Hello! Have you ever had a really tricky
problem? By the end of this video you're
going to find out about a group of dragons
who had quite a tricky problem and
we'll learn how they work together to
solve this problem. Welcome to story time
with me, Sarah Hercod. Today I'm going
to be reading Serpentine and the Magic
Bubbles, written by Amanda Barrass and
illustrated by me Sarah Hercod. Once
upon a time in a faraway Kingdom, there
lived a family of dragons. For as long as
anyone could remember this family of
dragons had lived in an ancient stone
castle, so they became known as the
Castle Dragons. In this family, there
was a father dragon and three little
dragon children. Onyx was the youngest
and the smallest of the dragon family,
she was a fun-loving, happy dragon with
dark sparkling eyes, a long neck and a
long tail. She had black scales all over
her body that shimmered a beautiful
golden color in the sunlight. One rainy
day, Onyx was not feeling happy or
fun-loving. She was feeling fed up. Onyx
was learning how to fly, and she loved
nothing more than to swoop and swish
through the clouds. But she wasn't
allowed to go out flying in the rain and
today it seemed like the rain would
never stop, and everyone - especially her
two big brothers - was bossing her about
and telling her what to do. Onyx decided
to take herself off to Daddy's magic
room and invent a spell. One that would
make her grow really big and strong and
powerful.
Then I will be the one who tells my
brothers and my daddy what to do for a
change, she thought to herself and smiled.
Onyx had helped Daddy make a few simple
spells before but she knew she wasn't
allowed to make magic on her own.
Standing on tiptoes, Onyx carefully began
pouring some things she thought might be
helpful into the large spell pot. Being
such a young dragon, she still wasn't
quite tall enough to see over the rim. If
she had been, Onyx would have noticed
that in the bottom of the pot was a
slutty layer of an old magic spell. One
her father had made a while ago and then
forgotten to do the washing up. One
Tiger's whisker, a splinter of lightning,
a splodge of monster slime... Onyx kept
adding more and more ingredients until
the pot was completely full. At this
point,
onyx gave the mixture a careful stir and,
as she did so, without realising, the old
magic mixed with the new magic... With much
excitement, Onyx uttered the magic word
'abracadabra!' But, instead of the whizzing
and popping and puffs of glittering
sparkles that normally happened when she
and Daddy made magic spells together,
this time there was nothing. Confused, she peered in to the pot. It looked just like
a muddy gloopy mess and it smelled like
a mixture of rotten eggs and farts! 'Yuck!
I'm not eating in that magic mixture,'
thought Onyx. Worried that she might get
into trouble,
Onyx decided to get rid of the gloop.
Quickly, she tried to pour it down a
drain, but it just sat there wobbling
like a stinky lump of jelly. She tried to
stamp on it and rip it up with her sharp
claws, but nothing seemed to work. In a
panic, she took a deep breath and let out
a long jet of fire. The mud like glue
began to fizzle and steam and
then 'Poof!' The room was suddenly filled
with a thick dark cloud that shot up the
chimney and disappeared into the sky. 'Phew!'
thought Onyx, 'I won't try that again.
Thank goodness that is the end of that.'
But, unknown to Onyx, that was not the end
of that. Her flames hadn't destroyed the
gloop. They just turned it into teeny
tiny bits of magic - a mixture that was
too small to be seen by a dragon's eye,
and it just looked like smoke as it
swirled through the air.
Silently, in the dead of night, a very
thin layer of glue dust began to settle
all over the dragon Kingdom. The next
morning, all the dragons woke up and went
about their usual dragon business. And,
as they did so, some breathed in bits of the
magic gloop dust and before long they
began to feel hot and their tummies hurt.
Some noticed that they could no longer
breathe fire and this made them feel
very sad and very frightened. As more and
more dragons breathed in the invisible
gloop dust and became poorly, other
dragons became so worried that they
developed big purple worried lumps all
over their bodies. It was all very
confusing!
Dragons from all over the kingdom
emailed and video called each other, and
nobody knew what to do to help the poorly dragons get better and stop more
dragons becoming ill. Eventually, a group
of older dragons decided to go to the
edge of the Silver Lake and ask the
advice of the oldest and wisest of the
dragons, Serpentine, who although he was
the oldest and the wisest of the Dragons,
he didn't have internet access.
After much calling, Serpentine's pale
blue-green head gently rose out of the
rippling water. He listened to all that
the Dragons had to say, and slowly he
scratched his scaly head with a long
claw.He told the older dragons to make
sure that all the dragon families in the
kingdom stayed in their homes so they
could keep all the dragon children safe,
while he searched the land to solve 
the mystery. And, with that, Serpentine
stretched out his wide wings and with a
few powerful flaps he soared into the
sky and was gone.
The older dragon did just as Serpentine
had said and all the dragon families
stayed safe in their homes waiting and
waiting for Serpentine to return.
Serpentine travelled many miles and he
had to rest often. After weeks and weeks
of knocking on doors, he finally arrived
at the home of the Castle Dragon family.
Quickly, Serpentine explained why he was
there and he asked if they'd noticed
anything strange?
