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    The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (and an Even Smaller Ant)
    The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (and an Even Smaller Ant)
    The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (and an Even Smaller Ant)
    Ebook85 pages46 minutes

    The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (and an Even Smaller Ant)

    By Avi

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    About this ebook

    Small steps lead to big adventures for a pair of unlikely friends in this “charming modern fable” by the Newbery Medal-winning author of Crispin (Booklist).
     
    Avon the snail has never had an adventure. And adventure, he has heard, is the key to a happy life. So he sets out on an exciting journey with his new pal, Edward, a thoughtful but misinformed ant. Together they meet all manner of wise, weird, and intriguing creatures—including a dragon!—and discover that even tiny adventures can broaden your view of the world.
        
    “This finely-spun fantasy…features ingenious wordplay and heartfelt proof of friendship’s rewards.”—Parenting magazine
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateApr 1, 2008
    ISBN9780547539249
    The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (and an Even Smaller Ant)
    Author

    Avi

    Avi is the award-winning author of more than eighty-two books for young readers, ranging from animal fantasy to gripping historical fiction, picture books to young adult novels. Crispin: The Cross of Lead won the Newbery Medal, and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Nothing but the Truth were awarded Newbery Honors. He is also the author of the popular Poppy series. Avi lives in Denver, Colorado. Visit him online at avi-writer.com.

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      Book preview

      The End of the Beginning - Avi

      Text copyright © 2004 by Avi

      Illustrations copyright © 2004 by Tricia Tusa

      All rights reserved. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Harcourt, Inc., an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2004.

      For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to trade.permissions@hmhco.com or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

      hmhbooks.com

      A substantially different version of this story was previously published as Snail Tale: The Adventures of a Rather Small Snail by Pantheon Books in 1972.

      The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

      Avi, 1937–

      The end of the beginning: being the adventures of a small snail (and an even smaller ant)/Avi; illustrated by Tricia Tusa.

      p. cm.

      Summary: Avon the snail and Edward, a take-charge ant, set off together on a journey to an undetermined destination in search of unspecified adventures.

      [1. Voyages and travels—Fiction. 2. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 3. Snails—Fiction. 4. Ants—Fiction. 5. Insects—Fiction.] I. Tusa, Tricia, ill.

      II. Title.

      PZ7.A953Ep 2004

      [E]—dc22 2004002696

      ISBN 978-0-15-204968-3 hardcover

      ISBN 978-0-15-205532-5 paperback

      eISBN 978-0-547-53924-9

      v3.1220

      To Avon from Edward, with surprise

      Chapter

      One

      In Which the Adventure Begins

      Avon, a rather small snail, read a book every day. He loved to read because books told him all about the things that creatures did when they went on adventures.

      Now, Avon had noticed that when creatures finished their adventures, and when the stories ended, the creatures were always happy. Because Avon had never had an adventure of his own, the more he read, the sadder he became. It was absolutely necessary, he decided, to have adventures for himself. Only then would he be happy.

      He sighed. No adventures will ever come my way.

      A newt who was passing by overheard Avon’s words. Nay, lad, don’t say such things.

      But don’t you see, said Avon, close to tears, the most important thing in the world is having adventures. Not only have I not had any, I don’t think I ever will. And if I don’t have adventures—like the ones I’ve read about in these books—I’m bound to be unhappy forever.

      Then go out and seek some adventures, said the newt.

      I don’t know how, Avon said.

      Remember, lad, said the

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