The Creature of the Pines (The Unicorn Rescue Society, Band 1) - Softcover

Gidwitz, Adam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0735231729 ISBN 13: 9780735231726

Verlag: Penguin Young Readers Group, 2019

Inhaltsangabe

A New York Times bestseller—now available in paperback.

INCLUDES AN EXCLUSIVE BONUS STORY about the medieval Secret Order of the Unicorn!

Unicorns are real. (At least we think they are.)
 
Are you ready to protect the creatures of myth and legend? Then you belong in The Unicorn Rescue Society. HURRY–THE CREATURES NEED YOU!
 
Elliot Eisner isn't exactly thrilled with the first day at his new school. His class is going on a field trip to a creepy forest called the Pine Barrens. The trip is being led by Professor Fauna, the weirdest teacher
Elliot has ever met. And the only kid who will talk to Elliot, Uchenna Devereaux, isn’t afraid of danger. She likes danger.
 
Elliot and Uchenna are about to become part of a secret group of adventurers, The Unicorn Rescue Society, whose goal is to protect and defend the world’s mythical creatures. Together with Professor Fauna, Elliot and Uchenna must help rescue a Jersey Devil from a duo of conniving, greedy billionaires, the Schmoke Brothers.
 
Join Elliot and Uchenna on their very first quest as members of the Unicorn Rescue Society in this fantasy-adventure series from Adam Gidwitz, the beloved bestselling and Newbery Honor-winning author of The Inquisitors Tale and A Tale Dark & Grimm.

Illustrated throughout, this is the perfect fit for newly independent readers looking for a story full of adventure, fun, and friendship.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Adam Gidwitz is the author of the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling Grimm trilogy. He spent six years researching and writing his Newbery Honor-winning The Inquisitor's Tale, including a year living in Europe. Adam lives with his family in Brooklyn, NY. Find Adam online at adamgidwitz.com or @AdamGidwitz.

Chris Lenox Smith is the Creative Director and cofounder of Mixtape Club, an award-winning audiovisual creative studio. Mixtape works with a range of brands and artists, including Google, HBO, ESPN, Spotify, Primus, and They Might Be Giants, to create memorable, narrative-driven films. Chris is a two-time winner of the ADC Young Guns Award for animation and music composition, his work spans across media, from short films and commercial work to musical scores that marry influences from the precomputer era with modern techniques.

Jesse Casey is the Managing Director and cofounder of Mixtape Club, an award-winning audiovisual creative studio. Mixtape works with a range of brands and artists, including Google, HBO, ESPN, Spotify, Primus, and They Might Be Giants, to create memorable, narrative-driven films. Drawing from his twin backgrounds in computer programming and printmaking, Jesse's work embraces contemporary technology as a means to recreate the craft and artistry of classic film and animation.

Hatem Aly is an Egyptian-born illustrator whose work has been featured on television and in multiple publications worldwide. He currently lives in New Brunswick, Canada, with his wife, son, and more pets than people. Find him online at metahatem.com or @metahatem.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Unicorns are real. 

At least, I think they are.

Dragons are definitely real. I have seen them. Chupa­cabras exist, too. Also Sasquatch. And mermaids—though they are not what you think. 

But back to unicorns. When I, Professor Mito Fauna, was a young man, I lived in the foothills of Peru. One day, there were rumors in my town of a unicorn in danger, far up in the mountains. At that instant I founded the Unicorn Rescue ­Society—I was the only member—and set off to save the unicorn. When I finally located it, though, I saw that it was not a unicorn, but rather a qarqacha, the legendary two-headed llama of the Andes. I was very slightly disappointed. I rescued it anyway. Of course.

Now, many years later, there are members of the Unicorn Rescue Society all around the world. We are sworn to protect all the creatures of myth and legend. Including unicorns! If we ever find them! Which I’m sure we will! 

But our enemies are powerful and ruthless, and we are in desperate need of help. Help from someone brave and kind and curious, and brave. (Yes, I said “brave” twice. It’s important.) 

Will you help us? Will you risk your very life to protect the world’s mythical creatures? 

Will you join the Unicorn Rescue Society? 

I hope so. The creatures need you.

 

Defende Fabulosa! Protege Mythica! 

 

—Mito Fauna, DVM, PhD, EdD, etc. 

 

Chapter One

Elliot Eisner stood at the front of the bus, looking down the long aisle. Every seat was full. The other children scowled at him.

At least, Elliot was pretty sure they were scowling at him. He was the new kid, starting school three weeks into the new school year. Who starts a new school three weeks into the year? he thought. Three weeks! It’s far too late to make friends. The year is practically over! Elliot considered turning around and walking back to his new house, where his mom and grandma were unpacking boxes. But that would just make things worse. Tomorrow, when he was forced to come back to school, he would be the kid who’d flipped out and run away on his first day. Not a good first impression.

