Dragons and Marshmallows

by Asia Citro

  CHAPTER 11

  WHAT SHOULD BABY DRAGONS EAT?

  Marshmallow was sleeping when I got to the barn. I filled up his water dish and quietly set it near him. What foods would be healthy for a baby dragon? Mom had said that studying normal animals that might be related to the magical creatures had helped her before. Like when she had the winged fox that was sick. She’d read about foxes and birds to figure out what to do.

  I ran to the bookshelf. My eyes quickly scanned the books. Bingo! I grabbed Care and Feeding of Reptiles from the second shelf. The chapter on reptile diets had just what I needed.

  Your pet reptile is either a carnivore, an omnivore, or an herbivore and should be fed accordingly. If your reptile is a carnivore, offer a source of meat. Some carnivorous reptiles prefer animal meat, such as mice or fish. Other carnivorous reptiles prefer smaller sources of meat, such as earthworms or crickets. If your reptile is an herbivore, offer a plant source, such as leafy greens or vegetables. If your reptile is an omnivore, it will eat some meat foods and some plant foods.

  There was no time to waste. I needed to figure out whether Marshmallow was a carnivore, an herbivore, or both — an omnivore!

  As I ran to the house for supplies, I pushed down my worries. I had to believe that this experiment would help. Hang on, baby dragon!

  CHAPTER 12

  CARNIVORE? OMNIVORE?

  I darted around the kitchen. I needed some kind of animal meat. I opened the fridge. Yes! I’d forgotten that Dad had gone fishing with his friends a few days before. He always saves a few of the smallest fish as treats for Sassafras. I grabbed two fish.

  “Hey, Sassafras. Can you share one of these with Marshmallow?”

  Sassafras stared at both fish and meowed loudly. He grabbed one, dropped it in his food bowl, and took a bite.

  That left me with one fish. I figured that counted as permission to share it with the baby dragon. I didn’t wait to see if Sassafras would change his mind. I quickly gathered the other things I needed for the experiment and went straight to the barn with Sassafras at my heels.

  If Marshmallow ate either the fish or the worms but ignored the plants, he was probably a carnivore. If he ate just the plants, he was probably an herbivore. And if he ate both meat and plants, he was probably an omnivore. I knew I should be writing all of this in my journal, but it would have to wait until later. Little Marshmallow needed me to be quick.

  He was still lying there, slumped on the ground and barely awake. I didn’t think he’d make it over to the plates, so I put them all right in front of him. Sassafras meowed and stared at the fish longingly. I picked him up and petted him. It gave my nervous hands something to do.

  I waited. Nothing happened. Little Marshmallow was too weak! I snuggled Sassafras and tried to think. What could I do? Maybe I should put the food right up to his mouth?

  I dangled some worms in front of him and wiggled them. “Want a little taste?”

  Marshmallow took a lick, and then laid his head back down.

  I tried the same thing with each of the other foods. He gave them all one lick, but he didn’t eat any of them. I sat on the ground and put my head in my hands. I couldn’t even watch anymore.

  Then I heard a sound. I looked up to see Marshmallow crawling over to the fish. He swallowed the whole thing in one gulp. Then he tucked his tail under his head and closed his eyes and went to sleep. I crossed my fingers and toes that the fish and the nap would do the trick. It was breaking my heart to see little Marshmallow so sick.

  Sassafras bumped my chin with his head and purred. He could tell that I was super worried about Marshmallow. I decided to read through the rest of the reptile book, just in case there was something I’d missed. Sassafras curled up in my lap like a warm, rumbling blanket as I read.

  CHAPTER 13

  MOM!

  My eyes flew open and I looked around. The reptile book had fallen out of my hands. Sassafras quietly snored on my chest. I must’ve fallen asleep while I was reading.

  I heard my dad calling my name. Huh? Was it dinnertime already? Sassafras and I ran into the house and looked around, confused.

  “Is it time for dinner?”

  Dad laughed. “Did you forget that your mom was coming home today?”

  “Mom’s back? Mom’s back! Mom!” I ran to her office, hugged her, and then burst into tears.

  “I messed everything up! There was a baby dragon and I wasn’t sure what was wrong. I fed him marshmallows, and at first he got better, but then he got so much worse. I tried to fix it by feeding him fish. But I don’t know if it worked. I don’t want him to die!” I sobbed.

  My mom knelt down and looked me in the eye. “Oh, Zoey. You must’ve been very worried. But magical animals are much tougher than you think. Let’s go see how he’s doing.”

  CHAPTER 14

  BIGGER

  Mom walked me out to the barn with her arm around me. I had hoped I could handle all of this on my own. I wanted to impress my mom with a healthy dragon. Instead she was going to see a sick dragon that I hadn’t been able to help.

  We walked into the barn and I stopped. I rubbed my eyes. “Whoa.”

  Marshmallow was walking around. He had bright eyes. And he was at least twice as big as he’d been this morning! How did that happen? Dragons must grow really quickly.

  Sassafras was about to walk into the pen, but froze. I think he was also shocked to see how big our little guy had gotten! Marshmallow trotted over and nuzzled Sassafras, who purred loudly. The two of them jumped around and played while I stared in awe.

  Mom squeezed me in a big hug. “Zoey, I’m so proud. You kept trying even when things got hard. How about we leave these two to play and see if we can convince your dad to part with some more fish?”

  Just like that, the day went from awful to wonderful. I did it! Even though I made some mistakes along the way, I helped Marshmallow.

  CHAPTER 15

  LEARNING TO FISH

  Sassafras and I were out in the barn playing with Marshmallow. Only a few days had passed, but Marshmallow was about the size of a horse. Sassafras liked to jump on his back between his wings. Then Marshmallow would run in circles around the pen until Sassafras started to fall and jumped off. Marshmallow always stopped to sniff and make sure Sassafras was all right. I wanted to remember the way they played together forever. Oh! I’d never taken my photo of Marshmallow. I dashed off to get the camera and got an action shot of the two of them together.

  Mom came into the barn and looked at the photo of Sassafras riding Marshmallow. At first she laughed a lot, but then she got quiet.

  “Marshmallow’s getting awfully big, Zoey.”

  I sucked in a big breath. I knew what she was going to say next, and I didn’t want to hear it.

  “I know this part is hard. But a dragon isn’t meant to live in a barn. He’s meant to be free!”

  I nodded and kept looking down. If I looked up at Marshmallow, I was sure I’d start crying. “I guess he’d have more fun flying around and exploring the forest,” I mumbled. “And he might not even fit in the barn much longer.”

  Saying good-bye was going to stink.

  Once Sassafras was done dragon-riding, we all headed for the forest stream. Mom wanted to teach Marshmallow how to catch fish.

  When we got to the stream, Marshmallow seemed nervous. Rather than check out the stream, he snuggled up behind me and put his big head on my shoulder. Sassafras hates getting wet, so he hid behind Marshmallow.

  Mom rolled up her pants and splashed around in the water. “Marshmallow, the stream won’t hurt you. It’s really fun. See?” After a few minutes, Marshmallow’s curiosity got the best of him. He joined her in the water.

  Next she showed him that there were fish in the stream. Once he realized that, he really loved the stream. He spotted a fish in the water and tried to catch it, but he missed and ended up with a mouthful of stream water.

  “Don’t give up, Marshmallow! You can do it!” Sassafras and I cheered. />
  Marshmallow kept trying and finally caught one. After that first taste of success, he got much faster at catching fish. He even brought a little fish to Sassafras, who purred loudly in thanks.

  I was rolling up my pants to join the fun when Sassafras started meowing like crazy. He stared at the bushes nearby.

  I stood very still and watched. A blue dragon head slowly peeped out of the bushes. It looked about the same size as Marshmallow.

  “Come on, sweet girl,” I cooed. The dragon kept her eyes on me as she took a few small steps forward.

