Tila's Lots · The five-night book · ages 3-5
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Read by an AI-generated voice. The words on this page are the transcript.
Round the Edge
The hammer rang once. A spark jumped off the anvil and did not go out. It waited. They followed.
The spark landed on Bà Tư's back step.
One brick on the step was new.
On it, a tiny hammer.
Two little hens went cluck, cluck.
They needed a patch of their … own.
A gentle tortoise walked out, slow, slow.
Tila made a patch. Three across. Three down.
"The whole is all its patches."
The whole is all its patches.
Tí counted the squares inside.
One, two, three … nine!
He fetched nine sticks for the … fence.
Push. Push. Push.
Along one side. Along the next.
Along the third … and stop.
No more sticks. The fence was too … short!
"Pull them apart!" said Tí.
A sturdy goat trotted up. Fence!
"Baa, too short," said Fence.
"Gaps let hens out."
The whole is all its patches.
Fence walked round the edge.
Three. Six. Nine. Twelve.
"Inside is grass," said Fence.
"Edge is fence."
Round the edge, not inside.
Tí fetched three more sticks.
Ten. Eleven. Twelve!
He pushed the last one in at the … corner.
The hens stepped in.
Cluck, cluck, cluck.
The fence went all the way … round.
The whole is all its patches.
Round the edge, not inside.
The spark dimmed to a warm dot and settled back on the anvil. The Green was just the Green again.
Back on the Green
Tí made a sandcastle wall.
He walked round the edge first.
"Round the edge, not inside," said Tí.
Who you met
-
Tila The whole is all its patches from PatchPals -
Tí a child of the Green Notices small things; says "again" -
Fence The fence round the edge and the grass inside are two different counts from ArrayPals
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?
True
- A patch three squares by three has nine squares inside, but twelve lengths round its edge.
- The distance round the edge of a shape is called its perimeter; the space inside is its area. They are different counts. Source
Stretched
- A fence of short sticks keeps the hens in. What we simplified: Real hens can hop over a low fence; a real hen run needs a taller one.
Made up
- The hens' patch is made up. Tila comes from PatchPals, Fence from ArrayPals, and Bà Tư from VanTots.