Our Animal Stories

Book 1: A hug for Humbug

Humbug lives with his family in the marsh.
The horses roam wild and are very shy.
A photographer takes photos of them for a calender.
People really like the photos.
One day the photographer brings a boy in a wheelchair along.
Humbug forgets to be shy.
He does all sorts of silly things to make the boy smile.
It becomes a very special day and the boy promises to visit again.

Book 2: A place for Pickle

Pickle and her mom sleep in the mountains every night.
In the mornings, the whole troop of baboons search for food.
Sometimes there isn’t enough food on the mountain and on the beach.
Then they have to go to the village.
A mean man wants to chase Pickle and her mom out of a loquat tree.
But the woman and little girl who live there don’t mind that they come to visit.
Pickle now knows they have friends in the village.

Book 3: A song for Smiley

Smiley plays with his mom in the shallow water.
The little dophin becomes friends with Leila, a girl who surfs with her dad.
From then on, they play together every morning, having a great time.
One terrible morning, there is plastic wrapped around Smiley and his mom, and they wash up on the beach.
Leila finds them there.
She and her dad do everything they can to save their new friends.

Book 4: A wish for Whisper

Whisper lives in a circus.
Even though she’s just a cub, the lion tamer already starts teaching her tricks.
This makes Whisper sad.
She doesn’t want to do tricks like her mom and be in a cage.
Whisper’s mom tells her that they come from Africa and were born to be free.
Their friends rescue them from the circus and arrange for them to be taken to South Africa.
There Whisper is free to climb trees and roll in the grass.

Also available in Afrikaans as Ons Dierestories.

Illustrator: Nikè Bekker

Pan Macmillan, 2025