Once upon a time…

 

There was a mouse named Meep. He lived in a tree.
Meep was so afraid of everything that he would hide in his house all day long.

 

He was afraid of the grass, because it was so long and thick and he couldn’t see through it.

 

He was afraid of the river, because it ran so fast and he couldn’t swim.

 

He was afraid of the sky, in case a bird flew over and tried to eat him.

 

Meep was so afraid he had no friends. Nobody wanted to play with him because they said he was too scared.

 

So all he did all day was hide in his tree, too afraid to leave in case something happened to him.

 

One day, Meep woke up very very hungry. But when he went to his kitchen he saw he had no food.

 

This made Meep very scared. This meant that he would have to go outside.

 

Meep thought about staying inside and going to sleep instead. But his tummy was making funny noises and he wanted something to eat. So he tried to be brave and stepped outside.

 

Meep crept along the path. He was nearly at his favourite place: the berry bush. Meep loved berries the most. They were his favourite food.

 

He was eating his berries when suddenly there was a big BOOM BOOM BOOM and a BIG shadow fell on Meep.

 

He turned around and saw the BIGGEST animal he had ever SEEN. It was grey and leathery and it had a big long nose.

 

“Hello!” said the big thing.  “Are you eating berries? They’re yummy!”

 

And it reached down towards him with its big trunk.

 

Meep didn’t think twice. He ran.

 

He dropped all his berries and ran, ran back up the path, over the hill and straight into his house. Then he sat by himself and cried.

 

He wished he wasn’t so scared of everything. The big thing had seemed very friendly and he was so lonely.

 

The next day Meep decided to go back to the berry bush. Maybe the big thing would be there?

 

Sure enough, as Meep crept along, the big thing was right there. It looked sad as it ate its berries.

 

Meep took a deep breath. His tummy felt funny and his heart was running really fast.

 

“Hello,” he said.

 

The big thing turned around. As soon as it saw him it smiled. “Hello!” it said. “My name is Eliza. I’m an elephant. What’s your name?”

 

“My name is Meep,” said Meep. He felt a little bit better. “I’m a mouse.”

 

“That’s nice,” said Eliza. Then she looked sad again. “You ran away yesterday. Was it because of me?”

 

“Yes,” said Meep. “I get scared. You’re very big.”

 

“And you’re very small!” said Eliza. “But don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. Do you want some berries?”

 

“Yes please,” said Meep.

 

But there were no berries at the bottom of the hedge because Eliza had eaten them all and Meep was too small to reach the ones on top! He sat down, very sad.

 

“Oh dear!” said Eliza. “I’ll help you!”

 

And Meep watched as she used her big nose to reach the berries at the top of the tree.

 

“Here you go,” said Eliza and she gave him one. “Do you need any help with anything else?”

 

Meep took the berry. He felt much better.

 

“Yes,” he said. “I think I do.”

 

As it turns out, Eliza helped him with everything!

 

She trod on the grass so that it was flat so that Meep could see.

 

She carried him over the water so that he would be able to cross the river.

 

She held onto him with her trunk when any birds flew over them so they couldn’t hurt him.

 

And she always, always gave him the best juiciest berries from the top of the tree!  

 

Meep felt very safe when he was with Eliza. Even though she was big and he was small, he knew that she only wanted to help him.

 

And sometimes even when Meep got scared, Eliza would hold him with her trunk until he didn’t feel scared any more.

 

Because they were best friends. And that’s what best friends do.

 

The End.

This is my entire story. I’m not sure whether or not I entirely like it that much because I feel like it’s quite rushed at the end but unfortunately I was aware that there is only a limit on how many pages a children’s picture book can be and I already thought that there was too much text on it anyway. If I could re-do this again perhaps I would change the story so that it could include some other characters rather than just Meep and Eliza, because I feel like that would have given the story more depth rather than just focusing on two animals. However I do like the contrast between the beginning and the end of the story, in reference to the things that Meep is scared of and how Eliza helps him to conquer them.