Coastal Crimes & Stories

A magical read-aloud adventure for children aged 5–8

Meet Dino, a mischievous young dinosaur with a bright red spotted bow tie, and Bluebell, a little unicorn with a very special magical horn.

One sunny morning, the two friends venture beyond the old Oak Tree, somewhere they have never been allowed to explore before. What follows is an adventure neither of them could possibly have imagined…

The sun shone brightly, high in the deep blue sky, bathing the mountains and valleys below in its warm glow. The streams glistened in the sunlight as they meandered through the hillside, and the trees stretched their branches out as wide as they could to soak up the beautiful sunlight. The grass grew green and lush over the mountains and across the valley.

High up in the mountains, on each side of the valley, there were two caves, each looking across the valley towards the other. In one lived Dino, the young and mischievous dinosaur, and in the other lived Bluebell, the pretty young unicorn.

Dino was just a youngster. He stood oh so very tall, especially when his long neck was stretched out. He liked that, because he could see over the hedges around the fields. He did tend to knock things over with his long tail, though. His bright red spotted bow tie made him look very distinguished. He liked that, but not as much as running and playing.

Bluebell was such a sweet little unicorn. She had a magnificent pink mane, golden hooves, and the most sparkling purple-blue eyes, and not forgetting her powerful and magical, swirly horn. Yes, that’s right… magical. Unicorns had the amazing ability to heal, as well as to fly. More about that later.

On this beautiful sunny morning, Dino and Bluebell had finished their jobs. They had tidied their caves and swept out their rooms, and now sat looking across the valley. Dino could see Bluebell sitting on the grass in front of her cave; she had already spotted Dino playing in the sunshine near his own. Waving at each other, they set off, as they did most mornings, to run down the mountainsides and across the wide meadow that ran along the bottom of the valley.

Here they met on the rickety wooden bridge that crossed the river. The mountain streams had all come together to form a wide river that wound its way along the valley floor, far into the distance, farther than Dino or Bluebell had ever ventured.

They knew not to go any further than the big old Oak Tree that stood like a giant umbrella in the middle of the valley. They didn’t mind, because they still had plenty of room to play and explore.

This morning was no different. Their first game was Pooh sticks. Dino had already picked some twigs from a tree as he made his way down the mountainside. They dropped their sticks into the river off the bridge, then ran together along the riverbank, laughing and shouting as they watched their sticks carried along by the fast-flowing water.

First to the pointed rock would be the winner, and this morning it was Dino who was about to claim victory.

Suddenly, and without warning, Dino’s stick stopped moving in the water. It was as if the water had frozen all around it, just for a split second, just long enough for Bluebell’s stick to go sailing past and reach the pointed rock, so she could win the race once again.

Dino couldn’t believe his eyes. How on earth did that keep happening? He looked round to see Bluebell with her head down, pointing her magic horn at his frozen stick in the water, and he knew exactly what had happened.

“You’re a cheat,” he cried.

Bluebell didn’t pay any attention; she just laughed as she turned and ran along the riverbank towards the old Oak Tree, the edge of where they were allowed to play, just like every morning.

“Come on, slowcoach,” she shouted.

It was getting warm, and they needed to be in the shade of the old Oak Tree. Dino knew Bluebell would always win the race. He didn’t really mind, he enjoyed being out on the meadow, running and laughing, and he really liked Bluebell’s company.

Dino and Bluebell knew they weren’t allowed to venture past the old Oak Tree. They had never explored beyond it. They sat and watched the river flow along the valley, past the old tree, meandering off into the distance, through the woodland-covered slopes of the valley, as far as the snow-capped mountains, so far away.

They both wondered where the river eventually ended.

This morning they had run and jumped and played for so long that when they finally sat in the shade of the old Oak Tree, they both drifted off into a deep sleep.

The next thing Dino felt was a long, wet, slobbery tongue licking his face. Not once, but again and again, until Dino woke from his deep sleep, opened his eyes, and found himself looking straight into two huge eyes staring back at him.

