Toffee smiled as he polished his glass trophy cabinet with a soft cloth. He had won every single trophy from every single car race ever held in Acersville. He looked at his glinting trophies and puffed out his chest with pride. He looked at the empty space on his shelf reserved for this year’s trophy and then up at his clock on the wall.
“Time to leave!” he grinned.

He was leaving for the Race meeting where Mayor Piney would be announcing the theme of this year’s race for all the Loopies wanting to enter. Every year the theme would change, last year the theme of the race was Birds. Toffee chuckled as he remembered his big chicken car driving over the finish line, covering the crowd in a great flurry of feathers. Mayor Piney had been coughing up feathers for a week after that!

Toffee rounded the corner and joined the other Loopies already there eagerly awaiting Mayor Piney’s announcement.

Mayor Piney finally arrived in his big limousine and walked into the centre of the crowd of Loopies, eating a big salami sandwich.

“This year,” he spluttered between chews,

“I’ve decided that the theme,” he continued at he took another bite of his lunch.

“of the race should be food.”

The Loopies smiled as the Mayor waddled off enjoying his sandwich as he went.

“Food,” thought Toffee.

Toffee thought and thought, what type of food car could he possibly build that would beat every other car that entered into the race? Toffee thought a little more and then chuckled to himself as he strolled home. He had an idea, a very wobbly idea in fact, but it would maybe just work!

A few weeks later, the Loopies gathered for the big Car Race.

All the Loopies who had entered drove their food car creations to the starting line. Mango and Sherbet, the twins of Acersville arrived with a sandwich bicycle car. Granny had helped them to paint the wheels of their car with her prize winning Banana-lade jam.

“It will help you stick to the road.” She explained as she slopped it on in huge dollops.

Next to the twins was Pilot’s hot dog car. He was very proud of his car and drove it slowly to the starting line, being very careful not to splash tomato sauce and mustard all over the road as he idled it along gently.

Behind Pilot was Toffee. The twins snickered and giggled from their sandwich perch as they saw his car, it was made entirely of jelly! Toffee waved at the twins and wobbled his car a little to make them laugh out loud. After Toffee was Crumpet’s Banana-spilt car, complete with whipped cream and lashings of chocolate sauce. Behind Crumpet were the Pirates and Wusky in their run barrel car, singing merrily and jo-ho-hoing!

“Ladies and gentlemen!” boomed Mayor Piney’s voice over the microphone.

“It seems we have a late entry.”

As he announced this Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout, the two naughtiest Loopies in Acersville rolled their cabbage motor-cycle to the starting line.

They nodded at Toffee and the other race entrants with naughty gleams in their eyes.

“Start your engines!” boomed the Mayor’s voice.

The robotic lights at the starting line flashed red then yellow and then green.

“And they’re off!” yelled Piney at the top of his voice as the Loopies and their food cars sped off.

Mango and Sherbet raced off, getting into the lead, but as they entered the woods the leaves and twigs littering the pathway stuck to their jam spread wheels! The banana-lade lathered wheels were so sticky, that they became caked in dry leaves in no time, causing the twins to go slower and slower until they stopped! The other racers cheered as they sped past the twins’ sandwich car.

“It will take forever to scrape this amount of junk off our wheels!” exclaimed Mango peering down to have a look.

“So I guess this means we’re out of the race?” asked Sherbet looking disappointed. Mango nodded and then took a bite out of his sandwich car. The twins giggled as they began munching their food car in the middle of the woods.

The race continued for the other Loopie racers as the race track went round a bend towards the mountain. Cabbage chuckled as she looked over her shoulder, the judges couldn’t see her anymore so she signaled her brother to carry out their naughty plan. Brussel-Sprout lifted a cabbage leaf on the back of their car and two hungry hyenas lept out of the Cabbage car and onto the race track.

The hungry hyenas raced towards Pilot’s hotdog car and began munching it up!! Pilot couldn’t believe his eyes as the two hungry dogs ate his car while he was riding in the race! They spotted Crumpet’s Banana-split car next and quick as a flash ate up her car too. Crumpet was cross. She shook her fist at Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout who were laughing and left her and Pilot in a puff of their smelly cabbage car fumes!

Soon Cabbage and Brusel-Sprout caught up to Wusky and the Pirates and past them too, now it was only Toffee that they had to get in front of to win the race. But Toffee was too far ahead and whizzed over the finish line, followed by an angry Cabbage and a not-so-happy-Brussel-Sprout. Last to finish were the Pirates, who were so jolly by now after drinking so much rum that they didn’t mind who won the race!

