Night of the Living Worms (Speed Bump & Slingshot Misadventure Series #1)

by Dave Coverly

Overview

What's a bird to do when his sibling is a big-time celebrity? It's a question Speed Bump has to deal with every single morning, because his brother happens to be the one and only Early Bird. You know, THE Early Bird, who ALWAYS gets the worm! Unfortunately, Speed Bump is a sleepy little bird with a big head and tiny wings who's worried he'll never live up to his brother. But he has a great buddy, the ever-hungry Slingshot, who knows how to lift his spirits. Together, they end up on an adventure deep in the nighttime forest, where they're forced to confront something more terrifying—and slimier—than they've ever imagined. It could all go horribly wrong . . . or it could just change Speed Bump's luck for good.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781627795517
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/04/2024
Series:	Speed Bump & Slingshot Misadventures , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	129
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Dave Coverly is an internationally syndicated cartoonist whose Speed Bump cartoons appear in more than 400 newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Detroit Free Press, and Parade. He is the illustrator of Sue MacDonald Had a Book and The Very Inappropriate Word, which was named a New York Times Editor's Choice and a Bank Street College Best Book. Winner of the prestigious Reuben Award for Best Cartoonist, Dave lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Read an Excerpt

Night of the Living Worms

A Speed Bump & Slingshot Misadventure

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By Dave Coverly

Henry Holt and Company

Copyright © 2015 Dave Coverly
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-62779-551-7

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CHAPTER 1

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

A little bird tweeting in the window at the top of the large Sycamore tree woke Speed Bump from a restless sleep.

He took off the headphones he wore to bed every night (he always fell asleep listening to his favorite music), let out a loud yawn, scratched his tail feathers, and walked to the window.

His best friend, Slingshot, was already up, slingshotting berries at squirrels. The big rubber band he'd hooked around two tree branches made a loud kaboing sound every time he fired another berry.

Did you see the look on that squirrel's face? That berry got him right in the derrière."

Speed Bump yawned. "In the what?" he asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Derrière. That's French for 'behind.'"

Slingshot had started using French words after he got lost flying south last winter.

He had ended up in New Orleans, where he met a French Hen he thought was the most beautiful bird in the world. Now he was practicing his French so he could impress her next winter.

Slingshot put down the rubber band, winked at Speed Bump, and yelled to the squirrel, "Sorry, little buddy!"

He turned back to his friend. "You had that same nightmare again, didn't you?"

"Yeah ... Wait. How did you know?"

"A little bird told me — well, tweeted me. Plus you've got bad nest-head."

Speed Bump sighed and pulled some twigs from his head feathers. He hated that he flew so slowly. He hated that he had such a hard time waking up in the morning.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Night of the Living Worms by Dave Coverly. Copyright © 2015 Dave Coverly. Excerpted by permission of Henry Holt and Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Title Page,
Copyright Notice,
Dedication,
Chapter Zero: NOT-SO-SWEET DREAMS,
Chapter One: BIRDS OF A FEATHER,
Chapter Two: BIRDS OF OTHER FEATHERS,
Chapter Three: THE WORMS ARE REVOLTING!,
Chapter Four: HATCHING A PLAN & OTHER BAD PUNS,
Chapter Five: IS IT TOO LATE FOR EARLY BIRD?,
About the Author,
Other Books by Dave Coverly,
Copyright,

Editorial Reviews

2015-06-10
Early Bird's underachieving little brother finally gets a taste of worm in this daft series opener. Too proud to accept any worm he hasn't caught or at least earned himself but unable, despite repeated efforts, to beat his annoyingly zippy sibling out of the nest in the morning, Tweety Pie-look-alike Speed Bump (related only in name to the author's syndicated cartoon) at last nerves himself to take a scary pre-dawn stroll—and comes upon a veritable convention of angry Nightcrawlers setting a trap for Early. Coverly sets up and presents the outing in a mix of prose and pen-and-ink sketches, with the pictures tending to shoulder out the text. Both, however, are liberally festooned with gags, sight gags, potty humor, and puns: "They hatched plans, but got eggsasperated because they knew none of them would work, and this was no yolking matter." Speed Bump is assisted by avian sidekick Slingshot, who is first met gleefully shooting an unwary squirrel in the "derrière" with a berry. He also enlists unlikely new buds Soda Pop the mouse and Hoover the owl to help spring the trap (prematurely). Unfortunately, his squirmy reward leaves him scurrying off in search of vegetarian fare ("CHEESABLE MERCY! WORMS ARE DISGUSTING!") and further misadventures. It's a little labored, but poop jokes never get old, right? (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews