Hit the Beach Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER 1

  Catch a Wave

  CHAPTER 2

  Sand Digger

  CHAPTER 3

  Vanilla and Bury

  CHAPTER 4

  Shark Attack?

  CHAPTER 5

  Cheeky Surf

  EXTRA STUFF

  • Beach Lingo

  • Beach Must-dos

  • Beach Instant Info

  • Think Tank

  • Hi Guys! (Author Letter)

  • When We Were Kids

  • What a Laugh!

  Hit the Beach

  Felice Arena and Phil Kettle

  illustrated by

  Mitch Vane

  First published in 2004 by

  MACMILLAN EDUCATION AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

  15–19 Claremont Street, South Yarra 3141

  Reprinted 2005 (twice), 2006, 2007 (twice), 2008, 2009

  Visit our website at www.macmillan.com.au or go directly to www.macmillanlibrary.com.au

  Associated companies and representatives throughout the world.

  Copyright © Felice Arena and Phil Kettle 2004

  All rights reserved.

  Except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act 1968 of Australia and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  National Library of Australia

  Cataloguing-in-Publication data

  Arena, Felice.

  Hit the beach.

  For primary school children.

  ISBN 978 0 7329 9256 9.

  ISBN 978 0 7329 9262 0 (Set 3).

  1. Beaches – Juvenile fiction. I. Kettle, Phil. II.

  Title. (Series: Arena, Felice. Boyz rule).

  A823.3

  Project management by Limelight Press Pty Ltd

  Cover and text design by Lore Foye

  Illustrations by Mitch Vane

  Printed in Hong Kong

  These electronic editions published 2010 by

  Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 1, 15 -19 Claremont Street, South Yarra 3141

  All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

  Boyz Rule! Hit the Beach

  Felice Arena & Phil Kettle

  Adobe eReader ISBN

  9781458610416

  EPub ISBN

  9781458610423

  Mobipocket ISBN

  9781458610430

  On-line ISBN

  9781458610409

  Macmillan Digital Australia

  www.macmillandigital.com.au

  Visit www.macmillan.com.au/primary to read more about all our books and to buy both print and ebooks online. You will also find subject catalogues, teacher support material and news of professional development events.

  CHAPTER 1

  Catch a Wave

  Matt and Nick are spending a day at the beach with their families. They are in the water and Matt is teaching Nick how to body surf.

  Matt “The trick is you have to start swimming with your head out of the water just before the wave breaks. Like this.”

  A wave approaches the boys. Matt starts thrashing his arms frantically and kicking his legs. He successfully catches the wave and rides it all the way to the beach. Moments later he swims back out to Nick.

  Matt “Did ya see that?”

  Nick “Yeah. That looked unreal!”

  Matt “Okay, your turn. Here comes another one. Get ready. Now! Start kicking! Here we gooooooooo!!!”

  The wave rolls right over the top of Nick. Matt once again rides it all the way to shore. He swims back to Nick.

  Matt “What happened? I thought you’d get that one.”

  Nick “Me too. I think I got most of it in my mouth. Why is sea water salty?”

  Matt “Um, I dunno. Maybe there’s a family of giants living up in the clouds.”

  Nick “What?”

  Matt “Yeah, and one night when they were having dinner, one of them knocked the salt shaker over … and it poured into the world’s oceans.”

  Nick “I think the sun is frying your brain.”

  Matt “Awwrh look at this one coming! Talk about giants, this next wave is humungous! It must be three metres high.”

  Nick “Can I try to catch it?”

  Matt “No way. It’ll kill you. Even I wouldn’t try to ride this one. Just dive underneath before it breaks, okay? Nick?”

  Matt turns to see that Nick has already started paddling and is kicking as hard as he can.

  Matt “Nick! What d’ya think y’doing? It’s gonna break you into a million pieces.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Sand Digger

  Amazingly, Nick catches the giant wave and is carried to the beach.

  Nick “YAHOOOOOOO!!”

  Matt swims after him.

  Matt “I don’t believe it! Beginner’s luck! That was awesome!”

  Nick “I know. I was flying. Let’s do it again.”

  Matt “Okay, but later. I wanna have a break, now. I’m really thirsty.”

  Nick “Yeah, me too.”

  The boys run up onto the sand and join their parents. After having something to eat and drink, they decide to go exploring.

  Nick “Hey, look over there. Pretty cool sandcastle, eh?”

  Matt (sarcastically) “Um, yeah. If you happen to be five.”

  Nick “What’s wrong with making sandcastles?”

  Matt “Nothing—if you’re playing with your little sister. Come on, let’s see if we can find some dead crabs or something.”

