by Ellen Potter
For Adam, who makes the Big Wide World a better place.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Potter, Ellen, 1963-author. | Sala, Felicita, illustrator.
Title: The bog beast / story by Ellen Potter ; art by Felicita Sala.
Description: New York : Amulet Books, 2020. | Series: Big Foot and Little Foot book 4 | Audience: Ages 6 to 9. | Summary: On Bimbling Day, when young Sasquatches hope to earn the right to explore the North Woods on their own, Hugo, Boone, and Gigi become stranded and encounter strange and mysterious creatures.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020009344 | ISBN 9781419743221 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781683357919 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Sasquatch-Fiction. | Friendship-Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers-Fiction. | Monsters-Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.P8518 Bog 2020 | DDC [E]-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020009344
ISBN 978-1-4197-4322-1
eISBN 978-1-68335-791-9
Text copyright © 2020 Ellen Potter
Illustrations copyright © 2020 Felicita Sala
Book design by Brenda E. Angelilli
Published in 2020 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
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The Big Foot and Little Foot series
Book One: Big Foot and Little Foot
Book Two: The Monster Detector
Book Three: The Squatchicorns
Book Four: The Bog Beast
Book Five: The Gremlin’s Shoes
1
Bimbling Day
Deep in the cold North Woods, there lived a young Sasquatch named Hugo. He was bigger than you but smaller than me, and he was hairier than both of us. He lived in apartment 1G in the very back of Widdershins Cavern with his mother and father and his older sister, Winnie.
Hugo was hopping with excitement that morning because it was Bimbling Day! He brushed his hair very quickly—or as quickly as a Sasquatch can. Remember, Sasquatches have an awful lot of hair to brush. At breakfast, he shoveled down his oatmeal and gooseberries so fast that he choked on it and a gooseberry flew out of his nose.
“Slow down, pal,” Hugo’s dad said.
But Hugo couldn’t slow down. Bimbling Day was a very important day for squidges (a squidge is what you call a young Sasquatch). Bimbling Day was the first day squidges went out into the North Woods all by themselves. The teacher gave each squidge a list of things to collect in the woods, sort of like a scavenger hunt. If a squidge collected all of those things, they earned a Bimble Badge. That meant they could go into the North Woods on their own whenever they liked. If they didn’t collect everything on the list, they had to wait a whole year to try again.
Hugo couldn’t wait to bimble (a Sasquatch word for roaming the woods and finding things). He loved the greeny-ness and the sunshiny-ness of the North Woods. But most of all, he loved Ripple Worm River, which twisted and turned through the woods like a giant, glittering worm. The best thing about the river was that his friend Boone lived on the banks of it in a little blue house with a red roof.
When it was time to leave for school, Hugo’s mom looked him over carefully. She brushed some stray hairs from his shoulders. Sasquatches shed a lot during the spring.
“You’ll be careful today, won’t you, Hugo?” Mom said in her worried voice.
“Of course I will,” Hugo told her.
“Yeah, you don’t want to wind up like Annabelle Loody,” his sister, Winnie, said in a spooky voice.
“Who’s that?” Hugo asked.
Hugo’s mom and dad exchanged a look.
“Don’t let her scare you,” Dad said to Hugo. He reached out and wiggled Hugo’s ear, which is kind of like when a Human tousles another Human’s hair. “You’ll tell us all about your adventures when you come home.”
“If you come home,” Winnie whispered to him as they left the apartment.
2
The Mystery of Annabelle Loody
Hugo and Winnie started down the dark passageway toward school. The Academy for Curious Squidges & Boone was on the west end of the cavern, and they lived on the east end, so they had a long, winding walk every morning.
“Who’s Annabelle Loody?” Hugo asked Winnie.
“Dad said not to scare you, so I’m not telling. See? I’m buttoning my lips.” Winnie pretended to button her lips.
“You’re just making her up, right?” Hugo said.
But Winnie didn’t answer him because her lips were buttoned.
They stopped at apartment 1B. That was where Hugo’s friend Gigi lived. Gigi’s big sister, Hazel, opened the door, and both she and Gigi joined Hugo and Winnie on their walk to school.
Winnie’s lip button must have fallen off, because she started talking to Hazel right away. She squealed when Hazel showed her the latest copy of Squoosh, a magazine for teenage squidges. (“Squoosh” is Sasquatch slang for a cute Sasquatch boy.) Winnie and Hazel immediately starting talking about one of the cute squooshes in the magazine.
“If I ever met him in person,” said Hazel, “I would, like, scream and then pass out.”
“That would make a good first impression,” Gigi said, and rolled her eyes at Hugo. Hugo rolled his eyes back at her. Then he noticed something.
“Hey, what happened to your braid, Gigi?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not there. You always wear a braid.”
“Not today. Braids can get caught in branches. I read about it in this book.” Gigi reached into her backpack and pulled out a thick red book. Its title was Absolutely Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the North Woods by Dr. Oliver Feathergill.
“Dr. Feathergill is an explorer. His book gives you all kinds of tips, like what to do in a lightning storm and how to get water from trees. I’m taking the book with me on my bimble.”
