Grumplets and Pests Read online

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1: GROWING FOOD

  CHAPTER 2: FARMER’S MARKET

  CHAPTER 3: PIP

  CHAPTER 4: MERHORSES!

  CHAPTER 5: FOOTPRINT

  CHAPTER 6: MAKING A MOLD

  CHAPTER 7: CHEWING?

  CHAPTER 8: FOREST MONSTERS

  CHAPTER 9: GRUMPLETS

  CHAPTER 10: APHIDS

  CHAPTER 11: PIP (AGAIN)

  CHAPTER 12: CANDY

  CHAPTER 13: PIP (AGAIN, AGAIN)

  CHAPTER 14: THE BIG PLAN

  CHAPTER 15: TINY!

  CHAPTER 16: DISAPPOINTED

  CHAPTER 17: TIME TO CHECK

  GLOSSARY

  FOR NINA AND TIM – ML

  FOR BUBS AND GOOSE (WITH AN ESPECIALLY BIG

  SHOUT–OUT TO GOOSIE FOR GIVING ME THE CREATURE

  NAME AND IDEA FOR THIS STORY!). – 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 2019946195

  ISBN 978-1-943147-67-0; ISBN 978-1-943147-68-7; ISBN 978-1-943147-69-4

  Text copyright 2019 by Asia Citro

  Illustrations copyright 2019 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: July 2019 | 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

  GROWING FOOD

  “Blech!” Pip wrinkled his froggy nose as he poked at a leaf in my garden. “Humans really eat these things?”

  I giggled and nodded. “Kale is totally delicious! My mom makes kale chips by tearing it up, adding a little salt, and baking it in the oven. They taste just like potato chips—yum!”

  Pip narrowed his eyes at me. “Potatoes are also a weird thing to eat. Humans are so strange.”

  “Mrrowww?” Sassafras tapped a kale plant further down the row.

  “Oh no, not you, too!” I scooted over and ruffled his fur. But he didn’t look up at me. Instead he kept poking at a kale leaf. He sniffed at the leaf’s underside and leapt backward.

  “Oooh, what is that?” I touched what looked like a pile of tiny green dots on the bottom of my kale leaf. They moved. “Whoaaa!”

  Sassafras started sneezing and snorting. He batted at his nose with his paws.

  “Oh dear.” I grabbed him and plucked a single green dot off his nose. I held it up to my face and squinted. “I see six legs! It must be some kind of insect?”

  “Oooh, an insect?” Pip hopped over. “Finally, something delicious in your garden!”

  “Ha,” I said as I got down on my stomach to take a closer look at the kale leaf. “Nooo! There are a ton of tiny holes. These bugs are eating my kale!”

  I tried shaking the leaf, and Sassafras tried batting at it, but the bugs stayed put.

  “Allow me!” said Pip. He reached out, pulled off a bug, and popped it on his tongue. But then he made an “O” shape with his mouth and his eyes crossed. “Ew! They’re so sour!” He handed the wet bug back to me. “Sorry, Zoey.”

  “Um…” I wiped the slobbery bug on my pants. “Thanks for trying, Pip.” I sat down with a big sigh. “We can’t get them off—and there are so many! Apparently they’re too gross to eat. But they’re going to eat all of my kale if we don’t do something!”

  Pip patted my arm. “I’m sure you’ll think of a plan, Zoey!”

  I turned to Sassafras. “What do you think, Sass? Any ideas?” But he wasn’t listening. He was looking off into the trees, ears twitching.

  “Maybe Mom will know what—” I started to say before Pip shouted at me.

  “Why did you even invite me over if you’re just going to go back inside?!” He crossed his arms and scowled.

  “Well, I—” But before I could finish, he kept on yelling!

  “Your garden isn’t fun, anyway! I’m tired of playing with you and Sassafras! I’m LEAVING!” He gave a big stomp and hopped off.

  “Pip? Wait!” I called after him. But he didn’t turn around.

  “Well, that was weird,” I said to Sassafras, but he was still super distracted. I carefully plucked a tiny bug off the leaf to show my mom. I was almost to the house when I realized Sassafras wasn’t following me.

  “Are you coming, Sass?”

  He looked between me and the forest, meowed, and then trotted inside with me.

  CHAPTER 2

  FARMER’S

  MARKET

  Mom poked the bug with one finger. “Bummer. You’ve officially got your first garden pest!”

  “Garden pest?” I asked. That sure didn’t sound good.

  “We aren’t the only ones who like kale.” Mom chuckled. “Slugs, snails, aphids—they’re all creatures who can eat or damage your food before you get a chance to eat it. This little guy here is an aphid.”

  “But last year I didn’t have any on my kale! Did I do something wrong this year?”

  “Not at all! Depending on the weather and predators and other things like that, you’ll see more or less of certain pests each year. Last summer was pretty cool out—I bet it wasn’t warm enough for the aphids.”

  My shoulders slumped. “Will there be any left by the time it’s ready to harvest?”

  “Are you guys ready for the market?” Dad called from the front door.