  Nick “Y’know there’s professional sandcastle makers. And they’re older than us. I’ll show ya. I’m gonna make one now.”

  Nick begins to dig up the beach sand and shape it into a castle. At first Matt just watches Nick, looking embarrassed, but then he joins in.

  Nick “See. How cool does that look? The moat looks awesome. And those towers you made at the front look so real.”

  Matt “Yeah, not bad if I do say so myself.”

  The boys stand back and proudly look over their sensational sand creation. Meanwhile an older boy appears and heads towards them. He sneers at Nick and Matt then suddenly kicks the castle over.

  CHAPTER 3

  Vanilla and Bury

  The older boy laughs loudly as he trudges off from Matt and Nick’s destroyed sandcastle.

  Nick “I can’t believe he just did that. We’ve gotta do something!”

  Matt “Yeah, like what? Go up to him and tell him to say sorry—not! You saw how big he was.”

  Nick “Well, what about our castle?”

  Matt “Just forget it, let’s do something else.”

  Nick “Like what?”

  Matt “Bury me!”

  Nick “What? Completely?”

  Matt “No! Just up to my neck.”

  Nick “Okay!”

  Matt and Nick begin to dig a large trench in the sand, while their dads watch on nearby.

  Nick “Right, get in.”

  Matt lies in the trench while Nick covers him with sand.

  Matt “Cool, I can’t move.”

  Nick “It’s weird just seeing your head sticking out like that.”

  Matt “It feels good. Hey, is that your mum calling?”


  Nick “Yeah, and yours is calling too. I’ll go and see what they want.”

  Nick returns licking an ice-cream to where Matt is buried.

  Matt “Awwh, is that chocolate and vanilla?”

  Nick “Yep, and it’s delicious. Mmm!”

  Matt “Get me outa here! I want some ice-cream too!”

  Nick “Nup. Mmm, mmm. This ice-cream is the best in the world! Mmmmm!”

  Matt “Nick! Get this sand off me!”

  Nick continues to tease Matt. He kneels beside his head and waves the ice-cream in front of him.

  Nick “Do ya want a lick?”

  Matt “No, I want my own. Help me outa this hole NOW!”

  Nick “Forget it then. No lick, no freedom.”

  Matt “Okay, okay! I want a lick!”

  As Nick moves his ice-cream closer to Matt’s mouth, the ice-cream scoop suddenly drops from its cone right on top of Matt’s face.

  CHAPTER 4

  Shark Attack?

  Nick tries to wipe the ice-cream off Matt’s face. But as he does he gets sand in the ice-cream and spoils it completely. He eventually digs Matt out of the ground.

  Matt “Now how’s your ice-cream! Serves you right for teasing me, ya loser.”

  Nick “I shouldn’t have tried to give you some.”

  Matt “Well, let’s get some more.”

  The boys dash over to their families and they each have an ice-cream. Twenty minutes later Matt and Nick are back in the water again, trying to ride some more waves.

  Matt “These waves are all too small. We have to wait for a bigger set.”

  Nick “What was that?”

  Matt “What was what?”

  Nick “Something just touched my leg.”

  Matt “As if. You’re just imagining things.”

  Nick “Seriously, I felt something. Ya don’t think it was a shark, do ya?”

  Matt “If it was, you wouldn’t be talking to me now.”

  Nick “Yeah, I guess so. D’ya think there are any sharks swimming around now?”

  Matt “Yeah! We’re in an ocean. They’re everywhere. We’re in their home.”

  Nick “Well, aren’t you worried?”

  Matt “Nup, ‘cause if I saw a shark I would do a karate chop on its nose and make it cry like a baby!”

  Nick “So, you’re telling me you’re not scared of a huge man-eating, killing shark chomping your guts out?”

  Matt “Nup.”

  Nick “Then what’s that out there?”

  Matt turns to see a large grey shadow just beneath the surface in the distance.

  Matt “Oh gees! It’s a shark! We’ve gotta get outa here!”

  Nick “I thought you said you weren’t scared!”

  Matt “Are you nuts? I was joking! Swim for it!”

  CHAPTER 5

  Cheeky Surf

  Matt and Nick frantically swim for their lives. That is, until Nick looks back and realises that there isn’t a shark after all. He grabs hold of Matt’s foot.

  Nick “Stop!”

  Matt “What?”

  Nick “Look!”

  The grey shadow rises to the surface. A man wearing a snorkel and flippers swims past.

  Matt “A snorkeller?”

  Nick “Looks like it. Phew! That was lucky. I thought we were dead meat.”

  Matt “I didn’t. I really wasn’t that scared … really.”

