Shaun the Sheep Movie - The Great Escape (Tales from Mossy Bottom Farm) Read online

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  .

  THE GREAT ESCAPE

  .

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are

  either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  © 2015 Aardman Animations Limited and Studiocanal S.A. 2015.

  All Rights Reserved. Shaun the Sheep ® and the character ‘Shaun the

  Sheep’ © and ™ Aardman Animations Limited.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,

  or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means,

  graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and

  recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  First U.S. electronic edition 2015

  The illustrations in this book were created digitally.

  Candlewick Entertainment

  An imprint of

  Candlewick Press

  99 Dover Street

  Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

  www.candlewick.com

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  The Clink

  1

  Chapter Two

  follow that camper

  7

  Chapter Three

  city slickers

  15

  Chapter Four

  sheep rescue

  23

  Chapter Five

  hair today, gone tomorrow

  31

  Chapter Six

  trumper’s last stand

  37

  .

  1

  Chapter One

  The Clink

  This is Trumper.

  He is the city’s animal warden.

  He has a perfect record for catching

  strays.

  No one escapes from the Animal

  Containment Center. No one.

  There are all kinds of inmates at

  the center. There are some tough

  .

  2

  characters, like the tattooed

  Rottweiler and the fancy poodle with

  big muscles.

  There are some crazy prisoners,

  too, like the pit bull

  terrier. He stares.

  It’s creepy.

  But some

  animals at the

  center aren’t scary at

  all. Slip, a lonely mutt with a crooked

  smile, is used to living on the streets.

  All she wants is a

  family to call her own.

  3

  And the center

  contains more

  than just dogs.

  There’s also a

  tortoise and a sad

  goldfish who is very good at playing

  the harmonica.

  There is only one way for inmates

  to get out: adoption. Trumper doesn’t

  like it, but sometimes visitors come by

  and choose one of the animals to take

  home.

  When there is a visit, everyone tries

  to look their best. They primp their

  fur and bat their eyelashes.

  .

  5

  You never know who might be lucky

  enough to be chosen.

  On this day, there is a new

  captive: a sheep named Shaun!

  Trumper marches him down the

  center’s main hall and leads him to

  his cell, where Shaun is surprised to

  find Mossy Bottom Farm’s sheepdog,

  Bitzer. The pair are the Containment

  Center’s newest inmates.

  How on earth did they get here?

  .

  7

  Chapter Two

  follow that

  camper

  Earlier that day, the Flock had been

  very bad.

  Shaun had convinced the other

  sheep to take a day off. To do this,

  they needed to fool the Farmer. The

  sheep jumped over a gate — over and

  over. The Farmer started to count

  them, but it made him very sleepy.

  .

  8

  The Flock put him to bed in an old

  camper parked on the farm.

  The Farmer was asleep. That could

  only mean one thing — movie time!

  The sheep skipped happily to the

  farmhouse. They sat down on the

  9

  couch, and Shaun handed out bowls

  of ice cream. One of the sheep tried

  to stick pizza into the toaster.

  Another tried to work the remote

  control on the TV. Shaun had just

  settled onto the couch when . . .

  .

  10

  Bitzer walked in. Their day off was

  over before it had even begun! The

  disappointed sheep led Bitzer to the

  camper. He could see the Farmer

  snoring away inside. It was time to

  wake him up and get back to work.

  Bitzer tried the door handle.

  It was stuck! He pulled on the handle,

  rocking the camper.

  Bitzer pulled harder. One, two,

  three . . .

  CRUNCH!

  The big pull had crushed the log

  under the camper’s wheels. Without

  the log to hold the camper in place,

  the whole thing started to roll down-

  hill, out of control. And the Farmer

  was still inside!

  Bitzer ran after

  the camper, but

  it was too fast

  for him to keep up.

  .

  13

  It rolled on toward the city, leaving

  Bitzer panting in its dust.

  Eventually, the camper slowed to a

  stop. The Farmer stepped out of the

  camper, the door hitting a light pole.

  The light fixture toppled off the pole

  and bonked the Farmer on the head.

  He was knocked out cold.

  Bitzer ran over the top of a hill and

  saw the Farmer, still groggy, being put

  into an ambulance. The ambulance

  drove off, and Bitzer kept on running

  after it.

  .

  15

  Chapter Three

  city slickers

&
nbsp; When Bitzer arrived at the hospital,

  he rushed into the building, but a

  guard quickly threw him out. No dogs!

  What could Bitzer do?

  Soon after, a man pushed a cart

  full of laundry through the hospital

  entrance. The guard didn’t see the

  furry tail sticking out of the cart.

  .

  16

  Inside the hospital, Bitzer climbed

  out of the cart dressed as a doctor.

  He needed to find the Farmer.

  Bitzer walked into an operating

  room. Uh-oh: everyone in the room

  thought Bitzer was a surgeon! He did

  not know what to do. He washed his

  paws at the sink. Would he have to

  start cutting the patient?

  Bitzer saw a skeleton in the

  corner. Bones! Bitzer could not help

  himself. He leaped at the skeleton

  and locked his teeth around a leg

  bone.

  Clearly, Bitzer was no doctor.

  .