  Mom gave my shoulders a squeeze. “Don’t worry, sweetie. There are things we can do to help your plants. Let’s figure it out after the farmer’s market.”

  I nodded, but I didn’t feel a whole lot better. It would be so unfair if all that time I’d spent growing the different plants from seeds was a waste because the aphids ate it up.

  I was grumbly on the way to the market, but I cheered up once we got there. There were always so many fun foods to taste, and I liked finding weird vegetables and fruits to try.

  I stood in front of my favorite fruit booth, trying to decide which sample to try first when two little arms wrapped around me and squeezed really tightly. Which could only mean…

  “Sophie!” I squeaked.

  Sophie laughed behind me and let go. I could breathe again! My friend could definitely give a tight hug. She’d make a good boa constrictor.

  “Oh my gosh, Zoey, you have to come see this!” She grabbed my hand and dragged me to a new booth I hadn’t seen before.

  Sophie pointed to a container with weird black and orange bugs crawling around inside.

  “GUESS! Guess what those are!”
<
br />   “Ummm, some kind of beetle maybe?”

  “They’re BABY LADYBUGS!”

  “No wayyy!” I peered closer. “Are you sure?”

  “Aren’t they neat?” A lady with a nametag that said “Nina” who was working at the booth smiled at us. “They look like skinny long beetles now. But after they shed a few times and grow, they’ll pupate. And when they’re done changing things up in there, perfect little ladybugs will come out!” She pointed to a pupa in the back of the container. It looked a little bit more like a ladybug—the right shape, anyway. “Do you like bugs?”

  Sophie and I nodded furiously.

  “Well, if you two garden at all, you’ll love the bugs we have here today!” She waved her hand over some different containers.

  “Ladybugs, lacewings, nematodes, and—oh, praying mantises!” I cheered. “I love those!”

  “All of them eat garden pests, so they’re pretty popular among organic gardeners. Do you guys know what organic gardening is?” Nina asked.

  “It’s when you grow your garden or food without using pesticide,” Sophie said.

  “Pesticides are bad for lots of creatures,” I added. “Plus, if you use a lot of them, like on a farm, and it rains, they can get into local streams and really hurt the things that live there—like merhorses!”

  Both Sophie and Nina stared at me.

  “Mer-what?” Nina asked.

  “Uhhh, I meant… mayflies!” Phew. That was a close one.

  “Oh wow, you know about stream bugs?” Nina raised her eyebrows.

  Sophie mumbled, “Merhorses?” and shook her head once.

  “Pesticides can be bad for a lot of reasons—mayflies included!” Nina continued. “When you don’t want to use pesticides, you have a few choices.” She grabbed a jar and opened the lid and pulled out a HUGE green caterpillar.

  “Whoaaa!” Sophie and I said at the same time.

  Nina plonked the caterpillar in my hand. “Some pests, like this tomato hornworm or slugs, are big enough that you can pick them by hand.”

  I handed the caterpillar to Sophie so she could have a turn.

  “If that isn’t an option, another organic gardening method is planting a trap plant when you’re making your garden.” Nina lifted a flowering plant off the table.

  “Nasturtiums!” I grinned. “I love eating those! The flowers are delicious!”

  Nina laughed. “That’s exactly how they work! If you plant them with your crop, often the pests will eat the nasturtiums instead.”

  I looked over the containers of insects. “So let’s say you were growing kale, and you already planted it and there were a TON of aphids on it. Maybe some of these guys could save the day?”

  “Exactly!” Nina said. “Ladybug larvae would be really helpful. And we’re selling them today.”

  Sophie and I looked at each other and said, “Be right back!” at the same time.

  We ran to get our parents from one of the fresh berry booths. I couldn’t resist sneaking one sample raspberry before grabbing my mom’s hand and telling her the great news. “Mom! Come see! I’ve got the solution for my garden pest problem right over here.”

  CHAPTER 3

  PIP

  Sophie and I sat cross-legged in my garden with two open containers of ladybug larvae between us.

  “Whoa, look at the markings on this one!” Sophie held out her finger, and we oohed and aahed over the patterns on its back.

  Sophie didn’t have any aphids at her house, but she really wanted some of the ladybug larvae. So our parents decided that we could release both sets of larvae on my poor kale plants. They needed as much help as they could get.

  A tiny orange paw darted toward one of the containers. “No way, buddy!” I scolded Sassafras.

  “I still wish she had let me buy the tomato hornworm.” Sophie sighed.

  “But it’s a PEST!” I reminded her.

  “Yeahhh, I know. But it was so pretty! And also it grows into a moth.” Sophie grinned. “I love moths.”

  I shuddered a little. I loved looking at moths from a distance. But their creepy Velcro-like feet and hairy-looking bodies freaked me out. Nina had showed us what kind of moth the tomato hornworm turned into. I was secretly glad that Sophie wasn’t going to have that thing in her bedroom.

  “Zoooeeyyy!” a little sing-songy voice called out. Sassafras bounded over to Pip who was walking out of the forest. “Oh, I didn’t know you had company!”

  Pip walked over and stood right in front of Sophie. Then he stuck out his tongue and made googly eyes at her.