Hugo was beginning to feel a little worried. “The only things I’m bringing are five acorn butter–and–raspberry cream sandwiches.”
“Oh. Well, those are important, too, Hugo,” said Gigi brightly. “I just want to be extra prepared for Bimbling Day. After all, none of us wants to wind up like Annabelle Loody.”
“Annabelle Loody!? Wait. Is she real?” Hugo asked.
“Of course she’s real. She’s in the book.” Gigi patted the big red book. “There’s a whole chapter called ‘The Mysterious Disappearance of Annabelle Loody.’ It says that ten years ago, she went out on Bimbling Day, and she never returned.”
“What happened to her?” Hugo asked.
Gigi shrugged. “No one knows.”
“Oh yes they do!” cried Hazel. She and Winnie had stopped looking at Squoosh magazine long enough to eavesdrop. “Annabelle Loody was eaten by a Bog Beast.”
“Bog Beasts love to eat little squidges,” added Winnie, widening her eyes at Hugo and Gigi and smacking he
r lips. “Yum, yum!”
Gigi just flapped her hand at them. “Don’t listen to them, Hugo. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”
“Really?” Winnie replied snarkily. “Hazel and I earned our Bimble Badges already, so we know more than you two do.”
“Gigi knows everything about everything!” Hugo declared. He meant it, too. Gigi read more books than anyone he knew.
“There’s probably a perfectly ordinary reason why Annabelle Loody disappeared,” said Gigi.
“Like what?” asked Hugo.
“Well, maybe she got swallowed up by a sinkhole in the bog. Or maybe she fell into the river. Or maybe she got caught by a Human. There are all kinds of things that can go wrong on Bimbling Day.”
Bimbling Day had started off seeming so exciting, and now Hugo was beginning to feel more and more nervous. He sighed. Sometimes he wished Gigi didn’t know everything about everything.
3
Hair Ball Collection
When Hugo and Gigi arrived at their classroom, Hugo’s best friend, Boone, was already there. Boone was carrying a fat backpack. Sticking out of the backpack were a homemade spyglass, a yardstick, and a net on a long pole. On his head was a black wool hat with one long antenna on it.
“Why are you carrying all that stuff?” Hugo asked Boone.
“For Bimbling Day. I always carry my gear when I go walking through the woods. You never know when you might run into a cryptid.”
Boone knew all about cryptids, which is a fancy word for mysterious creatures.
“Why are you wearing that hat?” Hugo asked.
Boone reached up to his hat and pulled the antenna down. On its tip was a small round lens. He placed the lens over his eye. “It’s a magnifying glass. I’ll use it to examine any strange footprints.”
“Wow. You thought of everything.”
“What did you bring?” Boone asked, nodding toward Hugo’s backpack.
“Five acorn butter–and–raspberry cream sandwiches,” Hugo muttered.
“Oh. That’s good, too,” said Boone.
“Hey, Boone,” Hugo said, trying to keep his voice casual, “have you ever heard of Bog Beasts?”
“Sure. Green, slimy creatures with big claws. They live in swampy areas. The amazing thing about Bog Beasts is that they have plants growing out of their bodies instead of hair.”
“Do you think there are any Bog Beasts around here?” Hugo asked.
Boone thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t be surprised. The North Woods are full of strange and mysterious things.”
That was true. Once, Hugo and Boone had spotted an Ogopogo, a kind of sea serpent, while they were sailing in Boone’s rowboat, the Voyajer.
“If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll see one today,” Boone said.
“Yeah, maybe,” Hugo agreed uncertainly. “If we’re lucky.”
“Good morning, class!” Mrs. Nukluk walked in carrying a basket. She swatted at the air as she walked. During shedding season, a classroom full of active squidges can get very hairy. There were strands of squidge hair floating all around, settling in corners, and, worst of all, landing on Mrs. Nukluk’s goose-feather cloak. Her cloak had a knack for attracting squidge hair. Frowning, Mrs. Nukluk picked some hairs off of it.
“Can I have those hairs, Mrs. Nukluk?” Malcolm asked excitedly.
“Why on earth would you want them, Malcolm?”
“For my hair ball collection!” he said. From his backpack, he pulled out a ball of hair the size of a cantaloupe.
Mrs. Nukluk made a face. “Put that thing away, Malcolm.” She took a deep breath and turned to the class. “All right, everyone, we will be heading out into the North Woods in just a few minutes. But first”—she reached into her basket and pulled out a red spray can—“I will be giving out cans of Human Repellant.”
Mrs. Nukluk gave each squidge and Boone a red spray can. Human Repellant came in handy when you were walking in the woods and suspected there were Humans nearby. When you sprayed it, it smelled just like a skunk. Humans hate that smell. (Sasquatches don’t like it very much either, but they don’t hate it nearly as much as Humans do.) If a Human smelled it, they would think there was a skunk nearby and leave the area quickly.
Roderick raised his hand. “Mrs. Nukluk, I don’t think it’s fair that Boone gets to earn a Bimble Badge. He lives in the woods. Also, he’s a Human. If another Human sees him, it’s no big deal!”
