Home Tweet Home Read online

  For travelers everywhere …

  and for Tom—for being my home.

  Copyright © 2015 by Courtney Dicmas

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Doubleday,

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC,

  a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

  Doubleday and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhousekids.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Dicmas, Courtney, author, illustrator.

  Home tweet home / by Courtney Dicmas. — First edition.

  pages cm.

  Summary: Cave swallows Burt and Pippi, tired of being crowded by their eight siblings,

  set out to find a bigger nest but discover that traveling is good, but coming home is better.

  Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-385-38535-0 — Library binding ISBN 978-0-375-97351-2 — eBook ISBN 978-0-385-38536-7

  [1. Home—Fiction. 2. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 3. Swallows—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.D5623Hom 2015 [E]—dc23 2014012940

  The illustrations for this book were created with gouache, acrylic,

  and colored pencil on watercolor paper, and then digitally collaged.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  Title Page

  Copyright

  First Page

  High up on a cliff

  above the shimmering sea,

  there lived a family of cave swallows.

  There were ten brothers and sisters:

  Edgar, Maude, Rupert, Helena, Winnie, Cecil, Beatrix, Rosalie …

  … Pippi and Burt.

  Each night, big brother Burt looked at the moon while big sister Pippi worried.

  “This nest is too SMALL!” Pippi grumbled.

  “A bigger nest would have room for Rupert’s stinky feet …

  and Maude’s judo …

  and Cecil’s band practice.”

  “Well, the world is BIG and so are we,” chirped Burt.

  “Let’s go find somewhere BIG to live!”

  So away they flew into the night sky to find a new place to call home.

  The next morning they found a spot that looked just right.

  “This is PERFECT!” cheered Burt.

  “It’s BIG and sturdy! I wonder if we could live here.”

  “OH! That is VERY kind of you!” said Pippi.

  “But I think perhaps we’re looking for something a bit, uhm, softer.…”

  The next time they were more careful.

  “This looks SO fluffy,” sighed Pippi.

  “I wonder if we could live …”

  “Whew! That was close,” squeaked Pippi.

  “We were almost lunch.”

  “Now, this looks PERFECT,” chirped Burt.

  “Not too hard, not too soft, and not too pointy.”

  “I’ve always wanted to live on an island!” said Pippi.

  “This isn’t what I thought it would be,” sighed Burt.

  “Can’t we find someplace that’s not so big …

  or squishy …

  or hungry?”

  “Burt, you’re a GENIUS!” cheered Pippi.

  “I’m glad the world is so big,” snoozed Burt. “It makes coming home so much better.”

  “Good night, Pippi.”

  “Good night, Burt.”

 

 

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