The Mayor smiled as he handed a shiny gold trophy to Toffee. Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout edged closer hoping to get some sort of second prize. The Mayor only looked them up and down and said,

“No one likes cheaters, or cabbages for that matter.”

The Loopies laughed. Toffee smiled and hugged his trophy, his silly plan had worked. His wobbly car had won the race!

© 2008 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “The Wobbly Car” PDF Document

Air Loopie could always be found Air Gliding close to the top of Mount Peakmore near to where the Great Loopie lived. That’s how he got his name, as you could always count on finding him high up in the air! One day the Great Loopie had to go on a short trip for a few days and he entrusted Air with a special task.

“I’m counting on you to hang rainbows in the sky each time it rains.” said the Great Loopie, picking up his rucksack and heading for the door.

“I will be gone for a few days and I need someone to do it while I’m away.” He explained.

The Great Loopie was the wisest and oldest of all the Loopies. They didn’t know much about Him except that he loved them very much and that it was His job to look after the seasons, making sure they came on time and to put rainbows in the sky after it had rained.

“You can count on me Mr. Great Loopie sir.” Air put his hand to his head and gave the Great Loopie a salute.

“Very well then, I must be off and remember you can’t forget, it’s very important that a rainbow gets up into the sky after each rain storm. With your wind glider I’m sure it won’t be a problem. You’ll find the recipe in my Big Book.”

“I promise!” smiled Air.

The following day there was a huge storm. The rain clouds got big and puffy, lightning flashed and thunder crashed and rain came pouring down and Air Loopie got to work making his very first rainbow!

He found the Great Loopie’s Big Book and set to work following the rainbow Recipe inside. After some mixing he stuck his finger in the bowl and licked it clean. The mixture was sweet and melted away in his mouth, like Candy Floss, just not as sticky.

“Hey that looks like Air!” called Leechie from below, watching him hang the rainbow in the sky.

“You’re right!” Rufus agreed, ‘I wonder where the Great Loopie is? Usually He hangs a rainbow in the sky after the rain.”

So the two friends headed up the steep mountain path to where the Great Loopie lived to find out why the Great Loopie had left such a big job to Air. They found Air dusting off his Wind Glider.

“Looks mighty fine don’t-cha think?” asked Air as he nodded in the direction of his freshly hung rainbow.

“Must have been hard work doing it all by yourself.” said Leechie.

“Why are you doing it anyway?” asked Rufus.

“The Great Loopie is away and He said it’s very important, I can’t forget! He asked me to do it because I’m an Air Glider.” smiled Air.

The friends smiled as they starred at the rainbow for a while, until it began to melt and then headed down the mountain as the sun began to set.

The next day it rained again. It rained again the following day and the next!

Air mixed rainbows until he knew the recipe by heart.

“Whew!” he rubbed his forehead, this was hard work. By nightfall he had managed to hang the last rainbow.

“At last!” he sighed. “Maybe it won’t rain tomorrow and there will be time for me to have some fun on my Wind Glider!” he smiled as he hopped into bed, imagining the wonderful time he would have in the sky the following day.

“Surely it can’t rain again …” he mumbled as he fell fast asleep.

But sure enough, rain it did! The raindrops splattered on the window panes and drummed at the paving. Air felt exasperated! And then he felt plain angry.

“I’m not the Great Loopie,” he shouted, “and it’s not my job to hang rainbows in the sky!” he shook his fist at the rain and decided that today he just was not going to hang a single rainbow, no matter what the consequence!

So he ate his cereal, took his umbrella and went for a walk in the rain, making sure to splash in every puddle he passed! He drank hot chocolate and ate mounds of pancakes at Crumpet’s bakery. Eventually the rain stopped and the sun came bursting through the clouds.

“Looks like it’s time for you to head up into the sky with one of your rainbows!” smiled Crumpet as she cleared the dirty dishes from Air’s table.

“I will be heading into the sky today, but not with any rainbows this time, thank you very much!” he smiled as he paid for his meal.
“It’s time for me to have some fun for a change!”

Crumpet looked confused.

“But the Great Loopie said…”

“I know what he said, but what’s the worst that could happen?” and with that he headed for the mountain with his Wind Glider under his arm forgetting about the promise he had made to the Great Loopie.

So that day, true to his word Air didn’t hang a single rainbow! By nightfall nothing serious had happened.

“Just as I had expected.” He chuckled to himself, “I wonder what the Great Loopie was so worried about?” but Air fell asleep smiling before he could ponder an answer to his question, his rainbow hanging days were over and all that mattered now was having fun!

