It was getting late. Amelia Bedelia couldn’t wait for tomorrow. She grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl and was heading out to the garage when her mother stopped her.
“Where are you going? You’re not leaving the house with a skunk loose in our backyard—and it’s time for bed!”
“Hey,” said her father. “Did you invite that skunk to your zoo?”
Amelia Bedelia would have smiled, but she was upset that she couldn’t put a banana in the car-seat contraption for the monkey. All that work! All those plans! She trudged upstairs and left the banana on her windowsill, as usual. She had really wanted to catch that monkey for her zoo. Just like Finally, Amelia Bedelia had been skunked.
Everything was set for the grand opening of Amelia Bedelia’s zoo. The rope swing was ready, pets were displayed on tables, the sheep was happily eating the lawn, and kids were waiting to guide visitors through the exhibits.
Georgie looked fantastic on the birdbath. Tiny gold flecks on his bright green skin glittered through the ice. Even the thin turquoise line around his eyelids shone brightly. His claws were just beginning to poke out.
Amelia Bedelia had one last thing to do. She got a banana and went to the garage. She tied the banana to the contraption and sighed. The zoo was already getting noisy. Too noisy for a squirrel monkey. Maybe the monkey would come tonight, when things quieted down.
Everyone loved the zoo. While the Big Cat was sitting as still as a statue on her enormous pillow, other pets were showing off and doing tricks. Visitors loved jumping like kangaroos. The hibernation tunnel was a huge hit. And Amelia Bedelia knew the zoo was a success when she saw Mrs. Shauk swing across the wading pool and land in her backyard.
“Amelia Bedelia,” Mrs. Shauk said, “your backyard looks like more fun than a barrel of monkeys!”
“Monkeys are the last thing we need,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father.
They were all laughing when . . .
Beep!
Amelia Bedelia could tell that Mrs. Shauk was not amused.
Beep! Beep!
But she couldn’t figure out who was beeping.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Wow,” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother, “I haven’t heard that sound since you were little.”
Amelia Bedelia’s heart began racing.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
“It’s coming from the garage,” said her father.
Everyone raced to the garage.
Beep! Beep!
On the floor of the garage was Amelia Bedelia’s car seat. Sitting happily in the car seat, munching a banana and pushing the toy horn, was the cutest squirrel monkey ever.
Beeeeeeeeep!
Amelia Bedelia’s father called the zoo immediately to let them know that their lost monkey had been found. Her mother and Mrs. Shauk kept the other kids back while Amelia Bedelia baby-stepped toward it, banana in hand.
“He’s happy as long as he’s eating bananas,” said Amelia Bedelia.
Her mother raced to the kitchen and brought back every banana they had.
In minutes, a team from the zoo rushed into the driveway carrying nets and a travel crate. When they saw their monkey in a car seat, happily munching on a banana, they relaxed a bit. The television news team arrived soon after that, and then the director of the city zoo. Amelia Bedelia posed with both monkeys, the real one and the one from the gift shop. Then she handed a banana to the real monkey, and everyone saw how he peeled it.
The news team interviewed Amelia Bedelia and her friends, filmed their pets, and toured the exhibits. A reporter interviewed the zoo director about the backyard zoo and Mrs. Shauk about all of the great things her students had done.
“I love these Be an Animal exhibits,” said the director. “This is just what our zoo needs!” He invited Mrs. Shauk and her class back to the zoo to talk about their ideas.
Mrs. Shauk turned to Amelia Bedelia. “Here is the person with the big imagination,” she said. “Congratulations, Amelia Bedelia. I will have to eat crow.”
“Please don’t,” said Amelia Bedelia. “I’d rather have a crow in my zoo than in your stomach.”
Finally it was time to take the monkey back to the zoo. Amelia Bedelia sat down beside him and gave him one last banana. He peeled it in a flash. But instead of gobbling it down, he offered it to her.
“Thanks,” she said. “For everything.” She patted him on the top of his head. It felt warm, and his hair was wiry, not like her toy monkey at all.
“Good night, little monkey,” she said.
Beep! Beep!
Amelia Bedelia couldn’t believe it. She had returned a missing monkey to the real zoo; she had created, with all of her friends, a great backyard zoo; and her teacher had actually liked it! But now it was all over. As people began leaving, Roger came up to her.
“Georgie’s almost defrosted,” he said. “Can we have his funeral now?”
“Sure,” said Amelia Bedelia. “You can take him home.”
“Can we bury him in your backyard?” said Roger. “Georgie likes it here.”
Amelia Bedelia understood. She got a trowel from the garage and dug a good-sized hole—so that what was left of the block of ice would fit—next to an azalea bush.
“We’ll put a mound of dirt on top and plant some flowers,” she said.
Roger nodded. “Amelia Bedelia,” he said, “would you please say a few words about Georgie?”
Amelia Bedelia did not expect that. Georgie hadn’t been her pet. But then she thought, Why not? After learning about animals, thinking like a monkey, and building a zoo, Amelia Bedelia was pretty qualified. The only thing that bothered her was that after all the fun they had had, now they were having a funeral. But Roger was her friend. She shrugged and said what her grandmother always said: “Ah well, that’s life.”
Everyone who was still in Amelia Bedelia’s backyard—kids and parents and pets—gathered around. Amelia Bedelia cleared her throat and began.
