Sign-In
Cart
Hatched
Audio Book
AnimalsGeneral Juvenile FictionScience & Nature
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
Publisher: HarperCollins
Language: English
Friendships come in all (scaly, furry, slimy, hairy) shapes and sizes. A fast-paced, funny, and heartwarming middle grade debut about a girl and the animals she cares for, perfect for fans of Rosanne Parry, Katherine Applegate, and Carl Hiassen. Features black-and-white spot art and decorations by Caldecott Honor artist Brian Lies.
Eleven-year-old Billie Rae lives with her dad at Swumperland, an ecotour business in the Florida Everglades. Billie Rae is in charge of the petting zoo, where she keeps careful watch over her animals. There's Ziggy, an enormous and lonely python, Greta the cantankerous turtle, and Slipper, an enigmatic pig frog. And Billie Rae has a new animal on the way--an addition to the petting zoo that she hopes will distract her from her disastrous last day of school and her mom's absence.
Bernard is a lizard, freshly hatched into the terrarium Billie Rae has prepared for the new and exotic arrival. Billie Rae doesn't know Bernard is there, but Ziggy the python, eager for a friend, notices him immediately. As Bernard explores the comforts of In Here with the coaching of Ziggy, the new resident is dropped into Bernard's tank. Aurelia doesn't like the petting zoo one bit. She remembers what it's like to be wild, and she wants out.
Allison Bell's debut novel explores evergreen middle grade themes of family, friendship, empathy, responsibility, and independence. The chapters rotate between perspectives--Bernard (the lizard), Ziggy (the python), and Billie Rae (the human)--and the narrator often speaks to the reader directly. The pitch-perfect middle grade voice, short chapters, and surprising, action-packed, and often humorous plot makes this a compulsively readable novel and an excellent choice for classroom and family read-alouds. For readers who love Hoot by Carl Hiassen, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, and A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry.
Also in
General Juvenile Fiction
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Two the Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Two)
Riordan, Rick
Paperback
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One the Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One)
Riordan, Rick
Paperback
Anne of Green Gables, 3-Book Box Set, Volume I: Anne of Avonlea; Anne of the Island; Anne of Green Gables
Montgomery, L. M.
Paperback
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters, The: The Graphic Novel
Venditti, Robert
Riordan, Rick
Paperback
Mary Anne Saves the Day: A Graphic Novel (the Baby-Sitters Club #3): Full-Color Edition
Martin, Ann M.
Paperback
Claudia and Mean Janine: A Graphic Novel (the Baby-Sitters Club #4): Full-Color Edition
Martin, Ann M.
Paperback
Dog Man: Big Jim Believes: A Graphic Novel (Dog Man #14): From the Creator of Captain Underpants: Volume 14
Pilkey, Dav
Hardcover
Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2: From the Creator of Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Kinney, Jeff
Hardcover
Investigators: Agents of S.U.I.T.: Sew Much Trouble
Green, John Patrick
Hastings, Christopher
Hardcover
Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy: A Graphic Novel (Wings of Fire Graphic Novel #1): Volume 1
Sutherland, Tui T.
Paperback
Dog Man: Big Jim Begins: A Graphic Novel (Dog Man #13): From the Creator of Captain Underpants: Volume 13
Pilkey, Dav
Hardcover