot of times, and Mama nearly shakes his hand but then gives him a hug instead.

  A hotel with a beautiful garden and a special French chef would be a perfect honeymoon for Mama and Vincent, Violet thinks.

  Just before Vincent and Albert leave, she whispers a small and secret suggestion into Albert’s ear. She has taken the sign down from the fridge and points to the picture that she drew in the corner of a towel folded cleverly into the shape of a bird.

  “I think that can be arranged,” Albert whispers back.

  The next weekend at Rose’s house, when she and Violet have finished dinner and are in her bedroom making up a beautiful pink-and-white trundle bed for Violet to sleep in, the phone rings and it is Mama. She and Vincent are at Chateau Trivelli, and she wants to tell Violet all about the delicious five-course French dinner in the garden, and the spa, and most especially the towels that are folded like perfect birds. She has taken some photos of them to show Violet when she gets home.

  In the background, Violet can hear Vincent excitedly saying, “Let me talk to her! Let me talk to her!”

  “Vincent has some exciting news too,” says Mama, laughing and saying good-bye.

  “I just got a message from the Clover Times,” says Vincent.

  Violet beckons to Rose and holds the phone between their ears so that she can listen to the message too. She suddenly has the feeling that the news will be important.

  “Because of the protest, the council has agreed to build the parking lot somewhere else,” says Vincent.

  “They’re not cutting down the oak tree?” checks Rose.

  “They’re definitely not cutting it down?” asks Violet, double-checking.

  “Yes!” says Vincent. “You saved it!”

  “One, two, two-and-a-half, three. Rose and Violet saved the tree!” chants Violet, bouncing up and down on the beautiful trundle bed.

  “Three, four, four-and-a-half, five. Nests and acorns all survive!” chants Rose, scattering pink and white cushions all over her room.

  They can hear Vincent and Mama laughing at the other end of the phone, and soon Rose’s mama comes upstairs to see what all the excitement is.

  Later, they all have hot chocolate with marshmallows to celebrate.

  And when Vincent and Mama are back from their honeymoon and Violet, Rose, and Vincent start going to the park in the afternoons again, they sometimes go a bit later than they used to. Even though it is a squish, they like sitting on Eva’s bench with Albert, watching the oak tree’s leaves go from gold to purple to navy blue and finally to black shadows against the darkening sky.

  Anna Branford was born on the Isle of Man and spent parts of her childhood in Africa and in Papua New Guinea. She now lives in Melbourne, Australia, with a large black cat called Florence. She writes, drinks cups of tea in her garden, and makes dolls and other small things, which she sells at early morning markets. You can visit Anna at annabranford.com.

  Elanna Allen lives in New York with her husband and sons, where she writes and illustrates children’s books and designs characters for television. She wrote and illustrated Itsy Mitsy Runs Away and has created characters for Disney, Nickelodeon, and PBS. Stop by and say hi at itsymitsy.com.

  Atheneum Books for Young Readers

  Simon & Schuster * New York

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  authors.simonandschuster.com/Anna-Branford

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  Also by Anna Branford

  Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot

  Violet Mackerel’s Remarkable Recovery

  Violet Mackerel’s Natural Habitat

  Violet Mackerel’s Personal Space

  Violet Mackerel’s Possible Friend

  Atheneum Books for Young Readers

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2013 by Anna Branford

  Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Elanna Allen

  Text was originally published in 2013 by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Also available in an Atheneum Books for Young Readers paperback edition

  Book design by Lauren Rille

  Jacket design by Lauren Rille

  Jacket illustrations and hand-lettering copyright © 2014 by Elanna Allen

  The text for this book is set in Excelsior.

  The illustrations for this book are rendered in pencil with digital ink.

  0814 FFG

  First US Edition

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Branford, Anna.

  Violet Mackerel’s pocket protest / Anna Branford ; illustrated by Elanna Allen. — 1st US edition.

  p. cm.

  “Originally published in 2013 by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd”—Copyright page.

  Summary: Violet and Rose organize a protest to save the big oak tree in Clover Park.

  ISBN 978-1-4424-9458-9 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-9459-6 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-9460-2 (eBook)

  [1. Protest movements—Fiction. 2. Oak—Fiction. 3. Trees—Fiction. 4. Environmental protection—Fiction.] I. Allen, Elanna, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.B737384Vho 2014

  [Fic]—dc23 2013035382