The Dragon and the Turtle

Excerpt

Excerpt

Roger the turtle blew on his toasted marshmallow. “It’s going to be fun spending the whole night at the base of Mount Sillymanborrow.”

“I didn’t know it got so dark on safari,” said Padraig the dragon.

“That’s why we have this fire,” said Roger.

“It’s a roarin’ good one too.” Padraig settled into his seat. “Toss me another marshmallow.”

“Proper adventurers always say please,” Roger teased.

“Yes, indeed. Please.” Padraig speared a puffy marshmallow with a stick.

Roger searched the ground. “Padraig, my good fellow, is the box of baked bugs on your side?”

As the dragon handed over the crunchy treat, a screeching noise made him jump, hover in the air, then return to the ground with a whump. “My stars! What was that?”

“Not to worry, old chap. That was definitely the call of a howler monkey,” Roger explained.

“Oh, righto,” said Padraig. “Very loud fellows, aren’t they?”

“Indeed.” Roger nodded. “Now about those baked bugs.”

“Oh, stinky aphids! I dropped them all over.”

“I’ll help you clean up.”

The turtle gulped a crispy bug, then paused. “Wait! Did you hear that rustling?”

Padraig squinted into the night. “What makes leaves rattle in the tippy top of a tree?”

The boys looked at each other. “Giraffe!”

Excerpted from The Dragon and the Turtle Go on Safari by Donita K. Paul and Evangeline Denmark; illustrated by Vincent Nguyen. Copyright © 2011 by Donita K. Paul and Evangeline Denmark; illustrated by Vincent Nguyen god gave us the world. Excerpted by permission of WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.