The Snow Day from the Black Lagoon (Black Lagoon Adventures series Book 11) Read online

  THE

  SNOW DAY

  FROM THE

  BLACK LAGOON

  Get more monster-sized laughs from

  #1: The Class Trip from the Black Lagoon

  #2: The Talent Show from the Black Lagoon

  #3: The Class Election from the Black Lagoon

  #4: The Science Fair from the Black Lagoon

  #5: The Halloween Party from the Black Lagoon

  #6: The Field Day from the Black Lagoon

  #7: The School Carnival from the Black Lagoon

  #8: Valentine’s Day from the Black Lagoon

  #9: The Christmas Party from the Black Lagoon

  #10: The Little League Team from the Black Lagoon

  #11: The Snow Day from the Black Lagoon

  #12: April Fools’ Day from the Black Lagoon

  #13: Back-to-School Fright from the Black Lagoon

  #14: The New Year’s Eve Sleepover from the Black Lagoon

  #15: The Spring Dance from the Black Lagoon

  #16: The Thanksgiving Day from the Black Lagoon

  #17: The Summer Vacation from the Black Lagoon

  #18: The Author Visit from the Black Lagoon

  #19: St. Patrick’s Day from the Black Lagoon

  #20: The School Play from the Black Lagoon

  #21: The 100

  th

  Day of School from the Black Lagoon

  #22: The Class Picture Day from the Black Lagoon

  #23: Earth Day from the Black Lagoon

  #24: The Summer Camp from the Black Lagoon

  #25: Friday the 13

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  from the Black Lagoon

  The Black Lagoon

  by Mike Thaler

  Illustrated by Jared Lee

  SCHOLASTIC INC.

  THE

  SNOW DAY

  FROM THE

  BLACK LAGOON

  To

  Akimi & Janelle

  Creative Partners—M.T.

  To my big brother, Jim,

  who is always calm, cool, and collected—J.L.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

  Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,

  downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into

  any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means,

  whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without

  the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding

  permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557

  Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  e-ISBN: 978-0-545-54830-4

  Text copyright © 2008 by Mike Thaler.

  Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Jared D. Lee Studio, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.

  scholastic, little apple, and associated logos are trademarks and/or

  registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First printing, February 2008

  Contents

  Chapter 1: There’s No Business Like

  Snow Business . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

  Chapter 2: Dressed to the Teeth . . . . . . . 11

  Chapter 3: The Blizzard of Oz . . . . . . . . . .16

  Chapter 4: Winter Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

  Chapter 5: The Arctic Is for the Byrds . . . . . 26

  Chapter 6: Cold Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

  Chapter 7: Arctic Expedition . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

  Chapter 8: Perks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

  Chapter 9: Winter Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

  Chapter 10: Go for the Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

  Chapter 11: A School Day . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

  Chapter 12: Winter Survival Tips . . . . .. . 60

  CHAPTER 1

  THERE’S NO BUSINESS

  LIKE SNOW BUSINESS

  I hate winter! Winter should

  last for one day right before

  Christmas.

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  7

  And snow…I hate snow. There

  should be just enough to powder

  the corners of windows, like

  in greeting cards. But instead,

  winter lasts for months and

  months and the snow piles

  up until everything is buried

  underneath it.

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  9

  10

  CHAPTER 2

  dressed to the

  teeth

  And the clothes you have

  to wear to go outside—you’re

  buried in layers of itchy wool.

  You spend half the day zipping

  up zippers, snapping snaps, and

  buckling buckles.

  11

  Then there’s the mile-long scarf

  your aunt knits for you that you

  have to wrap around and around.

  And don’t forget the rubber

  overshoes that totally resist

  going over shoes.

  12

  Last but not least, there’s the

  wool cap, earmuffs, and mittens

  that cover up every last bit of

  you.

  Now you’re a proper mummy,

  ready to be buried in the white

  tomb of winter.

  13

  And just when you get

  everything zipped, snapped, and

  buckled, you have to go to the

  bathroom, which means starting

  all over again. So by the time

  you’re ready to go outside…it’s

  dark. That’s another thing—

  during the winter, the sun goes on

  vacation to Florida, and daylight

  only lasts for a couple of hours. I

  hate winter!

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  15

  CHAPTER 3

  THE Blizzard of oz

  So when I turn on the weather

  channel and see a winter blizzard

  warning for my area, I get very

  nervous. And when I hear that

  two to three feet of snow is

  expected, I really panic. That

  doesn’t mean a snow day, it

  means a no day—nothing moves,

  nothing happens.

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  Your house becomes an igloo

  and your town becomes the

  tundra. Your life is frozen like a

  TV dinner. If you could have a

  snow day when the sun is shining

  and you could get out of your front

  door, that would be one thing.

  But a snow day that’s full of snow

  is another.

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  20

  CHAPTER 4

  WINTER SPORTS

  Eric calls. He’s all excited. He

  talks like the circus is coming to

  town instead of a blizzard.

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  “Come on, Hubie. There’s so

  much we can do!” he says.

  “Like what?” I ask.

  “Winter sports,” he answers.

  “You mean like shoveling out

  the driveway and slipping on the

  ice?”

  “No, like sledding and ice

  skating and skiing,” he explains.


  “It’ll be great!”

  23

  “I like my sports played on

  reliable surfaces—solid, non-skid

  surfaces.”

  “Boy,” sighs Eric, “you don’t

  know what fun is!”

  24

  25

  CHAPTER 5

  THE ARCTIC IS FOR

  THE BYRDS

  That night it snows. It always

  amazes me how those pretty little

  Flakes can quietly turn into a great

  white monster by morning.

