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The lost laugh

Spotty the Hyena has lost his laugh. How did this happen? Where could it be? And can the other animals help him find it?

Suggested age: 4–6岁 · Reading level L2 · 14 illustrated pages

The lost laugh — original illustrated page 1, English text included

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This book can be read page by page, heard with synthetic Voice 7 narration, downloaded and printed. Enable JavaScript for the interactive reader, or open the story pages below.

Spotty the Hyena has lost his laugh. How did this happen? Where could it be? And can the other animals help him find it?

Read all 14 story pages
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 1, English text included
The lost laugh
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 2, English text included
Spotty the Hyena is very sad. He has lost his laugh.
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 3, English text included
"Please help me find my laugh, Giraffe." "I can't hear a laugh up here."
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 4, English text included
"Please help me find my laugh, Hippo." "I can't hear a laugh down here."
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 5, English text included
"Please help me find my laugh, Warthog." "I can't hear a laugh in here."
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 6, English text included
"Please help me find my laugh, Monkey." "How did you lose it?"
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 7, English text included
"When I laugh, you can see my big teeth. That makes everyone frightened," said Spotty. "Then I got sad and my laugh just disappeared."
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 8, English text included
"I can't find it anywhere!" "But you were looking in the wrong place."
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 9, English text included
Monkey jumped out of the tree and picked up a feather. Then she began to tickle Spotty all over.
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 10, English text included
Slowly Spotty started smiling, and then he let out a big, loud laugh. He laughed and laughed until he was rolling around on the ground.
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 11, English text included
All the other animals started laughing too.
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 12, English text included
"Where did you find his laugh?" they asked. "His laugh was inside him all the time. I just made him happy and out it came."
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 13, English text included
They all laughed and laughed so that their teeth showed too. "I'll never lose my laugh again," said Spotty the happy Hyena.
The lost laugh — original illustrated page 14, English text included

Creators and open license

Written by
Michelle Preen
Illustrated by
Karen Lilje
Created by
Wilna Combrinck (Designer); Michelle Preen (Writer); Karen Lilje (Illustrator); Helen Moffett (Editor)

Source: Book Dash
Original: The lost laugh from Book Dash
License: CC BY 4.0

Original illustrated spreads and embedded English story text preserved; website layout and printable PDF assembled by Little Leaf. Age, level, theme and recommendation are editorial suggestions. Web and printable layout adapted by Little Leaf. Age and reading-level suggestions are editorial. Original stories and artwork belong to their credited creators. Website narration uses the selected synthetic Voice 7.