Nancy Krulik - Long Time, No Sea Monster

Ms. Frogbottom's Field Trips

Long Time, No Sea Monster

Nancy Krulik

New York Times Bestselling Author

Also in the

MS. FROGBOTTOMS FIELD TRIPS series

Book 1: I Want My Mummy!

COMING SOON:

Book 3: Fangs for Having Us!

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

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First Aladdin paperback edition April 2021

Text copyright 2021 by Nancy Krulik

Illustrations copyright 2021 by Harry Briggs

Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

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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 2020936865

ISBN 9781534454002 (hc)

ISBN 9781534453999 (pbk)

ISBN 9781534454019 (ebook)

For Danny, who goes wherever the music takes him

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 same exact 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!

1

LA, LA, LA, LA, LA.

Have you ever seen what little kids do when they dont want to hear something? They stick their fingers into their ears and start singing really loudly.

La, la, la, la, la.

I wish I could do that now, because I dont want to listen to Emma and Aiden fighting anymore.

But Im not a little kid. Im in fourth grade. And thats waaaayyy too big to stick your fingers into your ears.

Besides, I havent cleaned my ears for a while. It could be kind of gross in there.

Oliver! Are you listening to me? Emma sticks her face in front of mine.

Ive been listening to you, I assure her.

My dance recital should be on the front page of the 4A Gazette, Emma tells me. If you were a real newspaper editor, youd know that.

Emmas been saying things like that for the past fifteen minutes.

My flag football game belongs on the front page, Aiden argues. Were in the playoffs!

Aidens been saying things like that for the past fifteen minutes.

See what I mean about wanting to stick my fingers into my ears?

Come on, you guys, I urge them. Dont you want the 4A Gazette to win the student newspaper contest?

I already know the answer. Of course Aiden and Emma want to win that newspaper contest. We all do. The winning class gets a visit from Scoop Schaeffer. Hes a real reporter who has won all sorts of awards. It would be exciting to have him visit Class 4A. Especially for me, because as the editor of our class newspaper, I would be Scoops personal host. Id even get to have lunch with him.

But if were going to win that visit from Scoop, were going to have to come up with an amazing front-page story. One that no other class has thought of. A story that will grab readers and make them want to read.

A real scoop.

Hey, I wonder if thats how Scoop Schaeffer got his name.

Of course I want to win, Aiden insists. Thats why I think we need to have the flag football story on the front page. Think about itwell get the inside story on what it takes to make a championship team. I could interview myself.

Interview yourself? I shake my head. No way.

Sports stories go on the back page, Emma argues. But a dance recital could be front-page news.

Stop fighting, I plead with them. Everyone will get an article in the paper.

But not on the front page, Emma points out. And thats the page everyone sees, even if they dont read the whole paper.

Speaking of dancing, Olivia interrupts. Do you know how you make a tissue dance?

How? Emma wonders.

Put a little boogie in it! Olivia starts laughing at her own joke.

I shoot my twin a grateful look. Im glad she was able to stop Aiden and Emma from arguingif only for a second. Thats a funny one, I tell her.

Do newspapers have joke pages? Olivia asks.

I shake my head. Not usually. But they do have comic strips.

I could write a comic strip, Olivia says. I just cant draw it.

My sister and I both stare at Tony.

What? he asks, even though he knows what were thinking.