The following day Air left his house and was heading for his favourite Air Gliding launching spot on Mount Peakmore but found the Loopies to be in an uproar!

Crumpet was angry with Pancake because she had broken her promise and had eaten all the food in Crumpet’s Bakery again!

Wusky was angry because the pirates, who had promised to come in to the Beach Cabana Cafe early that day to learn how to fold cloth napkins had decided to go off looting and plundering instead. Something they had promised that they’d never do again!

Tubblie was up to his old tricks as usual and had forgotten about his promise to Leechie and Chelsea about being a better Loopie! It was a disaster, the whole town seemed to be falling apart.

Air began to slink away as he had some idea this was partly his fault for not hanging the rainbow yesterday after the rain!

“Air!” boomed a loud voice from among the Loopies.

Air gulped and turned around, it was the Great Loopie, He had returned from his trip.

“Why didn’t you hang a rainbow in the sky yesterday after the rain like you promised?” He asked, looking very disappointed.

“I just didn’t feel like it. I was tired and angry with you for giving me such a big responsibility. And I wanted to have some fun!”
Air replied, looking down at the ground.

The Great Loopie smiled, took Air in His arms, kissed him and forgave him.

“Rainbows symbolize promises.” He explained. “I put the first rainbow in the sky as a promise to Noah and his family and ever since then I’ve been putting rainbows in the sky.”

“Is that why everyone in Acersville forgot about keeping their promises?” asked Air.

The Great Loopie nodded.

“Do you think we can fix it?” Air asked, finding it difficult to look the Great Loopie in the eye.

“Maybe if we had an Air Glider around here somewhere we could, otherwise I’m not so sure it can be done.” replied the Great Loopie.

“Aye Aye Mr. Great Loopie Sir!” saluted Air as he ran off to make his biggest rainbow yet.

And from that day on all the promises in Acersville were saved, as the Great Loopie went back to putting His rainbows in the sky! And as for Air? You will still find him Air Gliding close to the top of Mount Peakmore, back flipping and swirling around rainbows after the rain.

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “The Rainbow Maker” PDF Document

Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.
“That should do it!” said Crumpet, as she tapped the last few nails into her poster.
She was putting up posters on every lamppost in Acersville – and didn’t want any Loopie to miss the opportunity to enter her competition.

Crumpet owned the local bakery in Acersville and was looking for some new recipes to use in her shop. But not just any recipes, these had to be winning recipes!
So Crumpet had come up with a plan to have a baking contest. Her posters invited every Loopie to bake their best creation and bring them to Teak-tree Park the following day. The winning recipe would be used in her bakery and the winning Loopie would receive a gold medal!

The next day the Loopies were buzzing with excitement. They were all curious to see who the winner of Crumpet’s competition would be.
“I never thought so many would enter.” whispered Crumpet to a nearby judge, as Loopie upon Loopie walked by, each carrying a delicious looking cake.

“I think the gold medal did the trick!” he laughed.

“Well, whatever it was, I sure am happy about it.”

The Park had been beautifully decorated by Leechie and some Kinder Loopies, who had hung some festive balloons and streamers in some of the nearby trees. They had also set out huge tables for the cakes, decked with colourful tablecloths and festooned with pretty tea napkins and tiny forks.

All the Loopies that had entered Crumpet’s Contest had gone out of their way with their creations. Everything looked so yummy. The Loopies had made round cakes, square cakes, double-decker cakes and three tiered cakes. Chocolate cream cakes, chocolate fruitcakes, caramel-chocolate cakes and honey-treacle-cocoa cakes. There were big cakes and small cakes and even tiny cupcakes. It was an irresistible sight!

“Ladies and gentlemen and Loopies of all ages. Welcome to the first ever baking contest.” announced the spokesman to the Loopies who had settled down to watch the judging.

“Your wonderful entries will be sampled in just a moment. Then the prize will be given for the best tasting item.”

The Loopies cheered.

“Let the tasting begin!” cried Crumpet as she snipped the bright blue ribbon that held back the judges. The judges rushed forward, grabbed their forks and began tucking into the food.

The Loopies watched, wanting desperately to know who would win the gold medal, along with the title of ‘Best Baker in all Acersville’. Who would it be? Would it be Granny with her ever-popular Carrot-nut-chocolate Delight, or would it be Chelsea’s Chocolate- fudge Cake? The tension and excitement mounted as the judges began tasting, they tasted for hours! There was just so much cake. Layers of cake, piles of cake, towers of cake, mountains of cake!

The Loopie’s mouths watered, watching the judges eat was hard work!