  Nick “Oh yeah? You were swimming so fast you could’ve won an Olympic gold medal.”

  Matt “I s’pose so. Look!”

  Nick turns and spots a huge wave heading their way.

  Nick “That’s bigger than the one I caught!”

  Matt “I know. We have to get it.”

  Nick “Yeah. And it looks like he’s gonna try to catch it too.”

  Nick and Matt glance across to see it’s the older boy who kicked over their castle.

  Matt “Well, I hope he misses it. Okay, are you ready? Here it comes!”

  Nick “Let’s go for it!”

  Matt and Nick swim like crazy and together they successfully ride the enormous wave all the way to the beach.

  Nick and Matt “YEAHHHHH!!!!”

  The boys pick themselves up and give each other a high-five slap. They then realise the older boy has missed the wave completely. They also notice that he is missing something else— his board shorts.

  Nick (chuckling) “Look, his boardies came off!”

  Matt grabs the boy’s board shorts out of the water. The boy calls out: “Hey, give me back my board shorts.”

  Matt “That’s what you get for kicking down other people’s castles!”

  Nick “What are we going to do with them? He looks really embarrassed. How’s he going to come out of the water now?”

  Matt “I’ve got an idea!”

  Minutes later Matt and Nick have built another sandcastle with a flag on top using a stick and a … stray pair of boardies!

  Beach Lingo

  body surf When you ride a wave without using a board.

  ice-cream A smooth, sweet, cold food made from frozen dairy products and flavouring. Also a great teaser to dangle in front of your friends buried in sand!

  shore The land along the edge of a sea, ocean, lake or coast.

  sunscreen A lotion or cream to put on your skin, which protects you from being burnt by the sun’s rays.

  tsunami A humungous wave caused by an earthquake.

  Beach Must-dos

  Always wear sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15, even on cloudy days.You don’t want to get fried.

  Make sure your board shorts are on tightly enough or they could come off in the surf.

  Insist to your parents that you must have an ice-cream. It always tastes better at the beach.

  Drink plenty of fresh water, but not salt water—it just makes you thirstier!

  Get out of the water … fast! … if you see any sort of grey fin swimming by.

  Always swim between the lifesavers’ flags—they show you the safest place to swim.

  Build a sandcastle—it’s not as babyish as you might think. Wet sand works best.

  Wear thongs or sandals if the sand is too hot.

  Never swim by yourself—it’s no fun and it’s not safe.

  Beach Instant Info

  The longest sand sculpture ever built was 26 375 metres in length. It was built by more than 10 000 people at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA in 1991.

  One of the largest surf companies in the world is Quiksilver.

  Australia’s most successful surf company is Billabong.

  Brazil is known for producing not only the best soccer players in the world but also the best beach volleyball players.

  The oldest human footprints were discovered on a rocky shore in South Africa.

  The largest beach towel in the world was made in Spain. It’s 9.4 metres wide by 14.5 metres long.

  Australian Kelly Slater is one of the most famous surfers in the world.

  The state of California in the USA has some of the most popular beaches for holidays.

  Think Tank

  1 What should you wear to protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays?

  2 What’s a short name for board shorts?

  3 Is a dolphin a fish?

  4 What’s the term for surfing without a board?

  5 What’s an ocean of the world that starts with the letter “P”?

  6 What sort of bird are you likely to see at the beach?

  7 What are you supposed to swim between at the beach?

  8 What’s a sandcastle made out of?

  Answers

  1 You should wear sunscreen lotion or cream to protect yourself from the sun’s rays.

  2 Board shorts are called “boardies” for short.

  3 No. A dolphin is a mammal.

  4 You body surf when you catch a wave without a surfboard.

  5 An ocean starting with “P” is the Pacific Ocean.

  6 You will find se
agulls at the beach.

  7 You should always swim between the lifesavers’ flags.

  8 A sandcastle is made from sand, of course!

  How did you score?

  •If you got all 8 answers correct, you definitely love going to the beach.You’d go every day if you could.

  •If you got 6 answers correct, you love the beach but sometimes can’t stand all the sand getting all over you.

  •If you scored fewer than 4 answers, then you probably like looking at the sea, rather than being in it. But you’d still eat ice-cream at the beach.

  Hi Guys!

  We have heaps of fun reading and want you to, too. We both believe that being a good reader is really important and so cool.

  Try out our suggestions to help you have fun as you read.

  At school, why don’t you use “Hit the Beach” as a play and you and your friends can be the actors . Set the scene for your play. Bring some beach gear to school to use as props but maybe leave the sand at the beach! If you haven’t got a bucket and spade, use your acting skills and imagination to pretend.