  Nothing.

  Next he did a little tap dance.

  Still nothing.

  Pip laughed. “Oh, humans. They miss so much!”

  I sighed. I kept hoping that one day Sophie would be able to see magical creatures. Of all of my friends, she’d be the one. But still only my mom and I could see them. That meant I couldn’t say anything to Pip with Sophie around, without seeming more than a little weird.

  “Ummm, Sophie?” I asked. “I’m a little hungry—are you?”

  “Oooh, snack time? Great idea!”

  “Ummm…” I looked around for some kind of excuse. Aha! “Uh, I’m worried Sassafras will try to eat our larvae again. Would you go ask my parents for a snack? That way I can keep an eye on him.”

  “Oh, sure!” She set down the ladybug larva she’d been holding and ran across the yard to the house.

  “Sorry about yesterday.” Pip kicked at some dirt with his foot. “I guess I just had a really bad case of the grumplets.”

  I waited until Sophie was inside the house to reply. “Grumplets? Wait, do you mean a bad case of the grumpies?”

  “What are grumpies?” asked Pip.

  “What are grumplets?”

  “I don’t know—a grumpy forest creature?” Pip put a webbed finger to his chin. “It’s a thing my mom and grandma used to say when I was little if I was too fussy.”

  “Huh. I’ve heard people say ‘a bad case of the grumpies’ when someone’s grumpy. But I don’t think they were talking about a forest creature.”

  Pip shrugged and peered into an open container of ladybug larvae. “Oooh, what are those?”

  “Oh! They’re baby ladybugs! I got them at the farmer’s market. They’re going to help by eating all those pesky aphids that are on my kale.”

  Pip shook his head. “I’m glad those things taste good to someone. Blech.”

  The back door swung open. “Sophie’s coming back. Don’t worry about earlier. We’re all grumpy sometimes!”

  “Thanks, Zoey.” Pip gave my wrist a hug. “See you later!”

  But he didn’t go quite yet. He waited until Sophie sat down with our snack. Then he started cartwheeling away. “BYYYYEEEE SOOOPPHHHIIIEEE!” he sang as he tumbled into the forest.

  I couldn’t help but giggle.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Sophie with a mouth full of strawberry.

  “Uhh, I was just thinking how hilarious a cartwheeling frog would be,” I said, grabbing a handful of delicious berries.

  “That would be funny!” Sophie said and giggled, too.

  CHAPTER 4

  MERHORSES!

  “Hey, cutie!” I said to the merhorse I held in my cupped hand underwater. I gently pet it with my thumb. Summer was such a great time to visit the merhorses because the creek water wasn’t so freezing cold on my bare legs and hands! I’d been so busy with the aphids and kale that we hadn’t gone to see the merhorses all week! Now that the ladybug larvae were on the job, I could finally take a break from the pests.

  The merhorse batted its eyes and said something back to me, but without Pip here to translate, all I saw was bubbles. Oh well. I’m sure it said something nice.

  “Isn’t this one’s mane so beautiful, Sassafras?” I moved my hands through the water toward where Sassafras was sitting. Only… Sassafras wasn’t there anymore.

  “Sass?” I turned around and saw his poof of a tail twitching a little ways behind me. />
  “What do you hear, buddy?” I strained my ears. Oh! Something was rustling—maybe a bird? It was making a weird noise. “What is that?”

  I let the merhorse out of my hands to get a better view of Sassafras when the merhorse kicked me!

  “OW!” I exclaimed. The happy-just-a-minute-ago merhorse pawed at my hands really hard with its front hoof. “Oh my goodness! What’s the matter?”

  It frowned and snorted. I quickly put it in the stream by another merhorse. Now I could hear even more of those weird noises behind me, but I wanted to make sure the merhorse I’d been holding was OK.

  I grabbed my underwater viewer so I could see under the surface better. And oh gosh—the two merhorses were fighting! They were kicking at each other!

  Over near some tall grass, Sassafras gave a loud “mrrowww!”

  “One sec, Sass!” I called out. I used the viewer to look across the stream. The merhorses on the other side of the stream seemed fine. Maybe these two just didn’t get along? Still… I’d never seen merhorses be anything but sweet to each other and to me.

  Sassafras chattered. I looked up just as he leapt over some grass and ran toward the trees. “Sassafras! Wait!” I dropped my underwater viewer and bounded after him.

  He stopped a few feet away and sniffed at something in the sandy dirt. I crouched down and gave him a pet.

  “Whoaaa!” I reached a hand out to touch what he’d found. “Those are some seriously weird footprints! What kind of creature left these?”

  CHAPTER 5

  FOOTPRINT

  “Well, it sort of looked like, uh… I mean, it had five toes. Or maybe six? Ummm…” Uh-oh. Remembering the footprint was hard now that it wasn’t in front of me.

  Mom nodded and squinted and then nodded some more. Then her eyes got big and she held up a finger. “I’ve got an idea!” she said and went to the craft supply closet.

  She set a big bucket labeled Plaster of Paris on the kitchen table with a thud.