  18

  Trumper was called in to catch

  this stray.

  Meanwhile, the sheep at Mossy

  Bottom Farm were getting hungry.

  They needed the Farmer to feed

  them! They would have to go to the

  city and find him.

  As they rode the bus, they

  became even hungrier. Where could

  they find food?

  A restaurant!

  The sheep dressed up in coats,

  hats, scarves, and skirts to look like

  19

  a human family — a very strange

  human family.

  They walked into a fancy

  restaurant and sat down. The sheep

  did not know how to act properly.

  Should they eat the menus?

  .

  20

  They watched as a man opened

  his menu to read it. They all opened

  their menus to read them.

  He burped. They burped.

  Then Timmy spotted a dessert

  cart. Yum!

  21

  Luckily, Shaun grabbed Timmy

  before he was spotted.

  Unluckily, Shaun did not see that

  his sweater was caught on the dessert

  cart! It began to unravel when a

  waiter pushed the cart.

  Soon Shaun was just a naked

  sheep in a restaurant.

  Everyone went bonkers!

  Trumper was called in to catch

  this stray.

  .

  23

  Chapter Four

  sheep rescue

  Deep inside the Animal Containment

  Center, Shaun and Bitzer are worried.

  They need to get the Farmer back to

  Mossy Bottom Farm. How else will

  the Flock get food?

  Bitzer and Shaun have to escape.

  But how? No one has ever escaped

  from here. No one.

  .

  24

  They argue. But Shaun and Bitzer

  don’t know that the Flock is trying to

  rescue them at that very moment.

  The Twins are still dressed as a

  human lady. They walk into the

  center with their hips swinging.

  Trumper

  thinks this

  “lady” is very

  pretty. He

  hurries over

  to greet her.

  Does she want

  to adopt a pet?

  25

  Shaun and Bitzer stare out the

  window, hoping help will come.

  Without it, how will they escape?

  Maybe they are doomed to stay at the

  Animal Containment Center forever.

  .

  26

  Inside his office,

  Trumper and the lady

  are getting friendly.

  Suddenly, Trumper

  hears a loud CRASH!

  The Flock has pulled down the

  wall, and now Shaun and Bitzer will

  be free. Hooray!

  But the Flock doesn’t see Shaun

  and Bitzer inside. Oh, no — they

  picked the wrong building!

  Inside his cell, Shaun hears the

  crash and gets an idea. Thinking fast

  on his hooves, he grabs a piece of

  chalk.

  .

  29

  Bitzer and Shaun hear footsteps.

  Uh-oh: Trumper is coming.

  Trumper runs over and freezes

  when he sees their cell. There’s a big

  hole in the wall. There’s been an

  escape! Trumper unlocks the door

  and rushes inside.

  SLAM!

  Shaun and Bitzer have locked

  Trumper in their cell! The hole in

  the wall was only a drawing. They

  grab Slip from her cell and run

  outside. They’re free!

  .

  31

  Chapter Five

  hair today,

  gone tomorrow

  Outside, Shaun, Bitzer, and Slip rejoin

  the Flock. It is time to find the

  Farmer.

  He’s easy to find: he’s on a

  billboard! Using his sheep-shearing

  skills, he has been working at a hair

  salon. The Farmer’s unique hairstyle

  has become a hit. He is famous!

  .

  32

  But the Farmer has lost his

  memory. Shaun thinks that the best

  way to get the Farmer’s memory

  back is to take him home to Mossy

  Bottom Farm.

  That night, the animals return to

  the hair salon with a plan — and a

  gate. The sheep put everybody to

  sleep by jumping the gate, over

  and over again.

  The rescue team grabs

  the Farmer

  and puts

  him on a

  horse . . .

  33

  a fake horse, that is! It is the Flock’s

  getaway vehicle. Now they can leave

  the city without anyone noticing.

  But someone does notice: Trumper!

  .

  34

  Trumper isn’t fooled by the horse.

  He knows it must be the escaped

  convicts! He shoots his electric

  grabber gun. The claw loops around

  the horse’s legs — shocking Trumper

  in the process.

  The horse drags Trumper along,

  and they crash through a fence. Soon

  the horse reaches the camper, and all

 
; the animals and the Farmer change

  vehicles. They use a rope to hitch the

  camper to a passing bus.

  Trumper manages to catch up.

  He shoots the grabber gun at the

  35

  camper and latches on. The camper

  moves forward, and the sheep look out.

  Oh good, they can’t see Trumper

  anywhere. Time to head home!

  .

  37

  At Mossy Bottom Farm, the sheep

  unload the Farmer from the camper

  and wheel him toward the farm-

  house. But in the distance they see

  something. Oh, no, it’s Trumper!

  He’s followed them to the farm!

  The animals take the sleeping

  Farmer and hide in the shed.

  Chapter Six

  Trumper’s

  last stand

  .

  38

  But Trumper doesn’t try to get in.

  Instead, he climbs into the tractor.

  Then he drives the tractor right at

  the shed — and pushes it toward

  the quarry!

  The shed is pushed along until it

  slams into a wire fence. The Flock

  tries to wake the Farmer — they

  need his help! Quickly, they grab

  some manure and hold it under his

  nose. It works, all right!