Dino jumped up, startled, but quickly collected himself. A big, black, hairy bison was standing next to him, looking incredibly sad and unhappy. By now Bluebell was waking up too, wondering what all the fuss and bother was about. She soon spotted the big black hairy bison. It was bedraggled, and its long hairy coat was wet and all twisted. It really did look in a sad state.

Dino could see that the big black hairy bison was holding up one front leg, standing precariously on the other three, almost losing its balance. It was obvious something was very wrong with the leg, and the bison was in great pain. It really did look so sad.

“What happened to you, Billy?” enquired Bluebell.

She knew the big black hairy bison was called Billy. She’d seen him wandering the meadow many times over the last few days.

“My leg hurts sooooo much,” cried Billy the Bison. “I can’t stand on it without it hurting me. Please, can you help me, Bluebell?”

“It looks to me like you’ve twisted it, Billy. You’ve been running too fast, and I bet you tripped over something. You are such a silly Billy,” said Bluebell. “I’ll try my best to make it better,” she promised.

“Now close your eyes, Billy.”

Billy did as he was told and screwed his eyes tight shut. Bluebell leant forward, twisted her head slightly to the right and then slightly to the left, and touched Billy’s bad leg ever so gently with the tip of her magic horn.

Dino was watching very closely indeed. Just as Bluebell’s horn touched Billy’s leg, he saw a tiny bright light jump from the tip of her horn onto Billy’s leg, and then it disappeared.

As soon as the light vanished, Billy opened his eyes wide, as if in shock.

“What was that?” he shouted. “What was that I felt on my leg?”

Before either Dino or Bluebell could answer, Billy had stepped forward and put his leg on the ground.

“It’s all better! My leg is all better, it doesn’t hurt any more. Thank you, Bluebell, thank you!”

And with that, silly Billy the big hairy black bison turned and ran off across the meadow, probably too fast, if the truth be known.

Dino always liked watching Bluebell perform her magic, especially when it helped someone who was hurt or feeling unwell. Magic can be a very good thing when used wisely.

The two friends decided they’d been sitting about for long enough and needed to stretch their legs. They had come as far along the riverbank as they knew they were allowed. But today, they decided to walk on beyond the big old Oak Tree and explore the woods close by.

They both knew their parents would be cross, but they wanted a new adventure, some new excitement. So they set off towards the woods, keeping the river in sight alongside them, thinking it would help them find their way back home.

All of a sudden, the bright sunny day turned darker as they entered the woods. The warm sunshine on their faces gave way to a cold breeze, and it grew quiet, oh, so incredibly quiet. There wasn’t even the sound of birdsong.

The wind whistled high in the swirling treetops as the woodland wrapped itself around the two friends, who were now beginning to think this wasn’t such a good idea after all. They huddled together as they walked, their eyes darting this way and that, straining to see where they were going. The deeper they ventured into what was now a dense forest, the darker and colder it became.

Suddenly, they were falling.

Down and down they fell into the darkness. Gripping each other tightly, the two frightened friends felt themselves tumbling and twisting, leaves and branches slapping their faces as they went.

Then — THUMP.

They had stopped falling and landed on what felt like a mound of something very soft. They weren’t hurt, but they were frightened. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the darkness before they began to make out the shapes of things around them: trees, bushes, brambles, broken logs, and the huge pile of leaves that had broken their fall from the cliff.

That’s right, the cliff. The path they had been following had simply ended, and they had unknowingly stepped off the edge into a deep, dark valley below.

One good thing, though, they could still hear the river nearby. That filled them with hope. The river would lead them out of the forest and back home.

So they started to run towards the sound of it, as fast as they could. Before long, they could see it, just a few yards away. Dino and Bluebell felt so much happier, knowing it wouldn’t be long now before they were home again, just in time for lunch, if they were lucky.

Bluebell had run on slightly ahead of Dino, as she always did. Dino didn’t mind.

As he watched her, Bluebell didn’t see the ivy stretched across the path. It was too late, she caught her leg in it and over she went, SPLAT, on her face.

The next thing Dino saw was Bluebell’s magic horn flying through the air. As she’d hit the ground, her horn had snapped clean off and was now spinning through the air towards the river, all its magic sparkles scattering out like fireworks in the forest gloom.

