The Dino Files #2

by Stacy McAnulty

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2016 by Stacy McAnulty

  Cover art and interior illustrations copyright © 2016 by Mike Boldt

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  McAnulty, Stacy.

  Too big to hide / by Stacy McAnulty ; illustrated by Mike Boldt.

  p. cm. — (The dino files ; # 2)

  “A Stepping Stone Book.”

  Summary: Nine-year-old Frank, his cousin Sam, and cat Saurus’s efforts to keep Peanut the newly hatched dinosaur’s existence a secret become more complicated when their grandmother finds a new fossil that looks like Peanut’s horn, but a thousand times bigger, and a crew comes to make a movie about it.

  ISBN 978-0-553-52194-8 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-553-52195-5 (lib. bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-553-52196-2 (ebook)

  [1. Dinosaurs—Fiction. 2. Animals—Infancy—Fiction. 3. Fossils—Fiction. 4. Documentary films—Production and direction—Fiction. 5. Cousins—Fiction. 6. Paleontology—Fiction.] I. Boldt, Mike, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.M47825255To 2016 [Fic]—dc23 2015016996

  This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v4.1

  a

  For Lily

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  · 1 ·

  A Thousand Times Bigger

  · 2 ·

  Lots of Lettuce

  · 3 ·

  Stark? Stark!

  · 4 ·

  It’s a Cat

  · 5 ·

  Rapper

  · 6 ·

  Slash or Big V

  · 7 ·

  Playing Construction Site

  · 8 ·

  The Great Wall of China in Wyoming

  · 9 ·

  Dino Senses Are Tingling

  · 10 ·

  Hanging Out with a Carnivore

  · 11 ·

  Sam Did It

  · 12 ·

  P-E-A-N-U-T

  · 13 ·

  Stinky Storm Shelter

  · 14 ·

  A Big Fence

  · 15 ·

  Meet Joe

  Glossary

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Excerpt from The Dino Files #3: It’s Not a Dinosaur!

  Taking care of a dinosaur is hard work. That’s why I like dinosaur naptime. It’s when I get a break.

  But not today. Just as my baby dinosaur, Peanut, falls asleep, Gram comes running into the house.

  “Hot dog!” she yells. “You’ll never guess what we found at the new dig site.”

  Peanut jumps up. He’ll be cranky and tired later.

  Gram should know better. She likes rules as much as I do. And one of my rules is: be quiet during dino naptime.

  “What?” my cousin, Sam, shouts. She doesn’t follow any rules.

  “Is it another egg?” I ask. Gram found Peanut’s egg a few weeks ago. I, Frank Mudd, was the one who sat on it and made it hatch. Well, me and my cat, Saurus.

  “Nope,” Gram says. “Think bigger!”

  “Give us a hint, Dr. Mudd,” Aaron says. He lives next door on a cattle ranch. Since Peanut came along, Aaron spends most of his time with us.

  “You’ve got to see for yourself,” Gram says.

  Sam, Aaron, and I follow Gram to her truck. I have to bring Peanut with us. If we leave him home alone, he makes holes in things. Like magazines or blankets or walls.

  I sit in the backseat between Aaron and Sam. We bug Gram with questions, but she won’t answer any of them.

  The truck stops in front of the fossil site.

  My grandparents own the Dinosaur Education Center of Wyoming. Or DECoW, as we like to call it. Visitors can learn all about dinosaurs and even dig for fossils. Right now a family is visiting, and the dad is taking a video.

  We leave Peanut in the truck with the windows open just a little bit.

  “Please be good,” I beg Peanut.

  “You can kiss your steering wheel goodbye,” Sam says to Gram.

  We race to the pit. Aaron gets there first.

  “Whoa!” he says.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Sam asks.

  “Wow!” I say.

  At the far side is a giant fossil in the shape of a peanut. It’s black and full of tiny cracks. But it’s still in one huge piece.

  “It looks like the horn on Peanut’s snout,” Aaron whispers.

  “Exactly like it,” Sam says. “Except a thousand times bigger.”

  “Not a thousand times bigger.” Gram laughs. “Maybe a hundred times.”

  Peanut’s horn is smaller than my pinky finger. This horn is longer than all of me.

  The dad walks around with his camera.

  “This is amazing,” he says. “Brent, you probably made the dinosaur discovery of the century.”

  Probably not the discovery of the century, I think.

  I look over at the truck, where a real dinosaur is locked inside. The truck shakes and rattles like a huge beast is trying to escape. Peanut is only fifteen pounds. He better learn some rules before he’s bigger than a house.

  “Excuse me,” the dad calls to Gram.

  “Yes.” Gram puts on a fake smile.

  “What kind of dinosaur is it?” he asks.

  Sam jumps in front of the camera. “It’s a Wyomingasaurus.” Sam likes to jump in front of cameras. She thinks she’s famous.

  “Samantha.” Gram gives her a warning look.

  Sam talks into her plastic microphone. She never goes anywhere without it. “This is Sam McCarthy signing out.”

