by Nancy Krulik
“But plants are boring,” Emma blurts out.
Ms. Frogbottom shoots her a look.
“No offense,” Emma says.
“None taken,” our teacher replies. “But I disagree.”
“Having a Venus flytrap in the classroom is going to be interesting,” Sofia insists.
“How?” I wonder. “You can’t pet it or play with it.”
“You can feed it,” Sofia explains.
“You mean water it,” Aiden corrects her.
Sofia shakes her head. “Venus flytraps are carnivorous. Which means—”
“They eat meat,” Tony finishes her sentence. “Like carnivorous dinosaurs.”
“You can take turns feeding Veronica,” Ms. Frogbottom tells us.
“What does she eat?” Olivia asks.
“Mostly bugs.” Sofia has already looked up Venus flytraps on her tablet. “Crickets, ants, grasshoppers, and beetles.”
Hmmm… that is kind of cool, actually.
“Imagine the experiments we can do,” Sofia continues. “We can see if Veronica responds to music. Scientists believe plants react to classical—”
“That’s it!” I shout, interrupting the class brain.
“What’s it?” Olivia asks me.
“Our front-page news story. It will be about Veronica, the meat-eating plant. No other class at Left Turn Alleyway Elementary has a pet like her.”
“Can I write the article?” Sofia asks me.
“Definitely!” I tell her. “And be sure to take pictures of Veronica eating.” I turn to my teacher. “It’s okay to take pictures in the classroom, right?”
Ms. Frogbottom smiles and nods.
“Great!” I exclaim.
Sofia isn’t the only person excited about Veronica now. I’m pretty psyched too. This is going to be a great story. It might even help us win that contest.
But if it doesn’t, the article will teach our readers something they didn’t know before, which is exactly what newspapers are supposed to do.
* * *
“How was school today?” our babysitter, Jessie, asks Olivia and me as we walk home later that afternoon.
“We got a lot of work done on our class newspaper,” I tell Jessie.
“And we went on another field trip,” Olivia adds.
“Yeah,” I say. “I guess you could say it was just a regular day in class 4A.”
WORDS YOU HEAR ON A FIELD TRIP TO SCOTLAND
bagpipes: A musical instrument that is made of a tube, a bag for air, and pipes from which the sound comes
blood pudding: A sausage made of pork blood, pork fat or beef fat, and oatmeal, oat groats, or barley groats; also called “blood sausage”
carnivore: An animal that primarily eats other animals
clan: A group of closely related families, often from the Scottish Highlands
herbivore: An animal that eats only plants
kilt: A knee-length pleated skirt-like garment with a plaid pattern, traditionally worn by men but now worn by girls and women as well
loch: The Scottish Gaelic word for a lake
loom: A frame or machine used for weaving thread or yarn to make cloth
rumbledethumps: A traditional side dish from the Scottish borders; it usually includes potatoes and cabbage
scone: A small biscuit-like cake made with flour, fat, milk, sweetener, and sometimes added fruit
tartan: A plaid pattern made of stripes of different widths and colors; Scottish clans have their own tartan patterns
More from this Series
Fangs for Having Us!
Book 3
Get a Hold of Your Elf!
Book 4
I Want My Mummy!
Book 1
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NANCY KRULIK is the author of more than 250 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times bestsellers. She is the author of several successful chapter book series and has sold nearly 10 million books worldwide. The popularity of her many series led the founders of the Morristown Festival of Books to declare that Nancy Krulik must reign as the queen of early chapter books. Nancy lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Nancy-Krulik
Also in the
MS. FROGBOTTOM’S 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 author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
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.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.
For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
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)