Suddenly one of the judges gave a loud long burp. He looked at Crumpet; he really had had enough to eat. He looked as if he was going to explode!

Soon all the judges began to look like they’d had enough cake and candy to last until Christmas! Crumpet had to think quickly, there was still so much food!

“The tasting will now be open to all Loopies!” she announced quickly in a loud voice.

To the judge’s amazement the Loopies rushed forward. Every single one! They began to munch. They ate so fast that bits of cake, icing and chocolate flew in every direction!

The Loopies dodged the flying bits as they worked their way through the food. It looked like a food fight! Loopies had cream in their eyes and chocolate up their noses, but everyone was having such a good time, no one noticed the mess!

Eventually, there was no cake left, just happy Loopies with full tummies smiling contentedly. Every single scrap of food had been eaten.
Devoured. Every last crumb gone!

“Oh no!” cried the judges.

“What shall we do now? There is no cake left and we still don’t know who the winner is. Every cake we tasted was delicious.”

Crumpet smiled and looked at the Loopies.

“You’re all winners! You all win gold medals!”

So each Loopie got a chance to stand on the first place step of the podium that day to receive their gold medals. What an eventful, exciting, not to mention delicious, day!

And as for Crumpet’s bakery, well let’s just say she won’t be needing any new recipes in a hurry.

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “The Baking Contest” PDF Document

Pilot ruffled through the papers on his drawing board. He grinned; his plans were coming along brilliantly. He pulled his lamp closer to inspect his drawings and then went back to his building.
KNOCK, TAP, TAP, TAP, KNOCK, KNOCK.

The Loopies living next door to Pilot were all very excited. They couldn’t wait to find out what it was that Pilot was getting up to each night. Every night they would hear loud banging and hammering, knocking, nailing and tapping sounds coming from his workshop.

The Loopies were so inquisitive that Jingle, Pilot’s next door neighbour, had placed a ladder against the wall to peer over into Pilot’s yard and stare right into his workshop with his binoculars! Pilot got so angry he shot marbles at Jingle with his slingshot and broke his binoculars lenses!

Later that day Crumpet went over to Pilot’s house. She had brought him a big Apple–pie, Pilot really liked Apple-pie, so Crumpet thought she would be able to bribe him with it to see what he was up to. But Pilot was too clever for Crumpet.
“Thanks for the trouble!” he said grabbing the pie and slamming the door.
“But I thought that I could come in and see what you’re busy with?” protested Crumpet. But all she could hear were the muffled noises of Pilot tucking into the juicy Apple-pie.
“That’s it! No more freebies for him!” said Crumpet, fuming.

Pilot went back to his workshop. He was expecting Rufus and Ruff to drop by later with some paint and needed to finish up before they came. It wasn’t long before Pilot heard the two brothers walking up the lane to his house.
“Hold her steady Ruff, we’re nearly there.” said Rufus, as he and Ruff slopped some paint out of the bucket they were carrying. Pilot locked up his workshop and went out to meet his two friends.

“So what’s the paint for Pilot?” asked Ruff inquisitively.
“Well I suppose everyone will find out soon enough. Can you keep a secret?” asked Pilot.
Rufus smiled at his brother Ruff. “Ruff and I are the kings of secret keeping in Acersville!”
Pilot took them into his workshop and switched on the light.
“A plane!” gasped Rufus.
“How will you power it?” asked Ruff.
“With extra sweetened ginger-beer!” he grinned.
“Can you do that?” asked Rufus quite puzzled.
“I assure you that I know of no law against the use of ginger-beer while driving – especially while flying!” replied Pilot.

Rufus and Ruff agreed to paint a big poster of Pilot’s plane and hang it in Acer Square early the next morning, along with clearly marked signs stating the time and place of Pilot’s take-off. Pilot was pleased and said goodbye to his friends. He then set to work on painting his plane.

The next day the Square was buzzing with excitement. All the Loopies had seen the posters and began making their way up to Buttercup Clearing on top of Sentinel Hill to watch Pilot make his triumphant first flight.

They cheered when they saw Pilot’s plane but Pilot motioned for them to settle down.
“Start me up boys!” he said to Rufus and Ruff, who were standing ready. They began to clip corked bottles of extra sweetened carbonated ginger-beer in place under the wings of Pilot’s plane. Ruff showed Pilot a thumbs up when all the bottles were in place. Pilot smiled, slung his scarf triumphantly over his shoulder and peddled his plane down the hill.