Worst of all, his class was going on a field trip. On his very first day at school. Things just weren’t supposed to work like that. He wasn’t prepared.

Elliot sighed and began to walk slowly down the length of the bus. Maybe there were a couple of empty seats in the back. The kids stared at him. He slouched past. They think I’m a weirdo.

This made no sense. Elliot was not a weirdo. He was a normal kid. A little pale, kinda skinny, lots of curly brown hair. Pretty normal. But Elliot did not feel normal. Not on his first day at a new school, on a field trip he was not prepared for, surrounded by kids he did not know.

There were some empty seats in the back.

One was next to a big boy with a shaved head, who smiled at him and then farted. Elliot would not be sitting there.

There was a seat next to a girl who was digging in her nose like she’d lost something. Then, she found it. Elliot would not be sitting there, either.

Finally, he saw a seat in the very last row, next to a girl who looked like the lead singer in a punk rock band. She wore a gray jean jacket and gray jeans and red high-tops, and her hair was an explosion of black twists. The girl was rocking back and forth like she was listening to music. But there were no earphones in her ears.

Punk rock Beethoven, Elliot thought. This one thinks she’s a punk rock Beethoven. But at least she’s not finding buried treasure up her nose or playing the tuba through her butt.

He sat down next to her. She stopped rocking. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Uchenna.”

“I’m Elliot. I’m new here.” Obvious! Elliot silently shouted at himself. Don’t say things that are obvious! “This is my first day.” Everybody knows that! “Even though school started three weeks ago.” Why are you stating facts that everyone knows?!?!

Uchenna said, “I was new last year. I didn’t start school till after Christmas.”

You see, she knew—Wait, what?

Then Elliot said, “I thought I was the only person so horrendously unlucky to be forced to start a new school in the middle of the year.”

Uchenna threw her head back and laughed. “No,” she said. “There’s two of us.”

And that is how Elliot Eisner and Uchenna Devereaux became friends.

 

Chapter Two

The class’s teacher was Miss Vole.

Elliot liked to memorize books about ­animals—it was one of his hobbies—so he knew that voles are kind of like mice, but even smaller, with tiny eyes and plump little bodies. As Miss Vole stood up from her seat at the front of the bus, Elliot leaned over to Uchenna and whispered, “Isn’t it weird that she looks just like her name?”

Uchenna smiled. “I think about that all the time.”

Miss Vole cleared her voice. “Now, children,” she said. She spoke like they were in kindergarten. She made her eyes very large, and if her voice got any higher, only dogs would be able to hear her. “Children, I expect you to be on your very best behavior.” Very best was just about in dogs-only territory. “We have a special guest with us today for our field trip.”

Uchenna put her fingers in her ears so her eardrums wouldn’t explode. Elliot snickered and did the same.

Miss Vole went on, “His name is Professor Fauna.” It sounded like Fow-na. “Can you say Professor Fauna?”

“Why wouldn’t we be able to say that?” Elliot whispered. Uchenna laughed and then shoved her fist into her mouth to stifle the sound.

“Professor Fauna,” the children chanted.

And then, the professor stepped onto the bus, and it was as if a shadow had fallen over the whole class. Uchenna stopped laughing at once. Elliot gripped the green vinyl of the seat.

The professor was tall, with a thick beard that was half black, half gray. His hair stood up from his scalp like he was in the habit of kissing electric eels. He wore a threadbare tweed suit and leather shoes that looked like they had been really fancy once, long ago.

“Buenos días, mis amigos,” he said. His voice sounded like someone had put rocks in a blender.

Uchenna leaned over to Elliot. She wasn’t smiling anymore. “He’s a social studies teacher here. Everyone’s terrified of him. They say he’s totally unhinged from reality.”

“Is he dangerous?” Elliot asked. He didn’t like things that were dangerous unless they were animals, and he only liked dangerous animals if he was memorizing facts about them from a book.

Uchenna shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Good morning,” said Professor Fauna, and he rolled his Rs so much, morning had four syllables. “I am Mito Fauna. You may call me Professor Fauna, Doctor Fauna, or Doctor Doctor Fauna, since I am both a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, with a specialty in large and rare species, and a Doctor of Philosophy, with a specialty in global mythology. In Germany, they call me Herr Doktor Doktor Professor, but you do not need to do that, because it takes too long, and it sounds silly. Also, I am not German, but Peruvian. Do you understand?”

Every child said...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Young Readers Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2019
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0735231729
• ISBN 13: 9780735231726
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Zeichner: Aly Hatem
• Anzahl der Seiten: 192
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland