The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith.
Title: The Water Horse.
Author: Dick King-Smith.
Genre: Fiction, young adult lit, animals, fantasy.
Country: U.K.
Language: English.
Publication Date: 1990.
Summary: This story tells of a young Scottish girl, Kirstie, and her brother, Angus, who find a mysterious egg capsule washed up on shore after a storm and take it home. To their delight, this "mermaid's purse" hatches into a lovable sea monster they call Crusoe. It keeps growing and growing, until finally it is too big to live anywhere but in nearby Loch Ness.
My rating: 6/10
♥ "...Not a word to any of your friends at school. Understand?"
"Oh yes," said Kirstie. "Cross my heart." She crossed it. Angus crossed his stomach, perhaps by mistake but possibly because it was to him the more important organ.
♥ It never entered Crusoe's head to bite the finger that was extended to him. The giant creature to whom it belonged was simply, in his mind, a provider of food and thus a good friend to him, as were they all.
♥ Down, down, down the Water Horse dived, scattering great shoals of fish as he went, down into the cold black depths, and then turned and short upwards, faster and faster in the pride of his strength. For a moment all his training was forgotten, all the giants' teaching that he must not show himself unless summoned, and he burst into the sunshine in the middle of the loch and plunged and rolled about on the surface, so happy was he to be in this wonderful new watery world.
Then he came to his senses, and with a final great surge he sank from sight.