“Yes, I’ve thought about that,” Mrs. Nukluk said. “That’s why this year you will be going out in teams instead of by yourselves. That will make things fairer.”
Everyone clapped at this news! It was much more fun—and much less scary—to explore the North Woods if you had a friend with you.
All the clapping caused a flurry of squidge hair to fly around the classroom.
“Oh my,” said Mrs. Nukluk, picking stray hairs off of her goose-feather cloak, “we are shedding a lot, aren’t we?”
“More for my hair ball collection!” cried Malcolm as he snatched at the hairs in the air.
4
Teammates
After everyone settled down, Mrs. Nukluk said she would announce the teams.
Hugo and Boone looked at each other and grinned. They knew they made a great team. They had been on adventures together before.
“Boone,” Mrs. Nukluk said, “you will team up with Roderick.”
Hugo gasped. Boone’s eyes widened in shock.
“That’s totally unfair!” Roderick cried. “Why do I have to team up with a Human?! He’ll just stomp around the woods and blabber loudly. Humans don’t know how to walk quietly in the woods like Sasquatches do.”
Mrs. Nukluk gave Roderick a warning look. But she also told Boone he’d have to leave all his noisy cryptid-finding tools in the classroom.
“Pip, Malcolm, and Izzy will be teammates,” she continued.
The three of them grinned at one another. Three squidges on a team was even better than two.
“And last but not least . . . Hugo and Gigi will be teammates.”
Although Hugo was disappointed not to be paired with Boone, he was glad to be on Gigi’s team. She may not have explored the woods already like Boone had, but she knew everything about everything, and that was almost as good.
“Each team will bring back three items.” Mrs. Nukluk turned and wrote the items on the blackboard:
“You must bring back all three items in order to receive your Bimble Badge,” said Mrs. Nukluk.
Finally, Mrs. Nukluk had them practice their knoodles, which were the alarm sounds a Sasquatch made when they were in trouble. Knooodle-knooodle-kooo! meant that a Human was approaching, while Knoodle-doodle-kikaroo! meant that you were hurt, and so on.
Boone had some trouble with the knoodles, since Sasquatches can make some sounds that Humans can’t.
Then Mrs. Nukluk went over all the safety rules. When she was finished, she asked, “What should you do if you find yourself in an emergency situation?”
“Don’t panic, take a deep breath, then make a plan!” everyone recited back to her.
She smiled. “Okay, class, I think you’re ready.”
5
Team Captain
When Hugo’s class stepped outside Widdershins Cavern and into the North Woods, the first thing they did was roll around in a mud pool. They rolled until all their hair was thick with the goopy mud. After that, they rolled on the ground until leaves and twigs stuck to their muddy hair. They did this to camouflage themselves. If they suddenly smelled a Human nearby, they would drop to the ground and keep very still. With luck, the Human wouldn’t notice them.
Boone rolled around in the mud and in the leaves and twigs as well. He didn’t really have to, since he didn’t need to hide from Humans, but he did it anyway.
When everyone was well camouflaged, Mrs. Nukluk gave each team a different map of the area they needed to explore to find their items.
Boone turned to Hugo. “Good luck, Big Foot,” he said.
“Good luck, Little Foot,” Hugo said to Boone.
They gave each other a hug. Hugo was careful not to hug too hard, though, since he was much stronger than Boone.
Hugo and Gigi examined their map. It looked like they were going to be bimbling in the southern part of the woods.
“A good team should have a Team Captain,” Gigi said.
“But there are only two of us. What if we both vote for ourselves as Team Captain?”
“We don’t actually have to vote,” Gigi replied. “A Team Captain is the one who naturally takes charge of things.”
Gigi took the big red book out of her backpack and flipped through the pages.
“The first thing we’ll collect is Bogbean,” Gigi said, taking charge. She sounded a lot like a Team Captain. “Bog-bean is used to heal aches and pains. That means it counts as our ‘something healing.’”
“Bogbean?” Hugo said nervously. “But Bogbean is . . . in the bog.”
“Of course, where else would it be? And look.” Gigi pointed to the map. “The bog is pretty close by.”
“But the Bog Beast lives in the bog!” Hugo blurted out.
“No, it doesn’t,” said Gigi.
“How do you know it doesn’t?”
“Because it’s not in the book,” she said simply, patting her big red book. “If the Bog Beast were real, Dr. Feathergill would have mentioned it.”
They followed the map, walking south. They walked very, very quietly, the way all squidges are taught to walk in the woods. Animals stopped what they were doing to watch them. A rabbit that was nibbling on wildflowers lifted its head and flicked its ears toward them curiously. Two young foxes raced between their legs for a minute before darting away again. (Animals are not scared of Sasquatches, because they know a Sasquatch would never hurt them.)
“Almost there,” Gigi said, looking at the map.
Hugo nodded, but he wasn’t happy to hear that. All he could think about was the Bog Beast and sinkholes and the mystery of Annabelle Loody.
