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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1: BUG CIRCUS

  CHAPTER 2: THE MYSTERY PHOTO

  CHAPTER 3: PIP

  CHAPTER 4: THE DOORBELL

  CHAPTER 5: THE BARN

  CHAPTER 6: THE DOORBELL RINGS

  CHAPTER 7: HATCHING SNAKES

  CHAPTER 8: THE FOOD EXPERIMENT

  CHAPTER 9: SASSAFRAS?

  CHAPTER 10: THE CALL

  CHAPTER 11: WHAT SHOULD BABY DRAGONS EAT?

  CHAPTER 12: CARNIVORE? OMNIVORE?

  CHAPTER 13: MOM!

  CHAPTER 14: BIGGER

  CHAPTER 15: LEARNING TO FISH

  CHAPTER 16: SMOKE?

  GLOSSARY

  FOR TIM – ML

  FOR GOOSE AND BUBS – AC

  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.

  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.

  Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication

  Citro, Asia, author.

  Dragons and marshmallows / Asia Citro; illustrator, Marion Lindsay.

  pages cm -- (Zoey and Sassafras; 1)

  Summary: A girl, Zoey, and her cat, Sassafras, use science experiments to help a dragon with a problem.

  Audience: Grades K-5.

  LCCN 2016904046

  ISBN 978-1-943147-11-3

  1. Cats--Juvenile fiction. 2. Dragons--Juvenile fiction. [1. Cats--Fiction. 2. Dragons--Fiction. 3. Science--Experiments--Fiction. 4. Experiments--Fiction.] I. Lindsay, Marion, illustrator. II. Title. III. Series: Citro, Asia. Zoey and Sassafras; 1.

  PZ7.1.C577Dr 2016

  [E]

  QBI16-600078

  Text copyright 2017 by Asia Citro

  Illustrations copyright 2017 by Marion Lindsay

  Journal entries handwritten by S. Citro

  Published by The Innovation Press

  P.O. Box 2584, Woodinville, WA 98072-2584

  www.theinnovationpress.com

  Production Date: February 2017 | Plant Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin

  Cover design by Nicole LaRue | Book layout by Kerry Ellis

  CHAPTER 1

  BUG CIRCUS

  “What is it, Sassafras?” I crouched down and ruffled my cat’s fluffy fur. He was trying to flip over a heavy, mossy rock with his paws. Something good was definitely under there.

  I gently tipped the rock over on its side. Yes! I clapped my hands together. This rock was hiding a treasure. A billion roly-poly bugs!

  OK . . . maybe not a billion. But at least twenty.

  Sassafras took a step forward. “Meow?”

  “No! Don’t eat the bugs! That’s gross.”

  My cat loves bugs as much as I do. But we love them for different reasons. I love to play with them. He loves to eat them.

  Hmmm. Now I just needed to think of something super amazing to do with the roly-polies. I held one in my hand and its tiny feet tickled as it walked.

  Sassafras trotted over to my pile of stuff and pawed at my Thinking Goggles.

  “Ooh, good idea,” I said as I put them on my head.

  Most scientists wear goggles over their eyes, and I do too when I need to keep my eyes safe. But when I need to think of brilliant ideas, I wear my Thinking Goggles on top of my head. That way they’re closer to my brain.

  The roly-poly on my hand walked across a bridge I’d made by touching the tips of my two pointer fingers together.

  “I’ve got it! Let’s make a bug circus!”

  I bent some thin twigs into hoops for the bugs to crawl through. Then I set up some small, round rocks for them to balance on. Next, I tied some grass on either end of a flat piece of bark to make a swing that I held low to the ground (in case any of my performers fell).

  My favorite part was a tightrope I made by balancing a long twig between two flat rocks. One of the biggest roly-polies crawled up to the twig tightrope.

  I got down on my elbows in the soft grass to cheer him on. “Come on, little buggy! You can do it!”

  Almost . . . almost. No! He tumbled into the grass. And then another one followed. The bigger roly-polies were having too much trouble. Hmmm. I carefully plucked the smallest of the rolypolies from the ground.

  “OK, little guy. You might be the smallest, but I think you can do this. Show me what you’ve got!”

  I placed the tiny roly-poly on one end of the twig. As he crawled along, I held my breath and didn’t let it out until he was across.

  He made it! I jumped up, cheered, and looked around for my mom. Then I remembered she was inside packing. I was so used to her being out here with me.

  “Mom is gonna love this. Let’s get her, Sassafras. Come on!”

  I glanced over my shoulder just in time to catch Sassafras creeping toward my circus performers.

  “No way, kitty. You’re coming with me. I do not trust you out here with my bugs. My new little friends are not snacks!”

  Sassafras gave me a stinky look, but he gave in and followed me. As we got close to the house, I spotted my mom in the window. But she wasn’t looking at us. She was looking at our old barn. And holding a photo.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE MYSTERY PHOTO

  Sassafras and I burst into my mom’s office. She jumped and quickly hid the photo under a pile of papers before smiling at us.

  “Mom! Sassafras found a billion rolypolies under a rock in our yard. And I wasn’t sure what to do with them, but then I used my Thinking Goggles. And we made a circus! With a tightrope and everything. Can you come see? Please?”