  “My son discovered a Wyomingasaurus.” The dad gives us a big thumbs-up. “Brent, go sit on the fossil.”

  “No!” Gram and I yell.

  “It’s very fragile,” she explains.

  We wait for the family to take a million more pictures. I wish they would hurry. Peanut is squealing in the truck. Finally, they pack up their stuff and drive away.

  …

  “That horn has been here for over sixty-five million years,” Gram says when we go back to the house for dinner. “It will be here tomorrow too.”

  The minute we walk in the door, PopPop calls us into the kitchen.

  “You’re going to want to see this,” he says.

  The small TV on the counter is on. Sam pushes me out of the way to get a look.

  We all stare at the screen. I’m too shocked to talk. But not Sam.

  “I’m famous!” she shouts. “I’m finally famous!”

  The family’s video from the dig site is on the local news. The picture mostly shows Brent and the peanut-shaped horn. You can see me and Gram in the background. Aaron walks by too.

  “Look, there I am.” Sam points at her elbow on the TV.

  “Shhh.” PopPop turns up the volume.

/>   A pretty reporter shares the screen with the video. “This footage was taken today at the Dinosaur Education Center of Wyoming in Starrville. It’s the home of over a thousand dinosaur fossils, the most famous of which is Big Bob, the world’s most complete Supersaurus. It was discovered here over thirty years ago. Could this giant fossil be Wyoming’s next big dinosaur discovery?” The reporter raises her eyebrows.

  Another reporter comes on the screen. He’s sitting behind a desk.

  “Thanks, Jennifer,” the man says. “That is quite a fossil. Now let’s turn to Weatherman Dave. He says we can expect some big storms over the next few days. Maybe even a threat of—”

  ZAP!

  Sparks fly from the back of the TV. The screen goes black.

  Peanut yelps. He scrambles from behind the TV and out of the kitchen.

  “He chewed the cord,” Sam says. “Again.”

  I chase Peanut into the living room. When I bend down, he jumps into my arms.

  “You can’t eat wires,” I tell him. “You could get hurt.”

  Peanut licks my face.

  “You could get fried,” Sam adds. “Then we’d have dino nuggets.”

  “Is he okay?” Gram asks.

  “I think so.” He could be brain damaged, but it’s hard to tell because he’s not that smart yet.

  “We need to keep a close eye on him. He’s going to destroy our home. Or worse, he could hurt himself.” Gram crosses her arms.

  I hold my breath, afraid she’s going to say that Peanut doesn’t belong in the house anymore. He’s barely bigger than a cat right now. I’d like for him to stay inside until he’s at least the size of a horse.

  “Come on,” PopPop says. “Dinner is getting cold.”

  I drop bits of lettuce and tomato on the floor for Peanut. PopPop keeps giving me a look. I’m not supposed to feed the dinosaur from the table for two reasons: Gram likes to write down everything Peanut eats, and it teaches Peanut bad manners.

  We talk about the huge peanut fossil and how our own Peanut will someday be big enough to ride.

  “We certainly won’t be able to hide him,” PopPop says. “Planes will be able to spot him as they fly over.”

  “Will his habitat be big enough?” I ask. PopPop and Gram are donating some land. So are Aaron’s parents.

  “We have plenty of land,” Gram says. “But we will still need money to build a fence.”

  “A big fence,” PopPop adds.

  “And Peanut will probably need a lot of food,” Gram says. “Maybe as much as five hundred pounds a day. Taking care of a dinosaur won’t be cheap.”

  I look at my plate. Five hundred pounds is a lot of lettuce.

  “But that is not for you to worry about,” PopPop says. “You and Sam are his herd. Just worry about being good family members.”

  …

  The next few days at DECoW are the busiest I’ve ever seen. The TV news made it seem like it’s easy to find a fossil from a newly discovered dinosaur. Now everyone wants one. People show up with shovels and even pickaxes. You don’t use a pickax to dig for fossils.

  There are visitors all over the place. We have to work extra hard to keep Peanut a secret. The list of people who know about him is small.

  Me.

  Sam.

  Gram and PopPop.

  Aaron Crabtree and his parents.

  The vet who examined Peanut when he was sick.

  And Saurus, my cat. But she doesn’t speak English, so I totally trust her with all my secrets.

  My parents don’t even know yet. We live in North Carolina. That is where I go to school and keep most of my stuff. Wyoming is just my home in the summer.

  Gram doesn’t allow any more visitors at the site. I only get to go twice because Sam and I have to dino-sit Peanut. I’m better at it than Sam is. It’s really like I’m dino-sitting Peanut and Sam.

  Gram comes home to have lunch with us every day. She needs to eat, and she likes to make sure Sam and Peanut haven’t broken any rules. But on Wednesday, Gram says she doesn’t have time for lunch.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask.

  “Yes. PopPop wants me to talk to some folks,” she says. “I won’t be long.”

  “What’s going on?” Sam asks.

  “Boring DECoW business,” she says as she heads for the door. “Stay in the house. I’ll be back soon.” Then Gram is gone.

