The Playground Thief

8/6/2019 The Playground Thief

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-playground-thief 1/16

Isabella Zampetaki

THE

PL Y GROUND

THiEF



2

spinning

seesawing

sliding

swing

ing

W hen the children realized that a thief

was sneaking into their playground, they

became very angry.



3

The thief would steal the seesaw‟s

seesawing and the seesaw would not

seesaw anymore.

Seesaw robbed of its seesawing

Not even the two strongest dads in the world

together can make it seesaw.



4

Swing whose swinging has been stolen.

The roundest of eggs take their nap in its lap.

The thief would steal the slide‟s sliding andthe slide would not slide anymore.

He would rob the merry-go-round of its

spinning and the merry-go-round would not

spin.



5

στριφογύρισμα

Sirene was very upset and she warned that,should she see the thief, she would attack

him with her screeches -mightier than any

burglar alarm.



6

Max was very angry at the thief and he yelled that if he caught him in his hands,

he would turn him into dust and shovel

him into his bucket.

D U

TS

U



7

Billy was sad and he muttered that should he

run into the thief, he would drown him in a

lake of tears.

ta

ak

3m



8

Thales was just thoughtful.He knew that there was no problem

without a solution and was trying to

figure out the solution to this one.

M o r e i d e a

s s p r o u t f r o m T

h a l e s ’

h e a d t h a n f l o w e r s i n s p r i n g .



9

While Thales was looking for the solution, a strange

kid was looking for the way into the playground.

Or so it seemed.

The kid kept walking around the fence. Every timehe reached the entrance, he would take his handsout of his pockets and linger for a moment.But then, he would hide his hands back into hispockets and his head under his enormous hat.

And he would keep to his circlesaround the playground.

L



10

Thales walked to the entrance and gave his

hand to the kid. The kid looked puzzled and, before he could think it through, he gave hishand to Thales.

Thales took the kid to the seesaw and sat atits one end.The kid walked hesitantly to the other.

Nobody (except Thales) could have imagined

the thing that happened when the kid put hishands on the seesaw:

The seesaw

And it bounced so strong that Thales

and the kid were slung into the air

while Sirene‟s and Max‟s eyes popped

like pop-corn.

Sirene’s and Max’s eyes popped like pop-corn,

or would you rather have round and bulging

fried eggs instead?

s e e s a w

e d



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Billy who was left as numb as the swing that

he sat on, asked the kid to, please, sway him.

The kid came closer and pushed Billy gently on the back. And the swing did not just sway.

It flew so high that Billy burst intolaughs.

And his laughs were so loud that they

bounced on the trees and upset the birds.

H H

H H H



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In the meantime, Max and Sirene climbed on the

merry-go-round and called out to the others to jointhem. Billy and Thales jumped right on.They all cast their eyes on the kid, waiting for him tomake the merry-go-round go round again.

But the kid looked down and his hands hid back intohis pockets. There was no room for him on themerry-go-round.

Thales (who bothered to feel the kid‟s feelings for amoment) stepped down and gave him his spot.Then, he made his own effort at the merry-go-round, but nothing went round.

“Wait Thales. I am strong. Let me push” holleredMax. But nothing went round.

“Drop it Max. Let me do it. I know a trick thatgrown-ups do” said Sirene.

But nothing went round.

All aboard the merry-go-round!



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It was then that the kid jumped down,took his hands (and a long- forgottensmile) out of his pockets and gave the

merry-go-round a gentle push.

And the merry went round.

At first, it span slow.

Then, like a whirligig

and then like a whirlwind.

And as the merry whirled round and

round, all colors and laughs

started to blend.

Until they all felt like one.

The laughing whirlwind danced around

the entire playground

leaving no child at solitary play.

L



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PS. The children never discovered who theplayground thief was.

But they did learn that the name of their new friend was Lone.

L



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What do you think? Did you ever find it hard to sway, swing orslide in the playground? What was wrong?

What would have happened if Thales had notoffered his hand to Lone and if Max had yelled “Go away! This playground belongs tome!” instead?

How do you think that Lone felt when every-

body but him got on the merry-go-round?

Have you ever given your turn or spot tosomebody else? How did you feel?

What was it that made the merry-go-roundgo round again?

Make a drawing of all aboard the merry-go-

round and stick it in page 12!

Who do you think the playground thief was? Why did he steal the playground’s fun?



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The Playground Thief is a free-tale written and illustrated by Isabella Zampetaki.

Feel free to share it with your friends, aslong as it is not for commercial purposes.

I would be thrilled if you could surprisemy starving inbox with comments anddrawings [[email protected]].

If it „s not “all Greek to you,” please visit my blog [http://mamamythia.blogspot.com/].

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The Playground Thief