Daddy Castle Dragon and two of the
dragon children shook their heads and
said, "Sorry, we can't help you." But Onyx
suddenly had a horrible feeling in her
tummy, and her beautiful golden black
scales had turned to a dull grey.
Serpentine noticed the change in Onyx's
and colour and asked her if she was
feeling okay?
Onyx looked into her daddy's big kind
eyes and started to cry. She told him and
Serpentine about the magic spell. Daddy
gave her a big hug and thanked her for
being brave enough to tell the truth.
Serpentine nodded and said nothing at
first because he was thinking thinking very
hard. Then he smiled at Onyx, and she felt a
warm glow begin to grow in her body and
as it got bigger she saw that her scales
have returned to their beautiful golden
black.
"I can't make any spell that will undo
the power of the gloop dust and it will
be a long time before that magic runs out,"
said Serpentine. "But I do remember
one spell that was passed down from my
grandfather many years ago and it might
just stop more dragons from becoming
poorly. A small sip of my grandfather's
magic potion will give each dragon an
invisible bubble of protection when they
go outside their homes," said  Serpentine. "I
must go and make some straightaway!"
Serpentine flew back to his lake, as
fast as his creaky old wings could take him,
and immediately began working on his
magic remedy. He worked all night and, in
the morning, began delivering little
bottles of his grandfather's magic
bubble mixture all around the dragon
kingdom.
Soon, he arrived at the home of the
Mountain dragon family, a warm cozy cave
where a mother dragon lived with her four
dragon children Jade, Jasper, Ruby and Jet.
Mummy mountain dragon heard the flap of
Serpentine wings, and lifted her slender
red neck to see who the visitor was. She
was very excited to see wise old
Serpentine standing there.
Serpentine explained all about the magic gloop
dust to mummy mountain dragon. He told
her that the gloop dust was still around
and could still be harmful to dragons.
He passed mummy mountain dragon a bottle
of his magic bubble potion. He explained
to her that, if she and her dragon children
took a sip of the mixture every day, it
would make an invisible protective
bubble around all of them that could
keep them safe from the invisible gloop
dust. When they went outside their home,
he told mountain mummy dragon, that
once they had their invisible protective
bubbles on the children could go outside
and play and fly and even go back to
dragon school. Mummy mountain dragon
was very happy. She explained that her
dragon children had found it fun staying
in the cave at first. They played lots of
hide-and-seek and painted on the cave
walls, but as the weeks had gone on they
were feeling more and more sad that they
couldn't play outside in the sunshine.
They couldn't fly up high in the sky and
they couldn't see their friends. When
Mummy mountain dragon told her four
children that they could go back to
school the next day, they cheered with
delight and flapped their wings and leapt about
the cave with big toothy smiles. Hooray! The
next morning, however, Mummy mountain
dragon got ready to give the magic
potion to each of her dragon children,
but she was very surprised when they
didn't seem happy or excited at all.
First, Mummy mountain dragon went into
Jade's bedroom. Jade was the oldest and
the most sensible
of the dragon children. She usually
loved school, especially when her class
got to write stories.
Mummy was surprised to find Jade still
in bed and, what's more, she could see
teardrops slowly trickling down the
scales on Jade's dainty nose. "I don't
feel well," Jade said. "Maybe I'll go to
school tomorrow," and with that she pulled
her blanket over her head so only the
tip of her pointy green ears and her
golden horns were poking out. "Oh
dear," sighed Mummy mountain dragon and she
went into Jasper's bedroom. Jasper, the
second oldest, was the bounciest of the
dragon children. He found learning hard
and didn't really like his lessons very
much but Jasper loved PE and, being part
of the school football team made his
little brown chest swell with pride.
Mummy knew how much Jasper was looking
forward to playing with his friends
again and that he was super excited about
having his own invisible protective
bubble.
However, as mummy poured the magic 
potion onto the spoon, instead of
bouncing over to swallow it, Jasper
damped his foot angrily and swished his
tail shouting, "School is boring! I'm not
going!" "Oh dear!"
sighed Mummy mountain dragon and she went
into Ruby's bedroom. Ruby, the third
oldest of the dragon children loved doing
maths puzzles and cooking and clubs at
school.
'Surely Ruby will be dressed and ready
for school this morning,'
thought Mummy mountain dragon, but even
Ruby didn't seem her usual carefree self.
she was sucking an old dummy and
cuddling a teddy she hadn't played with
since she was a baby dragon. Now, Ruby got
her name because her scales were a deep
red colour but today her little red body
was all covered in purple worry lumps.
"Oh dear, "
sighed Mummy mountain dragon and she went
into Jet's bedroom.
Jet was the youngest and messiest of the
dragon children. Mummy felt sure he would
be ready for school today - he loved all
the painting he got to do with his
friends. But where was Jet? After much
searching, Mummy could see Jet's black eyes
shining in the shadows under his bed. He was
was hiding!