  “That sounds wonderful, Zoey. I’m almost finished getting ready for this trip. Give me five more minutes?”

  I shrugged and leaned on her desk while Sassafras wove through my legs. I was trying to act like I didn’t mind her leaving for a trip. But maybe I felt a little nervous about not seeing her for a whole week.

  I was also curious about that photo she’d stashed away so quickly. As she packed, I poked at her papers and scootched them around. Whoa. What was that? A purple glow came from under a pile of papers. I pushed the top papers aside and gasped. In the photo was my mom when she was around my age. She was grinning with two missing teeth. With a purple frog on her head. That was glowing. I almost dropped the photo.

  Mom glanced over her shoulder. “What is it?”

  I held out the photo with a trembling hand. “This . . . photo . . . the frog . . . it’s glowing. How?”

  My mom spun around so fast that some of the papers she was holding fell and scattered on the ground.

  “You see Pip?”

  Pip? Who was Pip? What on earth was going on?

  CHAPTER 3

  PIP

  Mom was still frozen in place. She whispered, “I never thought . . . I was so sure I was the only one.”

  She finally snapped out of it and sat down at her desk. “Sorry for acting strange. Come sit, and I’ll try to explain.” Mom shook her head once more and smiled at me.

  I sat down slowly. I was super confused. A glowing frog? That only my mom could see? My stomach flipped and flopped. I picked up Sassafras and gave him a squeeze. He settled into my lap and purred, which calmed me down a little. I seriously hoped that all of this would start making sense soon.

  “Remember how this used to be Grandma and Grandpa’s house?”

  I nodded slowly and kept petting Sassafras
as my heart thumped loudly.

  “When I was your age, I also spent hours wandering in the forest. One day, I was tossing rocks into the stream when I saw something shimmer in the sunlight.”

  “The purple frog?” I guessed.

  Mom nodded. “His bright purple skin was covered head to toe with neon-orange spots. I’d never seen anything like it. I was sure I’d discovered a new species!”

  I nodded again. I love frogs, and I’d never seen a frog that looked like that.

  “The poor thing was crumpled on the ground, barely breathing. I knew it must be very sick or hurt. I had to help it. I carefully scooped it up and held it close. I found an old empty fish tank in our barn and got to work figuring out what was wrong. Books helped a little, but I needed to run some simple experiments, too.

  “I used what I learned from the experiments to help the frog recover. Once he was better, I knew I had to return him to the forest. I reached into his tank and he hopped right into my hand! As I lifted him out, something incredible happened. It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen . . .”

  I could tell my mom was about to say something big. My mom is a scientist, so she sees crazy things all the time. If this was the craziest thing she’d ever seen, then it must be incredible.

  I leaned in, scooting so far forward that Sassafras slid to the ground with a whump. I quickly scooped him back up. “What happened? What did you see?”

  “The frog looked me in the eye, smiled, and said, ‘Thank you!’”

  I clapped my hand over my mouth. What was going on? Was my mom playing a joke on me? She seemed pretty serious. But a talking frog? Really? It just couldn’t be true!

  “I was so shocked,” my mom continued, “I almost tossed the poor frog into the air! ‘Whoa!’ he said. ‘Steady there, little girl! Don’t be afraid. My name is Pip. And I’m so grateful for all of your help.’”

  Here I had to interrupt. “But Mom — this is crazy! Frogs. Can’t. Talk.”

  Mom patted my knee. “That’s what I thought at first too. But the frog kept on talking. I wasn’t dreaming. I wasn’t imagining things. There really was a frog named Pip talking to me.

  “My hands shook so much that I set Pip on a table for his own safety. He told me he’d been out past dark looking for something he’d dropped during the day. An owl attacked him. He was terrified and hurt, but managed to escape. He didn’t remember anything after that until he woke up in our barn.

  “Once I recovered from the shock of it all, Pip told me that there are lots of magical animals in our forests. Humans can’t usually see them. He asked if I’d help others like him who were hurt or sick. I agreed, of course. Pip spread the word about me and the barn after he left. And I’ve been helping the magical animals of our forest ever since.”

  A big smile spread across my face. This was incredible. The only thing I might love more than science is magic. And my mom was telling me there was magic right here in our own backyard!

  CHAPTER 4

  THE DOORBELL

  I was so excited. And had so many questions.

  “Why is purple light coming out of the photo? Because of the magic? And how come I’ve never seen any of the magical creatures? They do still come here, right? Where do you keep them? Are there some here now?”

  Mom laughed. “Phew! OK, let’s see here. Yes, the photo glows because of the magic. Any time you photograph a magical creature, some of the magic stays in the photo. When a magical animal does need my help, I keep it in our barn. And finally, no, there aren’t any magical animals here right now. Sometimes no one needs my help for weeks at a time. This will all make more sense once I’ve shown you the barn. Come on.”

  As Mom and I walked out to the barn together, I laughed to myself. I never played there because I thought it was super boring. Boy, was I wrong.