“Nooooo!” cried Bluebell, watching her magic horn spin away, higher and higher, before it landed — SPLASH — in the raging river.

The two friends sat huddled together in utter disbelief. Not only was the horn floating away in the river, but a little further on they could see that the river disappeared into a massive cavern with a huge waterfall, and the horn, with all of Bluebell’s magic power, was about to be swept away forever.

They couldn’t let that happen.

They had to save the horn before it vanished into the darkness of the cavern for good.

Without a thought for their own safety, the two friends held hands and ran as fast as they could, leaping off the riverbank and into the raging water. They swam with all their might, struggling through the torrent, disappearing below the surface at times before bobbing back up, coughing up river water, and swimming on, never losing sight of Bluebell’s horn as it drew closer and closer to the waterfall at the edge of the dark cavern.

They were so close now.

Dino reached out to grab the horn, but just as he did, a huge wave lifted them both up and threw them forward, towards the mouth of the cavern. He had the horn in his hand, but he wasn’t strong enough to fight the raging river as it dragged Bluebell and Dino towards the dark opening and the waterfall beyond.

Still holding hands, they were swept over the edge of the waterfall and into the darkness.

They fell and tumbled and twisted and flipped as they plummeted downwards. Dino held the horn tightly in one hand and clung to Bluebell with the other. They were both very frightened in the dark. Tumbling over and over, they kept falling.

Then there was no more water, they were simply falling through the air, down and down.

Dino had closed his eyes, but now he opened them, and so did Bluebell.

It was no longer dark. In fact, it was bright… so light.

They kept on falling, silently downward, and looked around them, amazed at what they saw.

It was as if they were falling through white clouds of cotton wool. The sky was blue, so blue.

Below them, they could see a strange land: green fields as far as they could see, rivers and mountains, only the river water was green, the fields were blue, and the mountains had snow at the bottom and sandy beaches at the top.

The houses were very tall, very, very tall, and seemed to be made of brightly coloured plastic building blocks. Red and yellow blocks were scattered everywhere, piled beside roads and floating gently through the air. The people were tall and thin, like candy canes.

They were still falling through the air, faster and faster.

All of a sudden they passed a sign:

WELCOME

The two friends looked at each other, frightened and now thoroughly confused.

ALMOST THERE, said the next sign.

They kept falling.

NOT FAR NOW…

“What is going on?” the two friends thought, at exactly the same moment.

Then another sign —

HOLD TIGHT

A second later:

WUMPH!

They landed with a bump, but not a hard bump, more of a soft landing. They were sinking into something very soft, everything around them white and fluffy.

Pillows, big, soft, white pillows, in a huge pile.

For a moment the two frightened friends closed their eyes. They were safe. They had landed, with no broken bones.

They just lay there together, still holding hands, trying to take in what had just happened to them.

“Wake up, wake up.”

The voice was clear in Dino’s head.

“C’mon, you two, wake up, your dinner’s ready.”

Mum? Was that Mum? thought Dino.

He opened one eye, then the other.

Where were they?

They weren’t in the strange world of plastic building blocks after all, they were back under the old Oak Tree.

How had that happened?

Bluebell was still trying to unjumble her confused mind.

Dino turned. He had a small branch of the tree in one hand and was still holding Bluebell’s hand with the other.

The horn, where was the horn?

Clearing the sleep from his eyes, he saw that Bluebell’s horn was exactly where it should be, on the ridge of her nose.

“You two have fallen asleep here in the shade of the old Oak Tree. We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Now, up you get, the two of you. It’s time for dinner.”

As the two friends stood up, Dino felt something under the tip of his tail.

He looked down and saw something that startled him.

A single red plastic building block.

Dino picked it up and looked at Bluebell.

Bluebell looked at Dino.

Neither of them said a word.

Where had it come from if they’d just been sleeping?

Perhaps it had all been a dream.

Or perhaps their adventures were only just beginning.

Enjoyed Dino and Bluebell’s adventure? Discover more stories for younger readers in my Children’s Stories collection.