The Pod and The Bog: Zoey and Sassafras Read online

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1: BEDTIME

  CHAPTER 2: NIGHTTIME VISITOR

  CHAPTER 3: ALL ABOUT PLANTS

  CHAPTER 4: FROM WHERE?

  CHAPTER 5: EXPERIMENT!

  CHAPTER 6: NOTHING?!

  CHAPTER 7: OH NO!

  CHAPTER 8: HOW MUCH WATER?

  CHAPTER 9: NOT AGAIN!

  CHAPTER 10: SURPRISE!

  CHAPTER 11: ONLY TWO

  CHAPTER 12: WHAT’S THAT SMELL?

  CHAPTER 13: CAMPING!

  CHAPTER 14: A PHOTO?

  GLOSSARY

  FOR NICOLA AND JO – 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.

  Audience: Grades K-5.

  LCCN 2017918473

  ISBN 9781943147373; ISBN 9781943147380; ISBN 9781943147397; ISBN: 9781943147458

  Text copyright 2018 by Asia Citro

  Illustrations copyright 2018 by Marion Lindsay

  Journal entries handwritten by S. Citro

  Published by The Innovation Press

  1001 4th Avenue, Suite 3200 Seattle, WA 98154

  www.theinnovationpress.com

  Printed and bound by Worzalla

  Production Date: March 2018 | Plant Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin

  Cover design by Nicole LaRue | Book layout by Kerry Ellis

  PROLOGUE

  These days my cat Sassafras and I are always desperately hoping we’ll hear our barn doorbell.

  I know most people are excited to hear their doorbell ring. It might mean a present or package delivery, or a friend showing up to play. But our doorbell is even more exciting than that. Because it’s a magic doorbell. When it rings, it means there’s a magical animal waiting outside our barn. A magical animal who needs our help.

  My mom’s been helping them basically her whole life. And now I get to help, too …

  CHAPTER 1

  BEDTIME

  I steadied my ruler in the soil next to my pea plant. “Whoa! It’s up to 8 inches now, Sassafras.” I wrote down the date and the new height in my science journal.

  Sassafras touched his nose to the plant and meowed.

  “I know! I’m totally surprised too. When Clara asked me what would happen if we used a marker to color on all the pea plant leaves, I thought for sure the pea plant would stop growing or maybe even die.” I turned my science journal toward Sassafras, and he gave it a sniff. “I can’t wait to surprise her with it when she comes over to play again.”

  Mom popped her head in. “Ready to read, Zoey?”

  “Yes!” I yelped and hopped up from my desk.

  “Pajamas and cap?”

  “Check!”

  “Teeth brushed?”

  “Check!”

  “Pea plant measured?”

  “Check! And look—it’s still growing.” I handed Mom my journal.

  Mom took it and looked it over. “Well done! And you know what I’m going to ask next, right?”

  I nodded eagerly. “‘What other questions do you have now?’ I have a bunch! Like what happens if I color the top and the bottom of the leaf? And what if I try a different color on each plant? Will some colors grow better? Oh! And what about different kinds of plants? Is it just pea plants that keep growing with marker on their leaves?”

  Mom patted my head and smiled. “All excellent questions! But since it’s time for bed, we’ll have to work on them tomorrow. Shall I begin our story?”

  Sassafras started purring and hustled over to my lap. I giggled as I put away my science journal.

  Mom got cozy at the foot of my bed and opened the book. “Now where were we?”

  “We were right at the part where—”

  Sassafras leaped out of my lap and held very still with his ears pointing outside.

  I looked at Mom. “Did you hear something? Was that … ?”

  It was unmistakable this time. That was definitely the sound of the barn doorbell!

  CHAPTER 2

  NIGHTTIME

  VISITOR

  Sassafras chattered and ran to my bedroom door and back. I clasped my hands together and gave Mom my sweetest smile. “Pleeeease, can I go?”

  Mom looked at her watch and sighed. “OK, but take a flashlight and come back right away. If it’s something serious, I can take over for you. It’s late and you need your sleep.”

  I leaped out of bed and ran for the door, calling out over my shoulder, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise we’ll be right back!”

  I grabbed a flashlight out of the kitchen drawer and slipped on my shoes, and then Sassafras and I bolted across the yard to the barn. My heart was pounding not just from running, but also from the excitement of meeting a new magical creature.

  “Who do you think it will be this time, Sassafras?” I panted.

  Sassafras stopped running and leaped into the air. Then he chewed and swallowed.

  “Ew, Sass! Did you just eat a bug?”

  “Meow!” he answered triumphantly.

  I shook my head disapprovingly as I opened the door. “Remember, Sassafras. No trying to eat our magical friends. Even if they are very buglike. It’s just not polite.”

  We ran through the barn to the back door. The moment of truth! I took a steadying breath and opened the door.

  Just above the ground was a large glowing rainbow … stone? “Wowww!” I knelt down and reached out a finger. It was like a merhorse stone, but the size of a soccer ball. That familiar shimmering rainbow light meant one thing: whatever this was, it was definitely magical. Sassafras stood frozen next to me. His eyes were like big saucers.

