No One Is Angry Today sample

The animals looked at each other and frowned. Nobody knew what Firebelly’s anger felt like. Maybe it wasn’t like their idea of anger at all. Maybe it was more like when they were happy! You never know, they thought.

“Or it might be something heavy,” the tortoise said. “Maybe it’s so heavy nobody can lift it.”

No One Is Angry Today

“Maybe we don’t have it in us to get really angry,” said the squirrel.

More stories from the world of the acclaimed

The Day No One Was Angry TOON TELLEGEN MARC BOUTAVANT

TOON TELLEGEN — MARC BOUTAVANT

the firebelly toad

& the hedgehog

The firebelly toad knocked on the hedgehog’s door.

“Who’s there?” the hedgehog asked.

“Firebelly.”

“Come in,” said the hedgehog.

The firebelly toad stepped inside, went straight up to the hedgehog, and in one go tore all of the quills from his back.

“Ow!” the hedgehog cried. “Ow!” The firebelly toad stepped back. “What do you call what you are now, Hedgehog?”

“Angry,” the hedgehog sobbed. “Very angry.”

The firebelly toad looked him up and down and shook his head. “No. You’re not angry.”

“Yes, I am,” the hedgehog wailed.

“Not really angry.” The firebelly toad turned and left the house. “Unfortunately,” he muttered as he went.

A little later he knocked on the snail’s door.

“It’s open,” said the snail, who was thinking about being still and taking your time.

9

The firebelly toad strode in and twisted the snail’s horns.

“Owww,” the snail said in a drawn-out, suffering voice.

“Nope,” the firebelly toad said. “That’s not what I’d call angry either. Too bad, Snail.”

And before the snail had time for another “Ow,” the firebelly toad was gone.

He called on the elephant and tied his trunk in a big, very tight knot. Then he glued the frog’s mouth shut, tossed the carp up into the willow and tore the grasshopper’s coat to shreds.

All of the animals cried “Ow!” and felt furious, while the frog hissed with indignation.

But the firebelly toad kept saying, “No, that’s not angry,” or “Call this angry?” or “Real anger’s nothing like that!”

11

CONTENTS 7

THE FIREBELLY TOAD & THE HEDGEHOG

15

THE SQUIRREL & THE ANT

21

THE SNAKE

27

THE BEAR

31

THE SQUIRREL & THE ELEPHANT

37

THE PRAYING MANTIS

43

THE ANT

49

THE GRASSHOPPER

55

THE SWAN, THE FROG & THE HEDGEHOG

63

THE SCARAB

This edition first published in 2021 by Gecko Press, PO Box 9335, Wellington 6141, New Zealand info@geckopress.com English-language edition © Gecko Press Ltd 2021 Translation © David Colmer 2021 Original title: Alors c’est ça la col re? © 2002 Toon Tellegen, Amsterdam, Em. Querido’s Uitgeverij B. V. © 2021 Albin Michel Jeunesse, 22, rue Huyghens, 75014 Paris All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted or utilized in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.

This book was published with the support of the Dutch Foundation for Literature.

Edited by Penelope Todd Typesetting by Spencer Levine Printed in China by Toppan ISBN hardback: 978-1-776573-45-5 / Ebook available

For more curiously good books, visit geckopress.com

The animals looked at each other and frowned. Nobody knew what Firebelly’s anger felt like. Maybe it wasn’t like their idea of anger at all. Maybe it was more like when they were happy! You never know, they thought.

“Or it might be something heavy,” the tortoise said. “Maybe it’s so heavy nobody can lift it.”

No One Is Angry Today

“Maybe we don’t have it in us to get really angry,” said the squirrel.

More stories from the world of the acclaimed

The Day No One Was Angry TOON TELLEGEN MARC BOUTAVANT

TOON TELLEGEN — MARC BOUTAVANT