by Joe McGee
He was just about to eat those lima beans when his phone rang. It was an old friend of his calling, and he and Old Giroux got to chatting. They talked for well over an hour, and by the time Old Giroux hung up, he wasn’t in the mood for lima beans anymore. He dumped the can into the trash and had the peas instead. He was in more of a peas mood, it turned out.
The trash bag went to the curb the next day. And then into the trash truck the day after that. And then those lima beans wound up in the dump, with all of the other cans and bags of lima beans that anyone in Wolver Hollow had ever owned. Wolver Hollow became a lima bean-free zone. No one had the stomach for them, although no one was quite sure why.
Except for the rats. They loved those lima beans very much. Too much.
So much that you can see their green eyes glowing at night.
Maybe even outside your window.
Acknowledgments
As always, I want to thank my wife, partner, and best friend, Jess, for being an incredible source of inspiration and support. And while she loves most vegetables, she does not love (or even like) lima beans, and so you’ll never find lima beans in our home. Have you seen what they did in Wolver Hollow? Be warned, my friends! But seriously, if you happen to like lima beans, that’s okay. We can still be friends. Just check your eyes in the mirror every once in a while—make sure they’re not turning that weird glowy green.
I’d like to thank our family for all of their love and support, especially Shane, Zach, Logan, Ainsley, Sawyer, Braeden, Becca, Josh, Maddie, and Lena. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for feeding a young imagination books, and games, and art supplies.
Thank you to Jennifer Soloway, my wonderful agent, for all of your hard work, encouragement, excitement, and support. We make a great team, and I’m grateful to be on this path with you! Karen Nagel, my amazing editor, for your vision and wizardry, and as always, your belief in me and your love for my work. Thank you to Teo for nailing the illustrations. Seriously… so good. Thank you to the whole Aladdin team. It takes a whole crew to make a book—the layout and design team, the art editor, the copy editors, the marketing team, other editors, etc., etc. Thank you, all of you, for the work you put in to make these books what they are. Thank you, Linda Epstein, for helping me get as far as I’ve gotten now, and thank you, Lisa Jahn-Clough, for showing me the way. Thank you, Sharon Darrow, Amy King, Tom Birdseye, and Kathi Appelt, for being my mentors and friends.
I want to recognize two MFA programs for the substantial impact they’ve had on me as a writer, and on my work: the Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA), where I attended and received my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. There is true magic there, and I wouldn’t be where I am now (both as an author and in life) if it weren’t for you. Thank you, and thank you to all of the amazing writers (and just all-around awesome people) I have had the pleasure of meeting, getting to know, working with, and/or befriending through the program. You all know who you are. Too many names to list. Besides, I probably should have done that a book or three ago if I were going to do that. And Sierra Nevada University (SNU), where I currently teach. This is a family of writers whose heartbeat resonates through each and every one of the fiction writers, poets, and essayists that joins its program. Brian, you have created something special there, in beautiful Lake Tahoe, and I am so grateful to be a part of it. Much love to you all.
Finally, a great big thank-you to you, the reader. A book is kind of pointless if nobody reads it, right? There are lots of books out there, and you chose this one, so thank you. I appreciate you, and I’m glad you’re here.
More from this Series
The Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy…
Book 3
The Haunted Mustache
Book 1
More from the Author
Trash Heap of Terror
Monster of Disguise
It's Raining Bats and…
Crash! Bang! Boo!
About the Author and Illustrator
JOE McGEE loves to write about monsters and magic and other strange, curious, and quirky things. He grew up with his nose in a book and his imagination exploring other worlds. He knew when he was ten years old that one day he would grow up to be an author! He has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and a Master of Arts in Writing from Rowan University. Joe teaches at Sierra Nevada University’s low-residency MFA program and teaches English at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College. He is a former army officer and lives in the mountains of West Virginia with his wife (also a children’s author), Jessica Rinker. Visit JoeMcGeeAuthor.com to learn more about Joe and his books.
TEO SKAFFA has lived many places but is currently in Istanbul. He grew up in a small town you’ve probably never heard of in the Netherlands. He likes the color pink and making art, video games, and weird electronic music. He does NOT like room-temperature watermelon. He uses simple shapes filled with texture and detail to tell a story. He is grateful that he’s able to make a living by drawing, especially since he’s not particularly good at anything else.
JoeMcGeeAuthor.com
TeoSkaffa.com
ALADDIN
Simon & Schuster, New York
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ALSO BY JOE McGEE
Junior Monster Scouts series
The Monster Squad
Crash! Bang! Boo!
It’s Raining Bats and Frogs!
Monster of Disguise
Night Frights series
The Haunted Mustache
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Aladdin paperback edition August 2021
Text copyright © 2021 by Joseph McGee
Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Teo Skaffa
Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.
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Designed by Tiara Iandiorio
Cover designed by Tiara Iandiorio
Cover illustration copyright © 2021 by Teo Skaffa
Library of Congress Control Number 2021937737
ISBN 9781534480926 (hc)
ISBN 9781534480919 (pbk)
ISBN 9781534480933 (ebook)