Penny Panda's Moon Adventure

# Penny Panda's Moon Adventure

High up in the bamboo forest, Penny Panda gazed at the night sky. The moon glowed like a giant dumpling.

"I want to visit the moon," Penny told her mother one night. "It looks so round and bright."

Mother Panda smiled. "The moon is very far away, Penny."

But Penny had made up her mind. The next morning, she packed her favourite bamboo snacks and set off.

First, Penny tried climbing the tallest bamboo stalk. She climbed and climbed until the stalk began to wobble.

"Oh dear," said Penny, sliding back down. "That won't work."

Next, Penny tried jumping. She bounced on the spongiest part of the forest floor. Up, up, up she went! But not high enough to reach the moon.

Penny sat down with a little sigh. Just then, her friend Oliver Owl swooped down.

"What's wrong, Penny?" Oliver asked.

"I want to visit the moon, but I can't reach it," Penny explained.

Oliver hooted softly. "I know something about the moon. You don't have to go there to enjoy it."

That night, Oliver took Penny to a small pond. The moon's reflection shimmered in the still water.

"Look," said Oliver. "The moon has come to visit you!"

Penny clapped her paws with delight. The reflection was so close she could almost touch it.

Every night after that, Penny visited the pond. Sometimes she brought bamboo treats for a moon picnic. Sometimes she danced with the moon's reflection. And sometimes she just sat quietly, happy to have found a way to be with her friend in the sky.

"Thank you for coming down to see me," Penny whispered to the moon.

And if you looked very carefully, you might have seen the moon wink back.