  “Stay in the house,” Sam repeats. “Like that is going to happen.”

  Sam and I fight over who needs to stay at the house and watch Peanut.

  “I’m not responsible,” Sam says. “You can’t count on me to keep him safe. I’ll probably feed him chocolate and let him play in traffic.”

  “Then just sit in the living room and don’t feed him anything,” I suggest.

  Sam doesn’t give in, and I don’t give in. So we stuff Peanut in a backpack and head to DECoW.

  The museum is full of visitors. We don’t need to hide like spies. We are two ordinary kids walking around. I just happen to have a grumbling backpack.

  We find Gram and PopPop in the office. The door is closed, but we can see in the window. They’re talking to a man and a woman. A little girl with curly hair sits in the corner. The man has on a dirty blue baseball cap and holds a giant camera. It’s the kind used by news crews.

  Sam sees it too.

  “That is a major, awesome camera,” Sam says. “I bet they’re here to do a talent search. Well, this is their lucky day.”

  Before I can stop her, she bursts through the office door.

  “Is someone looking for a movie star?” she asks.

  I roll my eyes.

  PopPop shakes his head. “Mr. and Mrs. Stark, these are our grandchildren, Frank and Sam.”

  Stark? Stark!

  “Are you Neil Stark?” I ask. The hair on my arms stands up.

  “Yes.” He smiles and touches the tip of his baseball cap.

  I point at Mrs. Stark. “And you’re Kristen.”

  She nods.

  “I loved your documentary on the discovery of the Oviraptor nest in Mongolia. It was the best documentary on Oviraptors I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen them all.”

  “A documentary is a movie, right?” Sam asks.

  “Sort of. A documentary is true and it can be long or short,” I explain. “The Starks do great dino documentaries. The best!”

  Mrs. Stark shakes my hand. “It’s always nice to meet a fan. This is our daughter, Mary.”

  “I’m five,” Mary says, looking up from her book.

  “Is she named after Mary Anning? The woman who discovered the first Ichthyosaur fossil?”

  “Partly.” Mrs. Stark laughs. “My grandmother was also called Mary. But I like Mary Anning too.”

  “I have to sit down.” I take a seat on the ground and put my backpack next to me. This is one of the best days of my life.

  “Why are you here?” Sam asks. She’s still staring at the camera.

  “We want to make a documentary about the dinosaur fossil your grandmother discovered,” Mr. Stark says.

  They explain that they saw the video on the Internet. The same video that was on the news. So they got in their RV—that stands for recreational vehicle, which is like a house on wheels—and drove all the way from California to check it out.

  “This is great,” Sam says. “I’ll be the star of your movie. I’ve got acting experience.” She was in a commercial once when she was a baby.

  “It’s a documentary. There is no acting required,” Mrs. Stark says. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll be the host.” Sam pulls her plastic microphone out of her pocket. “This is Sam McCarthy reporting from DECoW, where my amazing grandmother has made an amazing discovery—”

  “Sam,” Gram interrupts. “We haven’t agreed to a documentary. It may be difficult to handle. We have a lot going on this summer.” Gram pulls her lips into a tight line. She glances at my backpack.

  I see Gram’s point. It will be hard to hide a baby dinosaur wi
th a film crew running around. But this is Neil and Kristen Stark. They love dinosaur fossils almost as much as I do.

  “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad,” I say.

  “Dr. Mudd,” Mr. Stark says, “this fossil is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. It’s amazing. Please let us make this documentary.”

  “We don’t know if there are more fossils out there,” Gram says. “This could be the only piece of the puzzle.”

  “That’s the exciting part,” Mrs. Stark says. “We never know what will be dug up.”

  Gram looks to PopPop. He shrugs. “It’s up to you, dear.” He kisses her cheek.

  “Please, Gram,” Sam says.

  “Please, please, Gram,” I say.

  She lets out a deep breath. “I’m going to need some time to think about it.”

  And just then, Peanut lets out a loud cry. My backpack rolls across the office floor.

  “Whoa,” Mary says. “What’s in there?”

  “Nothing to see in that bag,” Sam says. “Now, let’s talk about my role in the movie.”

  The backpack flips onto its side. Mary jumps from her chair and moves closer. The bag groans. Mary should be scared. She’s not.

  “What is in there?” she asks again.

  “Nothing.” I pick it up.

  “Is it a dinosaur?” Her eyes get big.

  PopPop laughs. Gram laughs even louder. And the Starks laugh the loudest.

  “It’s my cat,” I say, not laughing at all. “I better take him back to the house. I bet he wants to eat.”

  “It’s just a cat,” Mrs. Stark says. “A cat. Not a dinosaur.”

  “Remember, Mary, dinosaurs aren’t real.” Mr. Stark kneels down in front of her. “Well, they’re not real anymore. They’re extinct.”

  “X-stink,” Mary repeats.

  I say goodbye and go back to the house. Peanut is not happy. I can feel him chewing on the backpack’s fabric.

  When PopPop and Gram get home, they tell us the good news. They’re going to let the Starks make the documentary.