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THE GREAT ESCAPE
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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
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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!