As Pilot raced his plane down the hill all the bumping and rattling caused the ginger-beer bottles to shake violently. And we all know what happens when you shake carbonated drinks! Pop, pop, pop. One by one the corks began to pop off of the bottles, giving Pilot’s plane more and more power. Eventually Pilot was half way down the hill and the last cork popped off. It gave Pilot enough power to swoop into the air like a red eagle. Up, up, up he soared and then leveled and … he was flying!!

The Loopies below could hardly believe their eyes. They clapped and cheered. Pilot marveled as he flew! It was so beautiful to see Acersville from so high up! Mayor Piney from down below began smiling as he imagined himself flying in to his next election.

Eventually Pilot landed. The Loopies stormed towards Pilot.
“Can we have a chance too?” they asked.
Pilot smiled, “Of course!” he said, “Just one at a time though!”
The Loopies cheered. The rest of that day the Loopies took turns flying in Pilot’s plane, what an exciting day!

© 2006 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Grumble, grumble, grum,grum, grrrummm. Pancake awoke to the sounds of her tummy grumbling. Pancake was hungry. In fact Pancake was always hungry! Pancake was probably the hungriest Loopie in all of Acersville.

Pancake yawned and sat up in bed, turned on her lamp and squinted at her clock, it was midnight.

Grummmm, grummm, grrrrummmble.

Pancake rolled down the stairs and went to her fridge, she opened it but it was empty! Then Pancake remembered that she had already eaten everything in the fridge for supper. Grrrrrrrrummmmmble, grrrrummmble. Oh dear what was Pancake to do? Without a cookie or sandwich in sight, Pancake had no other choice but to get her coat and shoes and leave the house.

She walked all the way down the street to Acer Square. It was very quiet, every Loopie in Acersville was asleep. She scanned the Square; The Hardware shop, no nothing there would taste good. The hairdresser? She winced remembering the time she had eaten soap, and it wasn’t a good memory! Then, with delight she spotted Crumpet’s Bakery!

Pancake was Crumpet’s cousin and Pancake was certain that Crumpet wouldn’t mind if she ate something from the Bakery – just a teeny-weeny snack, just to end the grumbles in her tummy!

Pancake crept up to the door, she felt guilty for not asking, but it was so late, she couldn’t possibly ask permission now? She turned the door knob, it was open! Pancake tiptoed inside.

The Bakery contained the most amazing and delicious pastries, doughnuts and cakes! Her mouth watered and as quick as a flash she began putting her grumbles to bed! She ate and ate and couldn’t stop, she ate so much she became quite paralyzed. In fact she ate so much that she didn’t even notice the police-men outside! They were shinning their torches into the Bakery windows to investigate the break-in!

Just then she heard sirens and a loud voice saying, “Come out with your hands up!”
Pancake froze. She was so frightened. Were they talking to her? She got up slowly and shook the sprinkles from her skirt and wiped the icing from around her mouth. As she got outside, Police-men surrounded her from every angle, hand-cuffed her, bundled her into their car and sped off to the police station with sirens blaring.

The following day, the Loopies held a trial for Pancake. Every Loopie in Acersville was there, including Crumpet who stood in the court room looking very upset.Pancake was wearing a big orange overall and was led out by two policemen. She was cuffed with heavy chains, and looked like a dangerous criminal. Crumpet gasped when she saw that her cousin was the perpetrator of this crime against her Bakery! Pancake stared at the floor, she felt quite horrible!

The judge looked at Crumpet, “What are the charges against this criminal?” he barked.
“I don’t wish to press charges anymore your Honour.” said Crumpet softly.
Pancake was relieved. The judge glared at her and said, “Then you are free to go.”
“Thank you Crumpet.” She breathed, as the Police removed her chains.
“But!” barked the judge. Pancake jumped at his gruff voice. “There is one thing I am sentencing you to, and that is a few weeks of Community Service!” He banged his hammer and the court was adjourned.

Pancake looked at her cousin. “I’m sorry Crumpet, I was just … hungry.” She admitted, her tummy beginning to grumble yet again.
Crumpet smiled, the judge had given her a good idea!
“How do you feel about waffles and lemonade, Pancake?” asked Crumpet.

Pancake’s mouth watered! “You don’t even have to ask!” she squealed delightedly, thinking of the beautiful breakfast her cousin would be making her!
“Perfect!” said Crumpet. “Then you can get started right away!”
Pancake looked confused, Crumpet only giggled.

So the next two weeks Pancake spent her days squeezing lemonade and making waffles out-side of The Acorn Academy School and selling them to hungry Loopies. Poor Pancake! I hope she’s learnt her lesson!

© 2006 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.