  “Ahem! A little help, please? This thing is really heavy!” called a small voice. A small voice I knew.

  “PIP!!!!” I shrieked. Perhaps a little too loudly. Pip stumbled backward, and I managed to grab the rainbow stone just before it hit the ground. Pip was the magical talking frog who had started it all. My mom found him hurt badly in the forest when she was my age and nursed him back to health. He was one of my favorite magical creatures—he always managed to make me laugh.

  “Sheesh, Zoey! You scared me! Your giant human voice can be quite startling, you know.” Pip brushed himself off just in time to have a giant furry Sassafras head crash into him. This time he did fall over, and we both laughed.

  “I guess you both have missed me, yes?”

  “Absolutely!” I grinned as I helped Pip back to his feet.

  I held out the glowing stone. “What is it? Where did you find it? And is something wrong with this, um, rainbow stone?”

  “Ah, great questions! I would expect nothing less from you. Let’s start at the beginning. That is most definitely not a stone. It is a seed pod from some kind of magical plant.”

  I slowly rolled it between my hands. “A magical seed pod? That is so cool.”

  Pip nodded in agreement. “I was just getting ready for bed and was all cozy when I heard an enormous THUD outside my home. Of course I had to go see what it was! When I got outside, this was lying there on the ground. My best guess is that some sort of flying magical creature was trying t
o steal it for food and accidentally dropped it.”

  Sassafras watched as I poked and fiddled with the pod. “See, Sassafras? It’s kind of like our pea plant. Only instead of a long seed pod, this one is round and a lot bigger. I wonder if the seeds inside look like peas. What color do you think the seeds are? Argh, this thing is impossible to open!”

  “Should we be trying to get it open? I wasn’t sure what to do, but I figured I shouldn’t just leave it at my house,” Pip explained.

  “Oh, good point! Hmmm, let’s see … it’s from some sort of magical plant, so should we try to figure out which one first? Have you seen pods like this before, Pip?”

  “That’s the thing. I haven’t ever seen one like this. Do you think it’s a really rare kind of plant? What if it’s endangered?”

  I put my hand to my mouth. “What if it’s the last of its kind? We’ve got to get it back to where it belongs! And we need to keep it super safe until then.”

  “That sounds like a good plan. Since I’ve never seen it, I think it must be from pretty far …” Pip stopped and stretched and gave a big yawn. “Um, pretty far away.” And then he yawned again.

  And then Sassafras yawned.

  And then I heard my mom calling me from the house.

  I rubbed my eyes a little. “OK, I think we are all pretty tired. This should be safe in the barn tonight. Can we meet first thing tomorrow to get started on a plan?”

  Pip nodded sleepily. I made a little blanket nest on a chair in the barn and carefully placed the glowing seed pod in the middle.

  Mom called again.

  “Good night, Pip!” I kissed him on the head, and Sassafras licked him on the cheek.

  “Blech.” Pip wiped off our kisses. But he was smiling. “I’ll see you two tomorrow!”

  CHAPTER 3

  ALL ABOUT

  PLANTS

  The next morning, Mom, Sassafras, and I crowded around the glowing seed pod. The pod continued the beautiful shimmering cycle we’d seen the night before: red slowly and gracefully blended into orange, then changed to yellow, and so on until it had gone through all the rainbow colors and started over again.

  “I could stare at this all day,” Mom said finally.

  “Me too! But we should work on getting it back to the right place. I don’t know if keeping it here could hurt it somehow. I don’t want anything bad to happen to it.”

  Mom patted my head. “So responsible! You’re right.” Mom grabbed one of her old science journals and flipped it open. “Let’s see here … Pip was right about magical plants being rare. I’ve heard that from several magical creatures. The only magical plant I’ve ever seen was this one.” Mom turned the journal around so I could see.

  “Are those furry purple … fruits?” I reached a finger out to touch the photo. “Ooh, they’re so soft!”

  Every time we take a photo of something magical, the photo keeps a bit of magic. So even though it was just a photo of a giant purple plant, I could feel the fur on the fruits.

  “Yep, they are! But the seeds from that plant are inside those fruits, not seed pods. So this pod is definitely a different species.”

  “How are we going to figure out where it came from?” I asked.

  Mom raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Umm, maybe we could read? About real plants? To see if there are any that are similar?”

  Mom motioned with her hand to keep going.

  “And, uhhh, we could … look at maps? To see the different sorts of places around here a plant might grow?”

  Mom grinned. “You have some great ideas to get you started. Unfortunately, I have a ton of work. Do you think you and Sassafras can figure it out? I’ll be inside if you need me …”

  I popped my Thinking Goggles on my head and nodded confidently. “Go work. We’ve got this.”

  CHAPTER 4

  FROM WHERE?

  I set a big serious-looking book down on the table next to the seed pod. “OK Sassafras, I’m going to read about different kinds of seeds in this botany book. Maybe there’s a real-life seed pod that looks like this. And then we can get a hint about where this one might grow!”

  Sassafras ignored me and instead sniffed all around the seed pod. He reached out a paw and bopped it softly. Then harder. The seed pod rolled away from him, then bonked into the wall and rolled straight back at him. Sassafras hissed and jumped backward with his tail puffed up.

  I caught the seed ball before it rolled off the table and laughed. I tapped him gently on the nose with one finger. “Why don’t you try and stay out of trouble while I read?”

  Sassafras grumbled and jumped down from the table.

  While Sassafras explored spider webs in the corners of the barn, I read about seed pods and fruit seeds and flying seeds and dangling seeds called catkins (I liked saying that word because it reminded me of cats). But nothing sounded at all like our rainbow pod.

  “Ugh, Sassafras. Reading is not working. Now what do I do?”

  Sassafras gave a little meow and began pacing the barn.

  I joined him and tapped my Thinking Goggles. It made a fun sound, so I started tapping out a little beat. That made me want to hum. And the humming quickly turned into a little song:

  Oh seed pod, seed pod,

  At your colors we are awed.

  I paused at the table. Wait a second. Was the seam getting bigger on the seed pod? Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. I shrugged and kept singing:

  This is really kind of odd.

  Then I jumped a little. The seam definitely looked bigger. Whoa. I scrambled to come up with more words to the song:

  At your surface, my cat pawed.

  And a magic creature clawed.

  I think you live somewhere abroad.

  If I knew where, I would APPLAUD!

  All at once, the two halves of the seed pod swung apart.

  We peered inside at a couple dozen shiny black seeds as perfectly round and about the same size as bouncy balls. I reached in and pulled out a handful.

  Sassafras and I silently stared. Then I felt a frog on my head.

  “WHOA, ZOEY! IT’S OPEN!” Pip exclaimed. He jumped down to my wrist and touched a seed with a webbed hand. “You left the barn door open so I just let myself in. What happened?”

  “I think the pod liked my singing? I kept going, and it popped open!”

  Just then Mom walked in with a sandwich. “Do I hear my favorite frog?”

  Pip hopped over to Mom, and we told her everything we’d figured out so far.

  “Well, this certainly makes things interesting,” she said. “You couldn’t figure out any hints on where the seed pod might grow from reading. Can you think of something other than reading that we could try?”

  I tapped my trusty Thinking Goggles. “Do you think we could—? I mean, would it be safe to use some of the seeds in an experiment?”

  “Aha! Good thinking,” said Mom. “That’s what I would try next. We have a good number of seeds. What sort of experiment do you have in mind?”

  Once I explained my idea to Mom, it was time to get to work.

  CHAPTER 5

  EXPERIMENT!

  I dashed back into the barn. Sassafras lay sleeping with Pip curled up on top of him. I tossed my science journal onto the table. I’d meant to do it quietly, but it made a big slamming noise instead. Sassafras jumped up, launching Pip into the air.

  “Aaaaaaahhhhh!” yelled Pip as he flew across the room.

  Whoops.

  “Sorry, guys!”

  “Now that I’m wide awake,” said Pip as he brushed himself off, “you might as well tell me what you’ve figured out.”

  “I made a list of all the places around here that I thought the plant might grow. Mom had a few ideas to add, and now we have so many great things to try. Rocks, water, sand, soil—here, I’ve got a whole list written down.”

  Pip looked over what I’d written and scratched his head. “So how will this tell us where our plant is from again?”

&n
bsp; “If we can figure out what our seeds grow best in, that will give us a big clue. Like if the seeds start growing on rocks, we know the pod probably came from the top of one of the mountains, or any other place around here that has a lot of rocks all in one spot.”

  Pip nodded. “Oh, now I get it. So first we need to try all these things, and then we’ll use that answer to figure out where we should take the pod!”

  “Exactly! I want to get these seeds back to the right place right away. I don’t know if they’re going to do something weird like dry out, or I don’t even know what. So let’s get cracking!” I grabbed my science journal and a pen and started writing as I spoke. “First, we start with our question.”

  “And next is our hypothesis. So here is where we make a guess. What do you think, Pip? Where will our mystery seeds grow?”

  “Hmm.” Pip tapped his chin. “I think the mystery seeds will grow in water. Because the seed pod looks like a merhorse stone, and those are usually underwater.”

  “Ooh, great guess, Pip!” I wrote down his guess and then added mine.

  “OK, now we need to figure out all the materials we need.”

  “You said sand, water, rocks, and … I don’t remember the others.” Pip shrugged.

  “Oh, and soil and that mix of sand and moss Mom told me to try. Here we go …”

  I tapped my pencil on my lip. “How many seeds do we have?”

  Pip carefully counted and announced, “Twenty-four!”

  “OK, perfect. We want to try six different ways to grow them … so with twenty-four seeds … we can put four seeds in each container!”

  Pip made six little piles of four seeds each.

  “OK, I can get pots and labels from inside, potting soil from the greenhouse, rocks from our driveway, stream water from the stream …”