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  It also snows in my dream. I’m

  sitting in the living room watching

  the weather channel, and snow is

  falling all around me. Soon the

  TV is covered up and I’m sitting

  at the North Pole. A penguin

  comes up to me and asks if there

  will be school tomorrow.

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  “I don’t think so,” I say. “How

  are the roads?”

  “Icy,” says the penguin.

  “You see what?” I ask.

  “Icy, icy,” says the penguin.

  “I know you see, but how are

  the roads?”

  The penguin doesn’t answer.

  30

  CHAPTER 6

  COLD TURKEY

  I think I’ll stay in bed all day.

  It’s warm and dry and safe. But

  mom comes bounding in just as

  I’m snuggling down.

  “Come on, Hubie. It’s beautiful

  outside. It snowed all night.”

  “Mom, I know.”

  “Let’s get dressed, go out, and

  make a snowman!”

  Uh-oh, I know what that means.

  Sixteen layers of mittens, hats,

  scarves, hoods, boots, pants,

  sweaters…

  “Come on, Hubie. You’ll love

  it.”

  31

  I won’t love it. But I love Mom,

  so I’ll humor her. I start by putting

  on my thermal underwear and

  build from there. Around noon,

  I button the last button and snap

  the last snap.

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  33

  34

  “Mom, I’m hungry.”

  “Okay, Hubie, let’s have lunch.

  Open up your snowsuit a little so

  you won’t get overheated.”

  So I unzip and unsnap and have

  lunch. After lunch, I’m back on

  the launch pad. All systems go…

  10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

  BLAST OUT!

  35

  CHAPTER 7

  ARCTIC EXPEdITION

  I open the front door and am

  greeted by a winter wonderland.

  Everything is covered over.

  Wherever you walk, it’s like

  plodding through clouds — thick

  clouds . . . wet clouds . . . white

  clouds.

  Mom and I start rolling a big

  snowball for the snowman’s

  bottom. Then we roll one for

  the snowman’s top and one for

  his head. So far, we have three

  scoops of a giant snow cone.

  Then mom goes in the house and

  gets a carrot for a nose and two

  36

  radishes for eyes. I put my cap

  on him and I must say, he looks

  pretty impressive.

  37

  Eric comes over with his sled

  and we tramp off to find a hill.

  The closest we come to one is my

  neighbor’s driveway. So we pile

  on the sled and let it rip! Fun!

  38

  39

  After thirty rides, we build a

  snow fort and have a snowball

  fight with Freddy and Derek who

  have wandered over.

  40

  CHAPTER 8

  PERKS

  After a truce has been declared,

  we go inside. Mom gives us hot

  apple cider and we all dry off. I

  take out one of my board games

  and we’re good for another two

  hours. It starts to snow again so

  Mom says that Freddy, Eric, and

  Derek can stay over. Mom builds

  a fire in the fireplace and we

  all toast marshmallows and tell

  ghost stories.

  41

  42

  43

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  45

  CHAPTER 9

  WINTER TALES

  Eric tells us the story of the

  Killer Snowman.

  “There were these people

  who made a snowman with a

  carrot nose and radish eyes. It

  sat on their front lawn and didn’t

  move…until it was struck by

  lightning. Then it blinked its

  radish eyes, blew its carrot

  nose, and started to walk like

  Frankenstein.”

  46

  47

  “Why didn’t it melt?” asks

  Freddy.

  “What melt?”

  “The snowman —when it was

  hit by lightning.”

  “It didn’t melt—it came to

  life.”

  “It would have melted.”

  “This is my story,” says Eric.

  48

  “Anyway, it came to life and

  went looking for an ice-cream

  store.”

  “Why?” asks Derek.

  “Because it was hungry,”

  answers Eric.

  “What did it eat?” I asked.

  “A snow cone,” says Eric.

  49

  I look out the window and our

  snowman is still standing quietly

  in the moonlight.

  Suddenly, there’s a knock at

  the door. We all freeze.

  50

  51

  CHAPTER 10

  GO FOR THE GOLD

  It’s our neighbor with his snow

  blower. He offers to clear our

  driveway.

  “That’s okay,” says Mom. “It’s

  nice to be snowed in.”

  It’s true. We were all stranded

  on a fireplace island in a sea of

  snow. After hot chocolate and

  more ghost stories, we go to

  bed.

  I have a funny dream that night.

  I’m in the winter Olympics. I’m

  entered in every event—skiing,

  ski jumping, speed skating, even

  bobsledding. I am fantastic and

  52

  win 21 gold medals. In figure

  skating, my partner is the

  snowman. But he melts before

  we can finish our routine.

  I’m awakened by the sound

  of the snowplows clearing our

  street. That means that there will

  be school today.

  53

  54

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  CHAPTER 11

  A SCHOOL DAY

  The school bus picks us up at

  the usual time. We all sit bundled

  up in stocking caps and earmuffs.

  The bus smells like wet wool.

  56

  At school, Fester has turned

  the radiators up to full steam and

  the classrooms are toasty.

  Mrs. Green asks us to write a

  report about what we did on our

  snow day. This is my report, and

  I must admit I did have a good

  time. I still don’t like winter, but

  it would be o
kay if it lasted for a

  week…if every day of that week

  was a snow day.

  58

  59

  1) Don’t lick the lampposts.

  2) Don’t fall down. You are

  now a beach ball of protective

  clothing and have the mobility of

  a watermelon.

  3) When any part of your body

  turns purple and falls off—go

  indoors.

  4) Don’t go sledding off the

  roof of your house, even though

  it’s the best hill you can find.

  5) And go to the bathroom

  before you get dressed.

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