Nancy Krulik - Fangs for Having Us!

MS. FROGBOTTOMS FIELD TRIPS

Fangs for Having Us!

Nancy Krulik

New York Times Bestselling Author

MS. FROGBOTTOMS FIELD TRIPS series

Book 1: I Want My Mummy!

Book 2: Long Time, No Sea Monster

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ALADDIN

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division

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www.SimonandSchuster.com

First Aladdin paperback edition July 2021

Text copyright 2021 by Nancy Krulik

Illustrations copyright 2021 by Harry Briggs

Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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Cover designed by Karin Paprocki

Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia

The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.

Library of Congress Control Number 2020952957

ISBN 9781534454033 (hc)

ISBN 9781534454026 (pbk)

ISBN 9781534454040 (ebook)

For Ian, who really knows how to take a bite out of life

N. K.

WELCOME TO CLASS 4A.

We have a warning for you:

BEWARE OF THE MAP.

Our classroom probably looks a lot like yours. We have chairs, desks, a whiteboard, and artwork on the walls. And of course we have our teacher, Ms. Frogbottom.

Actually, our teacher is the reason why things sometimes get strange around here. Because Ms. Frogbottom is kind of different.

For starters, she carries around a backpack. It looks like any other pack, but somehow strange things always seem to be popping out of it. You dont have to worry about most of the stuff our teacher carries. But if she reaches into her pack and pulls out her giant map, beware. That map is magic. It has the power to lift us right out of our classroom and drop us in some faraway place. And somehow its always the exact same time as when we left. No matter where we go, we wind up meeting frightening creatures none of us ever believed were realand getting into all sorts of trouble.

You dont have to be too scared, though. Things always seem to turn out okay for us in the end. Or at least they have so far.

Your new pals,

Aiden, Emma, Oliver, Olivia, Sofia, and Tony

MS. FROGBOTTOMS FIELD TRIP DOS AND DONTS

• Do stay together.
• Dont take photos. You cant experience the big world through a tiny camera hole.
• Dont bring home souvenirs. We want to leave the places we visit exactly as we found them.
• Dont use the word weird. The people, places, and food we experience are just different from what you are used to.
• Do have fun!

WHO WANTS TO HEAR A spooky story? Olivia asks as she finishes the last bite of her hot dog. I know a great one.

Not me, Tony tells her. I dont like being scared. He grows quiet for minute and listens to something. Did you hear footsteps in the woods? I think it was a bear. Have I mentioned that Im scared of bears?

Its just the wood crackling in the campfire, Olivias twin brother, Oliver, assures him. Youre imagining things.

I wonder why marshmallows taste so much better when theyre cooked over a fire, Aiden says.

Because the extreme heat makes the sugar caramelize, I explain. That changes the flavor of the marshmallow so its more buttery.

Aiden rolls his eyes. I wasnt really asking.

Well, how was I supposed to know that? He said I wonder. That usually means someone wants an answer.

Is there anything you dont know, Sofia? Emma asks me. She fixes the daisy crown on her head and pops a marshmallow into her mouth.

I dont answer Emma. I know shes not really asking. Shes just finding another way to call me the class brain. Our teacher, Ms. Frogbottom, has made it clear she doesnt like name-calling. And class brain is definitely name-calling.

Its not like I can help having the kind of memory that lets me remember everything I read or see. Its just the way my mind works.

Sometimes having a great memory can be really helpful. Like today, when our class got lost hiking around science camp. Ms. Frogbottom had left her map of the campground back in her tent. But shed shown us the map earlier, so Id memorized all the hiking trails. When we got lost on our hike, I was the one who got us back to our campsite.

I love being at science camp. Our class is here for two whole days, studying nature and sleeping under the stars. Today we did experiments to find out what kinds of minerals are in the soil. Tomorrow were going to test the creek water for bacteria. This is my kind of field trip!

We arent the only kids at the campground. Right now there are other classes sprinkled around the woods, sitting at their own fires, eating marshmallows and telling ghost stories. For them this is probably their biggest adventure for the whole school year.

But not for our class. We go on a lot of field trips. Ms. Frogbottom says people learn best from experiencing things. So she takes us out of school really often. Which we all love.

Well, almost all of us love it, anyway. Tonys not too sure.

Do you think there really are bears in the woods? he asks nervously.

Ms. Frogbottom smiles from across the campfire she built near our classs campsite. There may be, she says calmly. But as long as we clean up our trash and dont leave any food around, the bears should leave us alone.

Tony starts biting nervously at the skin around his nailswhich is kind of gross, since he still has dirt under his fingernails from this mornings experiments. I hate field trips, he complains. Theyre always so scary.

Come on, Tony, Oliver replies. Bears would be the least scary creatures weve met up with on one of Ms. Frogbottoms field trips.

I know what Oliver means. Ms. Frogbottom has taken us on some pretty interesting trips.

Once, she took us to Egypt, where we saw the pyramids and the tombs of the great pharaohs. That part was really fun. But meeting a living mummy who wanted to hold us prisoner in his tomb of doom sure wasnt.

Another time Ms. Frogbottom took us to Scotland. While we were there, we came face-to-face with the Loch Ness Monster! He was HUGE. To make things worse, Tony nearly drowned.