The Wonder

**Lisa Bueno** (0:00)
Okay, our friends. So today, we are reading a story for all of you out there who find joy in the little things, because today we are all about the wonder, and that's the name of the story, The Wonder. The story was written by Mr. Tom Percival, and we read his book about Ruby's worry, and Normal Norman.
He wrote a bunch of books that we recently read, and we absolutely love what he has to say, so we can't wait to share this story with you. Today's story is read by Mommy and a cat named, are you Floof?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:45)
No.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:46)
Are you Captain Meow-Meow?

**Lisa Bueno** (0:49)
Of course, you must be Beans.
That's the name of this kitten today, my friends. And we also have, Meow.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:00)
Are you a cat too?

**SPEAKER_4** (1:02)
What's your cat name?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:05)
A rainbow.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:07)
We have a cat named Rainbow.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:09)
We have two kittens, one named Beans and the other named Rainbow. And we're not alone.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:17)
We have a mommy and someone else in the room, another grown up.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:22)
Auntie.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:23)
Auntie.
Mommy and Auntie are here with Rainbow and Beans because why not? So let's read our story today, shall we everyone?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:33)
Here we go. Daniel was in a terrible mood.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:41)
Of course, there were reasons for this.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:45)
There always were.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:47)
But all that mattered to Daniel in that moment was that he felt awful.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:55)
Today is going to be a bad day, thought Daniel.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:00)
And it was. Have you ever had a bad day? Put your hand up if you have had a bad day. Oh dear, everyone has got their hand up.
Even the kittens have got their little paws up. Rain tumbled down from the dark gray skies, and then Daniel got splashed by a bus zooming through a huge puddle.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:26)
Daniel scowled down at his soggy feet, fists clenched, and his face all scrunched up. There.
Today was just as bad as he thought it would be, if not worse.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:46)
Has anybody here been angry before? I know Rainbow the kitten has been angry. I know Beans has been angry. Oh, Aunt Sally hissed. I think she's definitely been angry. Yeah. Sometimes if you're a cat, if you're a kitten and you try to catch a mouse and you can't catch the mouse, you can be pretty angry, right? Right, kittens?
Daniel's mom stopped to say hello to a friend of hers.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:14)
Daniel stood there silently, hands stuffed deep in his pockets until something caught his attention.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:25)
He heard a sweet, delicate sound, barely audible beneath the rumble of traffic. So we can see that this is a very big city that Daniel lives in, and it is raining, but there's something else in the air. It looks beautiful like a rainbow. Daniel tried to work out where the sound was coming from, and then he noticed a beam of light shining down on some musicians.
Flowers danced in the breeze, swaying along with the music that seemed to fill the whole sky. And from them, friends, it is flowers and light, and it is beautiful. Slowly Daniel began to smile.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:19)
It was all just perfect.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:25)
Slowly the clouds shifted. The beam of light faded. The musicians finished their song, and the spell was broken, but Daniel was still smiling. He realized that he'd just seen something special, something unique, something wonderful, just for him.
And without even realizing it, Daniel decided that today was now going to be a good day.

**SPEAKER_4** (5:00)
And it was.

**Lisa Bueno** (5:02)
And that might be why Rainbow was called Rainbow, because there was one time when there was Rainbow outside and she saw him and she tried to catch them. Right?

**SPEAKER_4** (5:10)
Yeah.

**Lisa Bueno** (5:11)
Yeah.
And friends, just like that, you can turn your day around, can't you? Let's see what happens next. From then on, Daniel found he was always looking out for moments like that.

**SPEAKER_4** (5:25)
Little sparks of joy, bright flashes of wonder.

**Lisa Bueno** (5:29)
And because he took the time to look, he found them quite often. And here we can see he looks like with his father, and they are walking through the deep dark wood. But there are bits of light streaming through the trees, and they have lit up. What is this? It's a fox. So we can see that this cute little fox is coming along here, and he has changed the whole feel of the forest just by him being there. It makes it look more magical. Now, sometimes they were big and dramatic, like ocean waves crashing against the shore. And sometimes they were small and quiet, like a little butterfly landing on your nose while you're sitting all alone. And sometimes they would last as long as it took the sun to rise in the morning. Like if you go camping with your dad and you get to watch the sun shining over the mountains and the valleys and the rivers. And sometimes they were gone in an instant, like shooting star in the city. Fleeting moments made all the more important because they were so brief. Brief meaning quick. Did you know that that's what brief meant? In this case, yeah, okay. And sometimes these were moments that he shared with his friends or family. Like if you're at a big bonfire with your friends. And other times, they were his alone, like catching the very first snow flake.