My friends are altogether in the clearing. Norman and some ants are playing tag. Morzant is flying a saucer-shaped kite. Penny tries to help Beverly spread a checkered blanket on the ground, but three beagle puppies dart underneath it and tug at its corners. Bigfoot sprays pest repellent from a can as flying squirrels swarm around him.
A word bubble appears over one of the beagle puppies. Inside are the words: Is it time yet?
“It’s time,” Bigfoot says.
Bigfoot tells me to turn off the lights. It’s daytime and we’re outside, but my dream self knows to tap the caterpillar resting on a nearby tree branch. Suddenly it’s nighttime. Crickets chirp. Owls hoot. Frogs recite When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.
Bigfoot throws a water balloon into the air. A high-pitched whistle echoes around us.
“Pull!” he shouts.
Norman draws an invisible squirt gun from an invisible holster. He fires an invisible walnut at the balloon. The balloon explodes with a crick-crack-crackety-crick-crack. I wait for water to splash me, but instead colorful, glow-in-the-dark streamers twirl to the ground, sizzling and fizzling as they fall.
“Oooooo,” Beverly says.
“Ahhhhh,” Penny says.
Bigfoot throws balloon after balloon. Norman shoots invisible walnut after invisible walnut. Spectacular displays light up the night sky.
Once Norman misses his target. Another word bubble appears over the beagle puppy: Rats. A dud.
The other two beagle puppies begin to chant, “Grand finale! Grand finale! Grand finale!”
Bigfoot loads a waterbed into a catapult and launches it.
“Rub-a-dub-dub!” he shouts.
This time Norman shoots an invisible watermelon out of an invisible canon. The tub explodes. There’s a tremendous BOOM! that shakes the flying squirrels out of the trees. Luminous books fall from the sky like candy from a piñata. My friends stash the books into picnic baskets.
THE RITES AND WRONGS OF JANICE WILLS
by Joanna Pearson
[YOUNG ADULT]
Arthur A. Levine-Scholastic
July 1, 2011
NERD GIRLS: THE RISE OF THE DORKASAURUS
by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
[YOUNG ADULT]
Hyperion-Disney
July 5, 2011
BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. by Medeia Sharif
[YOUNG ADULT]
Flux-Llewellyn
July 8, 2011
THE SUMMER I LEARNED TO FLY by Dana Reinhardt
[YOUNG ADULT]
Wendy Lamb-Random House
July 12, 2011
THE ELEPHANT SCIENTIST (SCIENTISTS IN THE FIELD SERIES) by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell
[MIDDLE GRADE—NON-FICTION]
Houghton Mifflin
July 11, 2011
THE BRAVEST WOMAN IN AMERICA by Marissa Moss,
illustrated by Andrea U’Ren
[PICTURE BOOK—NON-FICTION]
Tricycle Press-Random House
July 12, 2011
DOUBLE PLAY: MONKEYING AROUND WITH ADDITION
by Betsy Franco, illustrated by Doug Cushman
[PICTURE BOOK]
Tricycle Press-Random House
July 12, 2011
MONSTER HUNT: EXPLORING MYSTERIOUS CREATURES WITH JIM ARNOSKY by Jim Arnosky
[PICTURE BOOK—NON-FICITON]
Hyperion-Disney
July 12, 2011
A SCARY SCENE IN A SCARY MOVIE by Matt Blackstone
[YOUNG ADULT]
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
July 5, 2011
WHITE CROW by Marcus Sedgwick
[YOUNG ADULT]
Roaring Brook
July 5, 2011
TEXAS GOTHIC by Rosemary Clement-Moore
[YOUNG ADULT]
Delacorte-Random House
July 12, 2011
SIDEKICKS by Dan Santat
[MIDDLE GRADE—GRAPHIC NOVEL]
Arthur A. Levine-Scholastic
July 1, 2011
THE SPAGHETTI DETECTIVES by Andreas Steinhofel
[MIDDLE GRADE]
The Chicken House-Scholastic
July 1, 2011
THE ULTIMATE TOP SECRET GUIDE TO TAKING OVER THE WORLD by Kenn Nesbitt, illustrated by Ethan Long
[MIDDLE GRADE]
Soucebooks Jabberwocky-Sourcebooks
July 1, 2011
CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING
by Tommy Greenwald, with illustrations by J.P. Coovert
[MIDDLE GRADE]
Roaring Brook
July 5, 2011
EMMY AND THE RATS IN THE BELFRY by Lynne Jonell,
with illustrations by Jonathan Bean
[MIDDLE GRADE—THIRD IN THE SERIES]
Henry Holt
July 5, 2011
FALLING FOR HAMLET by Michelle Ray
[YOUNG ADULT]
Little, Brown-Hachette
July 5, 2011
DANCING HOME by Alma Flor Ada and
Gabriel M. Zubizarreta
[MIDDLE GRADE]
Atheneum-Simon & Schuster
July 12, 2011
SYLVIA & AKI by Winifred Conkling
[MIDDLE GRADE]
Tricycle Press-Random House
July 12, 2011
SEVEN LITTLE MICE GO TO SCHOOL by Kazuo Iwamura
[PICTURE BOOK]
NorthSouth
July 1, 2011
MELVIN AND THE BOY by Lauren Castillo
[PICTURE BOOK]
Henry Holt
July 5, 2011
GOOD NIGHT, WORLD by Willa Perlman,
illustrated by Carolyn Fisher
[PICTURE BOOK]
Beach Lane-Simon & Schuster
July 12, 2011
SAY WHAT? by Angela DiTerlizzi, illustrated by Joey Chou
[PICTURE BOOK]
Beach Lane-Simon & Schuster
July 12, 2011
TEN RULES YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT BREAK IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE THE SCHOOL BUS by John Grandits,
illustrated by Michael Allen Austin
[PICTURE BOOK]
Clarion-Houghton Mifflin
July 4, 2011
WIENER WOLF by Jeff Crosby
[PICTURE BOOK]
Hyperion-Disney
July 5, 2011
HORNBOOKS AND INKWELLS by Verla Kay,
illustrated by S.D. Schindler
[PICTURE BOOK]
Putnam-Penguin
July 7, 2011
A PLACE TO CALL HOME by Alexis Deacon,
illustrated by Viviane Schwarz
[PICTURE BOOK]
Candlewick
July 12, 2011
TOO MANY FROGS! by Ann Hassett,
illustrated by John Hassett
[PICTURE BOOKS]
Houghton Mifflin
July 11, 2011
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