  The splashing behind us stopped. I looked over my shoulder, and Marshmallow and my mom were both frozen, watching the new dragon. Then Marshmallow let out the most beautiful sound. It sounded like a cat’s purr, only louder and more like a song. Maybe dragons purr when they’re really happy?

  The new dragon’s eyes lit up and she purred right back! She trotted into the stream and sniffed Marshmallow. They twisted their necks around each other in greeting and purred even more.

  Something about the way her blue tail moved was so familiar. Was she the friend who had brought baby Marshmallow to our barn and disappeared into the bushes?

  The blue dragon took a few steps toward the forest. She looked back and called out to Marshmallow. She wanted him to come with her.

  My heart dropped. I was going to have to say good-bye to my dragon.

  Marshmallow took a step to follow her, then stopped. He came bounding over to us and nuzzled my mom and Sassafras. Then he rested his head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around his warm, strong neck.

  I blinked back tears. “Good-bye, Marshmallow. Be a good dragon.”

  I gave him a gentle nudge toward the new dragon. He looked at me one last time.

  “Go ahead. It’s OK.” I waved him on.

  Before I could change my mind, they both leapt into the air. The forest filled with the beautiful noise of two happy dragons. The sound was so pretty that it was hard to be sad.

  My mom moved to my side and wrapped me in a hug. “Look how healthy and happy he is. That’s because of your help.”

  I nodded and couldn’t help but smile as I watched them spin and dive through the air until they were nothing more than specks in the sky.

  CHAPTER 16

  SMOKE?

  I cleaned out Marshmallow’s pen while Sassafras watched. It looked so empty without our little dragon bounding around. Even Sassafras was mopey. We all really missed Marshmallow.

  I sniffed back another wave of tears. Wait a minute. I sniffed again.

  “Do you smell smoke, Sassafras? Where’s it coming from?”

  Sassafras pawed at the barn door and meowed. Oh no, was something burning outside? We burst out of the barn to find my mom standing by a fire in our backyard fire pit. She held two sticks and a bag of marshmallows.

  She smiled. “Roasted marshmallows seemed like an appropriate way to celebrate your success with our dragon friend.”

  We cuddled up by the fire telling stories about the little guy and laughing. I ate five or six marshmallows, and went to grab another one. But then I remembered how Marshmallow felt after eating the plate of marshmallows. I set my roasting stick down and just enjoyed the fire. I’d skip the stomachache!

  After we headed in for the night, I went to my bedroom. Sassafras jumped up on my desk and nosed at my science notebook. It fell open to the next blank page.

  I laughed and snuggled him up. “Oh, Sassafras, I know how you feel. I can’t wait to meet our next magical friend either!”

  GLOSSARY

  Carnivore: An animal that eats only meat

  Cold-blooded: An animal that uses the sun to warm up and shade to cool itself because it can’t control its body temperature

  Conclusion: What you learned from your experiment (hopefully you get an answer to your question but sometimes you don’t)

  Herbivore: An animal that eats only plants

  Hypothesis: What you think will happen in your experiment

  Omnivore: An animal that eats plants and meat

  Reptile: An animal that has scales and is cold-blooded

  Warm-blooded: An animal that doesn’t need the sun to warm up or shade to cool itself because it can control its body temperature

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR

  ASIA CITRO used to be a science teacher, but now she plays at home with her two kids and writes books. When she was little, she had a cat just like Sassafras. He loved to eat bugs and always made her laugh (his favorite toy was a plastic human nose that he carried everywhere). Asia has also written three activity books: 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids, The Curious Kid’s Science Book, and A Little Bit of Dirt. She has yet to find a baby dragon in her backyard, but she always keeps an eye out, just in case.

  MARION LINDSAY is a children’s book illustrator who loves stories and knows a good one when she reads it. She likes to draw anything and everything but does spend a completely unfair amount of time drawing cats. Sometimes she has to draw dogs just to make up for it. She illustrates picture books and chapter books as well as painting paintings and designing patterns. Like Asia, Marion is always on the lookout for dragons and sometimes thinks there might be a small one living in the airing cupboard.

  for activities and more visit

  ZOEYANDSASSAFRAS.COM