Free Selby Santa by Duncan Ball

he exclaimed. ‘Oh, thank you, dear.’
    ‘Yes, apparently he’s started writing again,’ Mrs Trifle said. ‘This is a whole new series about Blake Romano and his secret-agent dog.’
    ‘I can’t wait to read it. And I’ve got the perfect bookmark,’ Dr Trifle said, pulling another book off the shelf and taking out a piece of paper.
    ‘What’s that?’
    ‘It’s a page that fell out of one of the other Blake Romano books. I’ve been using it as a bookmark.’
    ‘Oh no!’ Selby groaned. ‘The missing page was here all along!’
    Dr Trifle opened up his new book.
    ‘And look at the dedication. It says, “This book is for a certain very clever dog. (I think you know who you are.)” I wonder what he means by that.’
    ‘I wonder,’ Selby thought as he smiled a tiny secret-agent smile.

SELBY SLITHERS
    ‘Don’t tell me what it is,’ Mrs Trifle said as she looked at Dr Trifle’s new invention. ‘I know, it’s a robot wombat. You probably call it a Ro-Bat.’
    ‘It’s not a robot,’ Dr Trifle said, ‘because it doesn’t move. Do you give up?’
    Selby studied the invention. ‘It looks like a real wombat to me,’ he thought. ‘A big wombat with its mouth wide open.’
    Dr Trifle crumpled a piece of paper and put it in the wombat’s mouth.
    ‘There, you see? It’s a rubbish bin shaped like a wombat. The idea is to make throwing things away fun. I call it a Wom-Bin.’
    ‘Very clever,’ Mrs Trifle said, ‘but, if you ask me, it looks too realistic. I don’t think I’d want to put anything in its mouth.’
    ‘Oh, of course you would. Anyway, I’m going to make a dozen more just like this one. Postie Patersonwants them for Bogusville Zoo.’
    ‘You’d better hurry up,’ Mrs Trifle said. ‘The zoo’s re-opening next week, in time for the Christmas school holidays.’
    ‘I can’t wait to see the zoo now that it’s been all fixed up!’ Selby thought. ‘It’s going to be fantastic!’
    A week later, Selby, the Trifles, and everyone else in Bogusville were at the zoo for the Grand Re-opening. Postie Paterson led people around, talking about the animals. Dr Trifle’s Wom-Bins were everywhere.
    ‘We’re very lucky. Most towns our size don’t even have a zoo,’ Postie said. ‘Now, on your right you’ll see some of our new animals — a family of African Porcupines.’
    ‘I can’t see! I can’t see!’ a boy screamed. ‘I want to see a pork pies! I never seen one!’
    ‘Me neither!’ another voice yelled. ‘Show me! Show me! Show me! It’s not fair! I can’t see!’
    ‘Oh no,’ Selby sighed. ‘My day is spoiled already. It’s those awful brats, Willy and Billy! Why did Aunt Jetty have to bring them?’
    ‘Up you go,’ Postie said, lifting Willy onto a bench so he could see over the wall. ‘Look down and you’ll see the porcupines.’
    ‘Hey, me too!’ Billy said, pushing a little girl off the bench and jumping up next to his brother. ‘Hey, can I pat one? Can I? Can I? Can I? I gotta pat a pork pie!’
    ‘That would be a big mistake,’ Postie said. ‘They’re covered in very sharp quills that would stick into your hand. We’d have to take you to a doctor to get them out. It would be very painful. Now, follow me everyone, and I’ll show you our new Three-Banded Armadillo. This little fellow was born wearing his very own suit of armour.’
    ‘I love this place!’ Selby thought. ‘I could spend my whole life watching animals.’
    For the next hour, people followed Postie Paterson while Willy and Billy ran around screaming and bashing and kicking everything, including Dr Trifle’s Wom-Bins.
    ‘I’ll just stay close to the Trifles,’ Selby thought. ‘Maybe Willy and Billy won’t notice me.’
    ‘Now we come to the Nocturnal House,’ Postie said. ‘This is where we keep the animals that hunt at night. We keep it dark in the daytime so the animals will think it’s night-time. At night we turn on the lights and they go to sleep.’
    Selby followed the