Cover: 196 x 130mm. Spine: 5.6mm

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Words and pictures by Marie Burlington

Marie Burlington

MARIE BURLINGTON wrote and illustrated Dear Me!, Lighthouse Joey in the PANDA series and illustrated Trouble for Tuffy in the FLYERS series.

Hannah

HELPFUL HANNAH

Hannah is amazing. She can fix anything. But Granny would prefer her to knit and sew and cook. Granny is in for a big surprise one stormy snowy morning ...

Helpful

ISBN 978-0-86278-837-7

9 780862 788377

Beginner Readers

O'BRIEN

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PANDA books are for first readers beginning to make their own way through books.

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Helpful Hannah Written and illustrated by MARIE BURLINGTON

THE O’BRIEN PRESS DUBLIN

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First published 2004 by The O’Brien Press Ltd, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland. Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777 E-mail: books@obrien.ie Website: www.obrien.ie Reprinted 2005, 2007, 2014. Digital edition 2020.

Text and illustrations © copyright Marie Burlington 2004 Copyright for editing, layout and design © The O’Brien Press Ltd ISBN: 978-0-86278-837-7 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any way or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Typesetting, layout, editing, design: The O‘Brien Press Ltd

Published in:

Helpful Hannah received financial assistance from the Arts Council

Can YOU spot the panda hidden in the story?

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Hannah lived with her granny. They lived in an old, old house at the end of a long, long lane.

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Hannah was very good at fixing things.

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This was very useful because Granny’s old house was full of creaks

cracks and moans and groans. and

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Hannah had her own toolbox with oil

and screwdrivers and nuts

and bolts

and nails ... and lots of other useful things.

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Hannah’s granny liked to arrange flowers, knit woolly jumpers and bake cakes. But Hannah wasn’t good at these things.

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‘Can you put these flowers in that vase, Hannah?’ said Granny.

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Hannah tried, but

snap, snap, snap, the stems dropped off, and

flop, flop, flop, the flowers bent over. It was a mess!

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‘Oh dear,’ said Granny.

‘I

tried my best,’

said Hannah. 15

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Hannah tried to knit.

Click, click, click went the needles, but the wool got tangled up and her knitting was

full of holes.

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‘Oh dear,’ said Granny.

‘I

tried my best,’

said Hannah. 17

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Hannah tried to bake bread.

Stir, stir, stir, she went, but the bread was so hard even the birds turned up their beaks at it!

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‘Oh dear,’ said Granny.

‘I

tried my best,’

said Hannah. 19

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But Hannah loved to learn how to fix things. When she walked down the long, long lane, she often saw Old Joe Coady mending things.

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One day he was trying to fix his gate.

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Squeak, squeak, squeak, it went.

sq

ue

ak

squ

eak

squeak

squeak

k

ea u q s

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k

ea u q s

k a e

u

sq

squ

eak

Every time he moved the gate it squeaked. ‘Oh no,’ said Joe. ‘I’m out of oil.’

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‘But I’m not,’ said Hannah.

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She dripped the oil on to the rusty hinge.

‘As good as new,’ said Joe. ‘Thank you, Hannah.’ 25

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Further down the lane she saw Mrs White fixing a plant on her wall. But it kept slipping off the nail.

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‘Will you hold this for me, Hannah?’ said Mrs White.

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‘I’ll do better than that,’ said Hannah. ‘I’ve got some stronger nails. I’ll fix it up for you.’

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Tap, tap, tap ... Hannah hammered in the nails. Then they hung up the plant.

‘As good as new!’ said Mrs White. ‘Thank you so much, Hannah.’ 29

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Sam White was mending a puncture. ‘Hey! Hannah!’ he called. ‘Help!’

‘Here, hold this while I get some water,’ he said. Hannah did. 30

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Then she held the spanner while Sam tested the tube to see where the puncture was. He covered the hole with a patch.

‘Brill!’ he said. ‘Hannah, you’re a star!’ 31

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But Granny didn’t think Hannah was a star! Granny bought Hannah a dolls’ house.

‘Just right for a little said Granny. 32

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girl,’

‘Fantastic!’ said Hannah. ‘Just the thing for my

ant collection.’

Granny sighed. 33

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Granny gave Hannah her old handbag.

‘You might like to keep your little treasures in that, dear,’ said Granny. 34

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Hannah had a great idea!

It was just perfect for

her spiders.

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When Granny opened the bag she screamed so loudly the birds flew away and didn’t come home for a week.

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Granny gave up. ‘You can use the garden shed for your tools, Hannah,’ she said.

‘Wow, my very own workshop,’ said Hannah. ‘Brill! Thanks, Gran.’ 37

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Granny helped Hannah clean out the garden shed. Out went a rickety old rake.

Out went an old broken hoe.

Out went some rusty nails.

Out went bent old hooks. Out went a shabby suitcase.

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Out went a twisted old tennis racket. ‘I used to play tennis with that when I was a girl,’ said Granny. She looked sad.

Quietly Hannah took it back and put it in a corner. 39

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Hannah looked at

her new workshop. ‘Cool,’ she said. ‘Thanks, Gran. I love it.’

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She had kept some old shelves and an old pram. And the tennis racket, of course.

Hannah had her plans! 41

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All day long Hannah worked in her workshop.

Crash, bang, wallop, was all Granny heard.

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‘Oh dear,’ Granny sighed. ‘Oh dear, oh dear. My little girl has turned into a carpenter ... and a mechanic ... and a builder!’

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One morning Hannah looked out her window. A thick blanket of snow covered the ground. The wind blew and the storm howled.

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‘I’m not feeling well,’ said Granny. Hannah phoned the doctor. ‘I can’t drive up with the ice and snow, Hannah,’ said Dr Murphy. ‘Try and get your Gran down to Mrs White’s house.’

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Hannah raced to her workshop. Out came a sleigh she had made out of the broken shelves and pram.

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‘I can push you down the lane,’ said Hannah.

‘Amazing!’ said Granny, and she settled herself on the sleigh. 47

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‘Wheeeee!’ cried Granny as they flew down the lane. She felt better already. Soon she was fine again.

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But Hannah had plans for Granny.

Granny was old and she found a lot of things hard to do. Hannah decided to make things easier for Granny. 49

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‘Can you reach up, love, and get me the duster,’ Granny said next day.

‘You can do that yourself,’ said Hannah. ‘Here!’ She had fixed a hook on to a broom handle for Gran. ‘Great!’ said Granny. 50

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Granny went to pick up leaves in the garden. ‘Oh my back!’ she said. ‘Can you pick them up, Hannah?’

‘Here,’ said Hannah. She had fixed a fork on to an old rake handle. ‘Excellent!’ said Granny. 51

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‘I’m going to bake an apple tart,’ said Granny. ‘Hannah, can you go and get some apples off the tree?’

Out came a long handle with a bent hook on the end. 52

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‘You can pull them down with this,’ said Hannah. ‘Wonderful!’ said Granny. 53

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Granny looked under the stairs. She had kept one large suitcase. ‘I need a tool box now,’ said Granny. And what useful tools they all were.

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‘Well done, Hannah,’ said Granny. ‘You’re great!’

‘I

tried my best,’

said Hannah. They both laughed. 55

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Hannah had

one more surprise for Granny.

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Hannah worked and worked in her workshop. Whenever Granny came to chat, Hannah hid her work.

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Soon it was Granny’s birthday. ‘Happy birthday, Granny,’ said Hannah.

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She gave Granny a big parcel. It was wrapped in beautiful coloured paper.

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‘Now, what could this be?’ said Granny. ‘Something very I’m sure. Something new for my tool box!’

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useful,

‘Three guesses,’ said Hannah.

Granny felt the parcel. ‘A special hook for getting down my saucepans?’ ‘No,’ said Hannah. 61

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‘A tool for turning off the taps in my bath?’ ‘Wrong,’ said Hannah. ‘One more guess.’

‘Hmm!’ said Granny. ‘It’s a ... It’s a .... I haven’t a clue, Hannah. What IS it?’ 62

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Hannah smiled. ‘Open it, Granny!’ she said. And Granny opened it.

It wasn’t a stick for getting down saucepans. It wasn’t a tool for turning off taps. It wasn’t even useful. 63

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It was a special

picture

for Granny.

Granny smiled. ‘This takes me back ...’ she said. ‘You are a sweet girl, Hannah.’ 64

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Cover: 196 x 130mm. Spine: 5.6mm

p and a s 29

Words and pictures by Marie Burlington

Marie Burlington

MARIE BURLINGTON wrote and illustrated Dear Me!, Lighthouse Joey in the PANDA series and illustrated Trouble for Tuffy in the FLYERS series.

Hannah

HELPFUL HANNAH

Hannah is amazing. She can fix anything. But Granny would prefer her to knit and sew and cook. Granny is in for a big surprise one stormy snowy morning ...

Helpful

ISBN 978-0-86278-837-7

9 780862 788377

Beginner Readers

O'BRIEN

p and a s for

pan

d a 29