  Mom led me around to the back door of the barn. “Before he left for the forest, Pip added a special doorbell to our barn’s back door. I thought I was the only one in the family who could see it. But I’m guessing you’ll be able to see it too.”

  Sassafras interrupted my mom by meowing loudly.

  Mom laughed. “Oh yes, I should add that clever animals like Sassafras can see it as well.”

  I knelt down and looked all over the back wall of the barn. “But I don’t see anything.”

  “Try lying down on your stomach. Now a little to the left. And down just a tiny bit. Do you see it?”

  The grass tickled my neck as I lowered my head a little more. All of a sudden, I could see a round button. It looked like a regular doorbell, except this one shimmered in a wave of rainbow colors. I moved my head up a bit and it disappeared. Whoa. No wonder I’d never noticed this before.

  Although now that I thought about it, I might have at least heard it before. Every once in a while the most beautiful tinkling sound would come from my mom’s office. She always told me it was an alarm on her phone reminding her to do something. I guess I never thought to ask what.

  “That bell that rings in our house sometimes? Is that the barn doorbell?”

  “Yes, that’s it. I never know when I’ll hear the bell, but whenever I’m home, I’m always listening.”

  “What about when you’re gone? What happens then?”

  “Well, all I can do is hope that I’m here when the bell rings and an animal needs me.”

  I remembered my mom standing in the window, looking out at the barn. She must have been worried about what would happen while she was gone at this conference. Maybe . . . maybe I could help.

  “You’re going to be gone for a week. That’s a long time. If an animal rings the bell while you’re gone, do you think maybe I could help them?” I looked down at my feet and poked the ground with my toe. “I mean, I know I’m just a kid. But I could try.”

  My mom smiled. “I was hoping you’d suggest that. Are you sure? It might be a lot to handle. Though you could always call me if you needed help.”

  I nodded and stood up a little straighter. Mom put her hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead.

  “Now I won’t have to worry while I’m gone. Thank you.”

  My stomach did flips. On one hand I was super excited to meet a magical animal. On the other hand, I was worried that I wouldn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to mess up.

  But my mom was my age when she helped Pip. A kid had done this alone before.

  Which meant I could handle it.

  Right?

  CHAPTER 5

  THE BARN

  Mom opened the door, and we stepped inside. The barn felt different. Magical. It was like I’d never seen it before. Now I knew it held secrets.

  “These cabinets hold the medical supplies I’ve gathered over the years,” Mom said. “And over here are some books that you might find helpful. There aren’t any books about magical animals. But you’ll find that magical creatures and everyday animals are often similar. Once I had a sick winged fox, and it helped to read about both birds and foxes. Sometimes you’ll need to run an experiment to figure out what the animal needs or what will work best. You can look through my old science journals over there to get a better idea of what I’m talking about.”

  My heart beat faster. As soon as she was done with the tour, I was heading straight for those journals. My breath caught. There’d be more magical photos in there! I could hardly wait to see them.

  I interrupted her. “So if I hear the bell, I run out here? And the animal will be at the back door? And I bring it inside and try to figure out what’s wrong?”

  Mom nodded. “Some of the animals can speak, like Pip, but most can’t. Remember, you can use the books and my old journals to help you. This must seem like a lot of responsibility. But I know you’ll do your best. Do you have any questions?”

  My mind was spinning, but I shook my head no. If Mom believed I could handle this, I could. I hoped.

  And if things got too tricky, I could ask Dad to help. Wait a minute. Mom hadn’t mentioned Dad at all. That was definitely st
range.

  “What about Dad? Can’t he help me?”

  “Your father can’t see any of the magical animals. Until you saw Pip in that photo, I thought I was the only human who could see them.” Mom shook her head sadly. “I tried to introduce Pip to your Dad once, but he couldn’t see or hear him.”

  Whoa. So this was definitely all up to me.

  Mom kissed me on the head. “I’ve got to go. But I’ll see you in a week! I’ll let Dad know you’re out here before I leave.”

  “Wait!” I piped up. “If a magical creature comes, do I get to take its picture?” I was pretty sure that one of the best parts of this whole thing was going to be collecting magic photos.

  Mom laughed and opened one of the desk drawers. “Here’s my camera. You’re free to use it — but since it’s instant film, you can’t take too many photos or it’ll get really expensive. Only take one of each animal, OK? Oh, and here.” She dug around at the bottom of the drawer. “A brand new science journal, just for you.”

  I wrapped my arms around my mom and gave her a big squeeze. I was glad to have the stuff in all the cabinets and drawers and Mom’s old science journals to distract me. It made saying good-bye much easier.

  I set my Thinking Goggles on the barn desk and grabbed the pile of science notebooks. I spent the next few hours with Sassafras curled up in my lap as I flipped through all of them. The photos were so incredible. I flipped to a page with a creature that looked like a flower. I leaned in for a closer look, and the scent of roses filled my nose.

  A few pages later I found a photo of something fluffy and blue that was shaped like a snake. I brushed my fingers over the photo and I could feel its soft feathers. This was going to be so much fun. I could hardly wait to see what creature I’d get to meet first.

  CHAPTER 6

  THE DOORBELL RINGS