Text copyright © 2020 by Patricia Reilly Giff
Art copyright © 2020 by Abby Carter
All Rights Reserved
HOLIDAY HOUSE is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
www.holidayhouse.com
First Edition
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Giff, Patricia Reilly, author. | Carter, Abby, illustrator.
Title: Animal at large / by Patricia Reilly Giff; illustrated by Abby Carter.
Description: First edition. | New York : Holiday House, [2020] | Series: Mysteries on Zoo Lane; book #2 | Audience: Ages 7-10. | Audience: Grades 2-3. | Summary: When Tori’s cousin and best friend, Sumiko, visits, the two girls investigate a mystery involving a missing zoo animal and strange noises in the back yard.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019046314 | ISBN 9780823446674 (hardcover)
Subjects: CYAC: Zoos—Fiction. | Cousins—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. Family life—Fiction. | Zoo animals—Fiction.
Mystery and detective stories.
Classification: LCC PZ7.G3626 Tt 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046314
Ebook ISBN 9780823448166
a_prh_5.6.0_c0_r0
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
More About Wild Animals
CHAPTER 1
TORI was painting her nails. She had to be perfect. So did her room.
But what was on the floor?
Drops of Sparkle Red polish!
Never mind. She’d move the little rug next to her bed. It would cover the drops.
Her cousin Sumiko was coming from Japan.
She had come last year too. She’d drawn pictures of the zoo animals: bobcats, tigers, a pink flamingo.
Tori had tacked them up over her bed.
Now Tori’s brother, Ken, stood at her door. “What a mess.” He grinned. He didn’t mind messes.
She dabbed polish on her pinkie. “What are you talking about?”
“Kimi’s footprints are all over the floor.”
Tori looked down at the floor. That cat! Tori would need a rug as big as New York to cover them.
Maybe that old rug in the basement. It had pictures of birds and their names. It was probably full of dust.
From her window she could see the zoo.
Kangaroos jumped around in Hopping Place.
A rhino wallowed in the mud. When the mud dried, it would cover its skin. Bugs would stay away!
Poor rhinos. Not that many were left in the world.
People had cut off their horns, or killed them to get their horns.
Now zoos were keeping them and their babies safe.
Tori spread polish on her thumbnail. She waved her fingers. Even her knuckles were Sparkle Red!
How did that happen?
She went out to the patio and poured seed into the feeder. Purple finches and catbirds were waiting.
She sank down at the table, yawning. The sun was hot. She couldn’t keep her eyes open.
She took off her glasses and put her head down on the cool table. She spread out her damp fingers.
Then, was she dreaming?
A leopard came out of the huge sticker bush.
It crouched next to her. It chewed on her nails.
A snake was wrapped around her thumb.
Tori’s eyes flew open.
No leopard.
No snake.
She looked at her nails.
She couldn’t believe it.
No red on her thumb.
None on her pinkie. The rest looked like polka dots!
Who had done that?
The door was four steps away.
She dived into the house.
CHAPTER 2
AT the airport, Tori saw Sumiko rushing toward her. They threw their arms around each other as Mom smiled.
Someone stepped on Tori’s toes.
“Luke!” It was the new kid on Zoo Lane.
“Sorry. My grandfather is coming from Florida.” He dashed away.
“When we get home”—Sumiko stopped for a breath—“let’s go right to the zoo. I’m dying to draw an ostrich.”
“Good idea,” Tori’s mom said.
“I love the story of the ostrich and the giraffe,” Tori said.
“A true story,” Sumiko said. “They’re best friends, like you and me.”
They stopped at the house. Sumiko left her suitcase in Tori’s room. “Is that a new rug?”
“Not exactly,” Tori said. She and Mom had dragged it up from the basement, sneezing from the dust.
She didn’t want to think about footprints and rugs. “Let’s go.”
Outside, it was almost too hot to breathe. Still, they rushed down the path.
“Whew,” Sumiko said.
They passed Nana-Next-Door. “Glad you’re feeding the birds,” Nana said. “Some of them are near extinction. Even some birds we see all the time. The black-throated sparrow. The grackle.”
Nana knew all about birds. She knew about all kinds of animals.
Tori turned to wave. She slid on a pile of leaves, and went down hard.
Was this something to write about? No. But this summer, she had to write her life’s story for Miss Raymond.
She didn’t want to think about her life story either.
She had a just-plain life. What could she say?
Sumiko could write a great story. She’d say she flew thirteen hours from Japan to New York.
She could tell about Mount Fuji, the volcano near her city.
She spoke Japanese and English.
Tori knew only one Japanese word, the one for thank-you.
She lay on the ground another moment.
Her knee had a sore as big as an apple.
Sumiko reached out to pull her up.
Tori brushed herself off.
“Arigatou.” There! She’d used her Japanese word for thank-you.
They circled around the path. They watched otters splash in Cool Pool.
Lucky otters.
Tori wished they had a pool in her yard. All they had was the hose. It sprinkled tiny drops of water.
Sumiko was ahead of her now.
“I’m coming,” Tori called.
Wait. A green paper was tacked to a tree. Some of it had torn away.
What was that all about?
CHAPTER 3
TORI reached for the paper. She waved it at Sumiko.
“We’ll think about this later,” Sumiko said. “First the ostriches?”
Yes, ostriches, the biggest birds in the world. With their long, skinny legs, they could run faster than tigers. But they couldn’t fly.
“I’ll show their eggs too,” Sumiko said. She drew a huge circle in the air. “Largest in the world.”
Ostrich eggs were sweet, Nana-Next-Door had told her. But for every egg someone ate, there was one less ostrich baby.
They passed Grizzly Bear Gulch and kept going to Bird World.
“Wait,” Tori said. “What’s that sign?”
“Too bad,” she told Sumiko.
Instead they watched some finches fly under the