“Roger’s pet gecko, Georgie, came from Madagascar. It’s a big island next to Africa, so Georgie was far from home when he passed away. He was little, but he was an amazing, colorful, complicated animal. Roger really loved him, and when he died, Roger kept Georgie in a cold, dark place until he could give him a funeral like he deserved. But first, Georgie spent today teaching kids about animals. Now he’s ready to rest. I’ll plant forget-me-not flowers on top of you, because none of us will ever forget you, Georgie.”
Amelia Bedelia turned to Roger, who was holding the block of ice. Then Roger did another thing that Amelia Bedelia had not expected. He gave Georgie a kiss. No one looked away or squirmed or thought Eewwww—Roger just kissed a dead lizard!
No, this was a last kiss good-bye, good-bye and thank you, good-bye forever, my friend.
Some kids began to sniffle. Some grown-up eyes glistened. Even people who had never had a pet were moved by what Amelia Bedelia had said. What was true for Georgie was true for all animals—they were all amazing miracles, just like Georgie had been.
There was nothing left to say, but no one felt like leaving, either. Everybody just wanted to stay right there, next to one another.
Amelia Bedelia’s mother gave her a hug. “Nice job, sweetie. I’ll go get some snacks. Your friends can hang out here until the cows come home.”
“MOOOOOO!”
A truck was backing into the driveway. The sides were painted with fruits and vegetables and a sign that read UNCLE FRED’S FARM.
“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
A cow gazed down at them.
“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Amelia Bedelia’s father ran up to her and loudly whispered, “I thought you were kidding about canceling the cow!”
“I was,” said Amelia Bedelia. “I didn’t order a cow!”
Wade’s uncle Fred got out of the truck and introduced himself. “Just stopped by to pick up my nephew and my sheep,” he said. “I can loan you Gertrude here, if you’d like to have a cow.”
“That won’
t be necessary,” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother. “My husband has had a cow every day this week.”
Uncle Fred chuckled. Amelia Bedelia had no idea what her mother meant. She figured that her father’s cows must be with his goat.
As Uncle Fred loaded the sheep into his truck, Amelia Bedelia’s father said, “I’ll miss that fuzzy lawn mower. Now I have to mow the grass again.”
That night, after supper, Amelia Bedelia and her parents sat outside on the patio with Finally, who still smelled a little bit like skunk.
Looking out over their backyard, they recalled all the fun and excitement of the zoo and the days leading up it.
“Amelia Bedelia,” asked her mother. “I just have one question. Why is there a banana on your windowsill?”
Amelia Bedelia laughed. She laughed so hard that she could not stop. Soon her parents were laughing too.
“That was a wild time,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father.
“I already miss it,” said her mother.
“You do?” said Amelia Bedelia.
“Me too,” said her father. “I told the director how you didn’t get to go on the field trip to the zoo. We’re meeting him tomorrow morning. He’s taking the three of us on a VIP tour.”
Amelia Bedelia jumped up and yelled, “Thank you, Daddy! Family hug!”
It was their wildest family hug ever.
Back Ad
Excerpt from Amelia Bedelia Shapes Up
Amelia Bedelia did not wake up one morning and say to herself, “What a beautiful day! I can’t wait for all my friends to laugh at me.”
But she might as well have, because that is just what happened.
One good thing was that it really was a beautiful day. After studying math all morning, everyone was ready for recess . . . except Mrs. Robbins.
“Amelia Bedelia,” said Mrs. Robbins, “what if I gave you a pie . . .”
“Thank you,” said Amelia Bedelia. “I love pie.”
“I’m not really giving you a pie,” said Mrs. Robbins. “Let’s pretend.”
About the Author and Illustrator
Herman Parish was in the fourth grade when his aunt, Peggy Parish, wrote the first book about Amelia Bedelia. The author lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Lynne Avril has illustrated all the stories about young Amelia Bedelia. The artist lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
Credits
Cover art © 2014 by Lynne Avril
Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc’h
Copyright
Gouache and black pencil were used to prepare the black-and-white art.
Amelia Bedelia is a registered trademark of Peppermint Partners, LLC.
Amelia Bedelia Goes Wild! Text copyright © 2014 by Herman S. Parish III. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Lynne Avril. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Parish, Herman.
Amelia Bedelia goes wild! / by Herman Parish ; pictures by Lynne Avril.
pages cm.—(Amelia Bedelia chapter books ; #4)
Summary: “Amelia Bedelia is sick the day her class goes to visit the zoo. She doesn’t want to be left out, so she comes up with a brilliant idea—she’ll create a zoo in her backyard, using all her classmates’ pets. But she doesn’t know exactly how to tell her parents about her great plan”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-209507-7 (hardback)—ISBN 978-0-06-209506-0 (pbk. ed.)—ISBN 978-0-06-227058-0 (pob) [1. Zoos—Fiction. 2. Animals—Fiction. 3. Humorous stories.] I. Avril, Lynne, (date) illustrator. II. Title.
EPUB Edition JANUARY 2014 ISBN 9780062095084
PZ7.P2185Aoj 2014 [Fic]—dc23 2013035257
14 15 16 17 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com
Amelia Bedelia Chapter Book #4 Page 4