Selby Sorcerer Read online

  then Selby is captured and taken away to

  be the ruler of a mysterious jungle tribe;

  and if that isn’t enough he falls head

  over heels in love with the most

  gorgeous girl-dog he’s ever seen!

  But the big question is: will the world learn

  that Selby can talk? Only you can

  answer that question, so grab this eighth

  collection of stories and read it,

  and then scream at the top of your lungs:

  I know the answer and I’m not telling!

  SELBY’S JOKE BOOK

  ISBN 0 207 19715 6

  PIGGOTT PLACE

  Duncan Ball

  ‘Tell me what I should do with my life!’ Bert wailed. ‘Should I catch a boat to South America? Should I learn to play the trombone? Should I start an ostrich farm? I need your help! Give me a sign, any sign!’

  Sadly, Bert was talking to the only one he trusted in the whole world: Gazza, his stuffed goat. And, once again, the goat wasn’t talking …

  Piggott Place is a riotous but touching comedy about twelve-year-old Bert Piggott as he struggles to keep his family of dreamers, ratbags and scoundrels together. Everyone hates the Piggotts and now the council is going to evict them from their once beautiful mansion, Piggott Place. But the authorities haven’t bargained on Bert and his young friend Antigone (would-be star of stage and screen) and their crazy scheme. The question is: can two kids take on a world of adults and win?

  ISBN 0 207 19979 5

  PIGGOTTS IN PERIL

  Duncan Ball

  Piggotts in Peril begins with the shy and sensitive Bert Piggott accidentally finding the map to pirate treasure hidden many years ago by his great-great-great-great-grandfather. At first a quest for untold wealth seems the answer to all his problems but getting it means bringing along his scheming, ratbag family. Little does he know that what lies ahead are problems that even the pessimistic Bert could never imagine: the terror of turbulent seas aboard a ‘borrowed’ boat, capture by pirates, being marooned on the Isle of the Dead, and more.

  Piggotts in Peril is a warm, adventure-comedy about the origins of the universe, the evolution of humankind — and pirate treasure.

  ISBN 0 207 19783 0

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Acknowledgements: The author would like to thank the many people at HarperCollins who have worked on these books over the years. Also, once again, special thanks to Allan Stomann whose wonderful illustrations, in all these books, have given life to Selby.

  About the Author

  Duncan Ball is an Australian author best known for his popular books for children. Among his most-loved works are the books about Selby, the talking dog. Selby Sorcerer is the eleventh collection of short stories about ‘the only talking dog in Australia and, perhaps, the world’. Also published is a selection of stories taken from the other books called Selby’s Selection, and two collections of jokes: Selby’s Joke Book and Selby’s Side-Splitting Joke Book.

  Among Duncan’s other books are the Emily Eyefinger series, about the adventures of a girl who was born with an eye on the end of her finger, and the comedy novels, Piggott Place and

  Piggotts in Peril, about the frustrations of twelve-year-old Bert Piggott, forever struggling to get his family of ratbags and dreamers out of the trouble they constantly get themselves into.

  Duncan lives in Sydney with his wife, Jill, and their cat, Jasper. They also love dogs and once considered getting one but were stopped by the sudden arrival of an unstamped letter in their mailbox. It said simply: ‘Don’t get a dog. You’ve already got the most perfect pet in the world. ‘Where the letter came from and why it smelled vaguely of cat food is still a mystery.

  For more information about Duncan

  and his books, see Selby’s web site at:

  www.harpercollins.com.au/selby

  BY THE SAME AUTHOR

  Emily Eyefinger

  Emily Eyefinger, Secret Agent

  Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure

  Emily Eyefinger and the Black Volcano

  Emily Eyefinger’s Alien Adventure

  Emily Eyefinger and the Devil Bones

  Emily Eyefinger and the Balloon Bandits

  Emily Eyefinger and the Ghost Ship

  Piggott Place

  Piggotts in Peril

  Selby’s Secret

  Selby Speaks

  Selby Screams

  Selby Supersnoop

  Selby Spacedog

  Selby Snowbound

  Selby Surfs

  Selby Snaps!

  Selby’s Joke Book

  Selby Splits

  Selby’s Selection

  Selby’s Stardom

  Selby’s Side-splitting Joke Book

  Copyright

  Angus & Robertson

  An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, Australia

  First published in Australia in 2003

  This edition published in 2011

  by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

  ABN 36 009 913 517

  Copyright © Duncan Ball 2003

  Illustrations copyright © Allan Stomann 2003

  The right of Duncan Ball to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  HarperCollinsPublishers

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  31 View Road, Glenfield, Auckland 0627, New Zealand

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  77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8JB, United Kingdom

  2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada

  10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

  Duncan Ball

  Selby Secret / Duncan Ball.

  ISBN: 978-0-7304-9527-7 (ePub)

  Ball, Duncan, 1941—.

  1. Dogs — Juvenile fiction. I. Stomann, Allan. II. Title

  A823.3

  Cover design by Christa Edmonds