Noah Z. Jones
RED
L
ITTLE
1
2
Read more of
Princess Pink’s
adventures!
Moldylocks and
the Three Beards
Little Red
Quacking Hood
SCHOLASTIC INC.
by Noah Z. Jones
TO MY QUACKY FAMILY,
DIANE, ELI, AND SYLVIE
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.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jones, Noah (Noah Z.), author.
Little Red Quacking Hood / by Noah Z. Jones.
pages cm. — (Princess Pink and the Land of Fake-Believe ; 2)
Summary: In her second adventure in the Land of Fake-Believe, Princess Pink
meets Scaredy-Pants Wolf, a baker whose business has been robbed by
Little Red Quacking Hood—and to save the bakery Princess must figure out
why the ducks are suddenly so interested in pies.
ISBN 0-545-63841-0 (pbk.) — ISBN 0-545-63842-9 (hardcover) —
ISBN 0-545-63893-3 (ebook) 1. Fairy tales. 2. Bakers—Juvenile fiction. 3. Wolves—
Juvenile fiction. 4. Ducks—Juvenile fiction. 5. Humorous stories. [1. Fairy tales. 2.
Humorous stories. 3. Bakers and bakeries—Fiction. 4. Wolves—Fiction. 5. Ducks—
Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ8.J539Li 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2013050553
e-ISBN 978-0-545-63893-7
Copyright © 2014 by Noah Z. Jones
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
SCHOLASTIC, BRANCHES, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First Scholastic printing, September 2014
Edited by Katie Carella
Book design by Will Denton
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Can’t Stand Pink . . . . . . . . 1
Scaredy-Pants Wolf . . . . . . 13
The Big Bad Bakery . . . . . . 21
Quick-Snap Duck Trap . . . . . . 29
Nothing But Crumbs . . . . . . 38
Grandmother Quacking Hood . 46
All the Better to . . . . . . . 51
Secret Ingredient . . . . . . . . . 57
Tears of Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
1
This is Princess Pink. Her first name is
Princess. Her last name is Pink.
Can’t Stand Pink
CHAPTER ONE
2
The Pink family has eight kids. Princess
is the baby of the family. She has seven
older brothers.
3
Princess does NOT like anything girly.
And she REALLY does not like the color
pink.
I can’t stand pink!
But I would really love
a bed full of bugs!!
This blanket would be so
pretty on your bed!
4
That night, Princess’s mother tucked
Princess into her new buggy bed.
But Princess did not only have a buggy
blanket. She also had a bug under her
blanket!
5
Reggie the spider was not a normal
bug. He came from the wacky Land of
Fake-Believe. Princess met Reggie after
falling through her refrigerator into that
mixed-up place. Princess was afraid of
the Three Beards—Mama Beard, Papa
Beard, and Baby Beard. But she had
made good friends there—like Reggie,
Moldylocks, and Mother Moose.
Hi, Princess! Your bed
is much nicer than
Mama Beard’s bed.
Hi, Reggie!
6
Reggie jumped out of bed. He tried to
drag Princess out of bed, too.
I check every night, Reggie.
Fake-Believe is never there.
Tonight is the night, Princess!
The fridge is ready to take
you back to Fake-Believe!
It’ll be there tonight.
I’m sure of it. Come on!
7
The house was quiet. Princess and
Reggie sneaked into the kitchen.
Princess put her ear to the fridge. It
wasn’t making its usual HUMMmmm
sound. It was huffing and puffing!
8
Princess yanked open the door. It was
nighttime in the Land of Fake-Believe.
Princess saw a spotted fish jumping over
the moon.
Hooray!
Have fun tonight!
But I’m staying
here—the bed
will be all mine!
9
10
Princess stepped inside her fridge.
Then she climbed down the ladder.
Land of Fake-Believe,
here I come!
11
A big shadow fell on Princess just as
her feet touched the ground.
Uh-oh.
12
Princess turned toward the shadow.
Her hand shook. She was sure it was a
monster—or one of the big, bad Beards.
13
Scaredy-Pants Wolf
chapter two
14
But it was a wolf.
Princess was surprised to see a wolf.
The wolf was even more surprised to see
a girl.
AHHH!
AHHH!
15
Princess told the scared wolf that she
wasn’t going to hurt him.
I’m Scaredy-Pants Wolf.
Everything scares me!
Yes. And I was just on
my way home. I’m very
jumpy tonight because
my bakery was—
I’m Princess Pink. But I’m not a princess.
Princess just happens to be my first name.
Are you a baker?
16
Just then, Moldylocks jumped out of
the bushes.
Hey, Moldylocks!
AHHH!
17
Princess was excited to see her friend.
But before Princess could say anything,
Moldylocks tackled her and Scaredy-Pants
Wolf to the ground.
Moldylocks, Scaredy-Pants Wolf, and
Princess hid in the bushes.
SHHHhhhh!
We need to hide!
Princess peeked through the leaves.
She saw a huge, horrible shadow. The
shadow was shaped like a duck.
19
The shadow passed by them.
Princess
helped her friends up.
PHEW! That was close!
She almost saw us.
That wasn’t just a duck. It was Little
Red Quacking Hood! She’s terrible!
A crybaby wolf who is
afraid of a duck? Where
is the Big Bad Wolf when
you need him?!
Who? The duck? Why were
we hiding from a duck?
20
Scaredy-Pants Wolf was too upset to
tell Princess the full story. But he told her
enough: Little Red Quacking Hood had
been stealing pies from his bakery. She
even stole pies today!
Trust me, she is a bad duck!
We’ll help you,
Scaredy-Pants!
Right, Moldylocks?
Yes! Let’s head to
your bakery to look
for clues! Then we’ll
come up with a plan!
21
The three friends ran and ran. Moldylocks
led the way. She stopped in front of a
very odd-looking building. It was covered
in candy!
The BIG Bad Bakery
chapTer Three
22
It is! I eat my bakery once
a week! Then I bake a new
one after I eat the old one.
Your bakery looks good
enough to eat!
His tummy must
be HUGE!
23
Princess walked inside the Big Bad
Bakery. She smelled lots of yummy pies!
Her stomach grumbled.
Mmm. Could I have
a slice of pie?
Please help yourself. The banana
cream pie is my favorite!
Scaredy-Pants Wolf makes the
best pies in Fake-Believe.
24
Look! Little Red Quacking Hood
took that whole stack of pies!
And she broke
that pie plate.
25
She always leaves
such a mess!
26
Scaredy-Pants Wolf cleaned up the
mess. Then he started baking. He
talked—and cried—while he baked.
Princess ate a slice of pie. Then she
watched as Scaredy-Pants Wolf cried into
his pie.
If Little Red keeps stealing pies,
I might have to close my bakery.
Gross! I bet the pie I just
ate had wolf tears in it!
27
Princess knew she had to help her new
friend. She had to save his bakery.
That’s a great idea!
Let’s build a trap!
28
We need more pies
if we want to trick
Little Red into coming
back here right away!
I’m baking as fast as I can!
Bake faster,
Scaredy-Pants!
29
Scaredy-Pants Wolf baked and baked.
He was so busy baking that he ALMOST
stopped crying.
Quick-Snap
chapTer four
Duck Trap
30
The three friends worked on the trap.
31
Finally, the trap was set.
The smell of pies baking in the oven
spread across the Land of Fake-Believe.
Little Red Quacking Hood soon snuck
inside the bakery.
32
33
Princess and Moldylocks were ready
for her! They set off the trap.
The trap worked! Little Red Quacking
Hood was trapped.
34
Please, please, please let me
go! I must visit Grandmother
Quacking Hood right away!
You’re not going
anywhere, Little Red!
35
Princess and Moldylocks turned to look
where Little Red Quacking Hood pointed.
That was all the time this quick-thinking
duck needed. She broke free and jumped
out the window.
OH, NO! LOOK!
Works every time!
36
Wow! She really
is tricky!
37
But look! That quacky duck
left us a trail. Let’s follow
these crummy footprints!
38
The three friends followed the long trail
of footprints and crumbs into the dark
and scary woods.
Don’t be such a
scaredy-pants.
Oh, dear—these woods are so
dark and scary. Do you really
think this is a good idea?
Nothing But
Crumbs
chapter five
39
They walked over
a river and through
the woods. Then they
came to a sign.
Ducksville?
What is this place?
Ducks live in this part of
Fake-Believe. Little Red
must live here, too.
We’re not
going in there.
Are we?
40
Princess heard a strange noise. It was
coming from behind a nearby tree.
She looked behind the tree. It was
Mother Moose! At least, it sort of looked
like Mother Moose. He was climbing into
a duck costume.
41
Hi, Mother Moose!
What are you doing
here?
Do these costumes
smell a little moldy?
No time for questions!
I must be on my way. But
here—take costumes from
my bag! You’ll never make it
into Ducksville dressed like that.
42
Princess, Moldylocks, and
Scaredy-Pants Wolf looked
everywhere in Ducksville.
They could not find Little
Red Quacking Hood.
Can we go
home now?
43
Look!
A red hood!
The three friends tiptoed after
Little Red Quacking Hood. She
ran inside a very strange shop.
It was made of brushes,
combs, and scissors.
Come on!
Little Red’s going inside!
45
The friends waddled across the road.
They hid under an open window behind
the hair salon.
Princess climbed on top of Moldylocks’s
shoulders. She peeked inside.
This is the scariest
shop on the street!!
I can’t look!
46
Princess saw Little Red Quacking Hood.
She was handing the basket of pies to a
very big duck with very big hair. It was
the biggest duck Princess had ever seen.
Grandmother
Quacking Hood
chapTer Six
47
The big duck tossed the pies—one by
one—into a huge oven.
I don’t know. I bake pies.
I don’t know anything
about unbaking them!
Hmmm. What’s an
unbaking oven,
Scaredy-Pants?
Look! That’s not
a normal oven!
48
The unbaking oven started to smoke
and sputter. Grandmother Quacking
Hood stomped her feet.
Then Little Red Quacking Hood
<
br /> started talking to the big duck.
Do not worry, Little Red.
The unbaking oven will tell
us the secret ingredient
soon. Then you won’t have
to steal any more pies.
Grandmother Quacking Hood,
the unbaking oven had better work
today. Scaredy-Pants Wolf is onto us.
He and his friends tried to trap me!
Not again!
49
Little Red Quacking Hood did as she
was told. She knew not to quack back to
her granny. She ran out of the salon.
Princess had heard enough. She needed
to get inside the shop. She needed to find
out more about the unbaking oven.
Little Red, go
get more pies!
I know! I’ll dress
up like Little Red
Quacking Hood!
Yes! Grandmother Quacking
Hood will have to let her
granddaughter in! All you need
is a basket and a red hood.
50
Princess looked around. Before long she
found a basket and a red hood.
She pulled the hood up over her pink
hair. Then she walked right up to the
front door of the Flocks of Locks salon.
51
All the
Better to...
chapTer Seven
Don’t leave me alone!
I won’t. But if
something goes wrong,
we’re going in!
52
Grandmother Quacking Hood opened
the door. She looked Princess up and
Little Red Quacking Hood: A Branches Book (Princess Pink and the Land of Fake-Believe #2) Page 1