"Oh dear," sighed Mummy mountain dragon. She
really didn't understand why her children
were acting so strangely. Yesterday they
were so excited about going back to
school and seeing their friends. She
decided to video call the children's
teacher, Mrs. Rose-quartz. Mrs. Rose-
quartz explained to Mummy mountain
dragon that everything that had happened
really recently had been very
frightening and very confusing for
little dragons. She explained to Mummy that
little dragons couldn't always find the
ways to explain how they feel in words
because they're only young, so their
bodies show their feelings in different
ways. Mrs. Rose quartz explained that it
was normal for little dragons to be
excited and worried about going outside
their home and going back to school. She
asked if she could speak to all of the
family together. When they were all gathered
around the family laptop Mrs. Rose
quartz said,  "Children, Mummy has let me
know that you have all sorts of muddled
up feelings today and you're feeling
very wobbly about coming back to school.
I'm guessing it will be scary for you
to be away from your mummy all day and
to trust that you will be safe in
school. It is normal to have these
feelings, lots of the other dragons will
have big feelings when they start school
today too, especially as we all will have
to get used to wearing our protective
magic bubbles and things are little bit
different to before. Jade I may not be
able to give you my usual dragon hugs
when we're wearing our new protective
magic bubbles, but maybe if your sad
feelings get too big in school you might
want to take a blanket curl up and read
in the book corner for a while?" Mrs. Rose-
quartz said, reassuringly. "Jasper, if your
angry feelings get too big at school, one
of our dragon helpers might take you
outside and you could fly around for a
while and breathe out fire until all
your anger has gone away."
"Ruby, maybe you might want to bring your
Teddy from home and keep it in your
drawer. That way, if your feelings get too
big you can give Teddy a cuddle and
you'll know that mummy will be thinking
of you and looking forward to seeing you
all at the end of the school day. And
Jet, wanting to hide away is normal for
little dragons so full up of
confused feelings. I've put a pop-up tent in
our classroom for just those moments.
should we give it a go and see how you feel after your first day back?" Asked Mrs Rose-quartz. When
the children saw Mrs. Rose-quartz's smiling face and heard her voice,
they suddenly didn't feel so wobbly.
Jasper had noticed one of his pictures
on the classroom wall behind her, and he
remembered painting it was his best
friend Lava.
Oh, how he missed Lava! The dragon
children looked at each other and looked
at Mummy mountain dragon, they decided
that going to school might not be so bad
after all.
So Mummy gave them their magic potion and
before long they were all having fun
feeling the inside of their squishy soft
invisible bubbles as they trotted off
for school. As they got closer, the
mountain dragon family could see Mrs.
Rose-quartz smiling and waving at the
window!
The dragon children turned to give Mummy
mountain dragon the thumbs up and quickly
disappeared through the door. Inside,
there were some things that were the
same and some things that were
different. The coat pegs were in the
same place and the book corner was just
the same. The same teacher and helper
dragons were busy showing the dragon
children what to do and where to sit, but
not all their friends were there and all
the dragon children were sat in
different places. When everyone had hung
up their coats, put their snacks away and
sat down, Mrs. Rose-quartz told her class
how pleased she was to see them all again,
and she gave them a great big smile.
This helped the dragon children feel a
little less wobbly and they all
started to smile too. Mrs. Rose-quartz
told her class that, although knowing that
the magic gloop dust was still around
with a bit scary, there were things they
could do to keep themselves safe. She
explained that coming to school in their
invisible protective bubble meant that
the dragon children needed to keep a
little bit away from their friends and
the grown-up dragons. "If we get too close,"
Mrs. Rose-quartz explained, "our bubbles
might accidentally get popped but I
understand that sometimes it will be
hard for young dragons to remember,
especially when you're playing and
sometimes bubbles might accidentally get
burst. Now you mustn't worry because wise
old Serpentine has left me a spare
bottle of magic potion just in case I
need to make you a new protective bubble."
"Where are the rest of our friends?" Jade asked. "Are they poorly?"
"Oh no my dear," Mrs. Rose quartz
explained, "because our bubbles take up
more space around the classroom, there
isn't room for us all to be together and
to keep safe. So half the dragon children
will come to school and do their
learning in the morning and the other
half will come and do their learning in
the afternoons. It won't be like this
forever,
just until the gloop dust runs out of
magical power." Soon Jade, Jasper, Ruby
and Jet were enjoying listening to
their favourite stories, painting, dancing,
doing dragon-yoga. They quickly got used
to being careful with their invisible
bubbles and they stopped feeling so
wobbly inside. The time went very quickly
and before long it was the end of their
lessons. The little dragon children
came rushing out and told Mummy mountain
dragon all about their first day back.
Mummy mountain dragon was delighted to
see her dragon children back to normal
"Ruby!" 
She said,  "all your worry lumps have gone!"
I hope you enjoy the story of Serpentine
time and the Magic Bubbles. Is there
anything else that you think Mrs. Rose-
quartz or Mummy mountain dragon could
have done to help the dragon children to
feel safe and happy at school? Maybe you
could tell your teacher?!
You've been listening to Serpentine and
the Magic Bubbles written by Amanda
Barrass and illustrated by Sarah Hercod.
