Dictionary Drover

A wild wind had blown through the farm overnight, and the words had escaped.

They were everywhere: apple stuck in the fence, banana in the water trough, butter on the shed roof, ball rolling down the hill.

"Somebody has to drove them back into order," said Suzy.

"Droving is what we do best," said Spike. "Little Thunder, are you in?"

Little Thunder adjusted his hat. "Ready, boss."

They started with the easy ones, sorting by first letter. Apple went before banana. Cat went before dog. Little Thunder herded zebra to the very back.

"A to Z," said Suzy. "Good."

Then came trouble. Ball, banana and butter all started with B.

"When the first letters match, look at the second letter," said Spike. "Ball has A. Banana has A. Butter has U."

"So butter goes last," said Little Thunder slowly. "But ball and banana are still tied!"

"Then look at the third letter," said Suzy. "Ball has L. Banana has N. L comes before N."

Little Thunder's ears perked up. "Ball, banana, butter!" He nudged them into a neat line, and they clicked into place.

By lunchtime the friends had every word back in order, from aardvark to zoom. But there was one more job.

Suzy pulled out an old dictionary from the shed. "See these words at the top of each page? They're called guide words. They tell you the first and last word on that page."

Spike pointed. "This page says paddock at the top left and paint at the top right. So if you're looking for pail, it must be on this page, because pail comes between them."

Little Thunder tried it himself. He found sheep, then shearer, then shed, faster each time.

"I'm a real dictionary drover now," he said proudly.

That night, the wind picked up again. Spike looked out of the window and groaned.

"There goes umbrella."