by Elise Broach
It certainly is. Marvin loves flying.
When the string finally slows to a stop, Elaine pulls Marvin back up to the shelf. They take turns swinging until James comes into the room.
“Hey, you found the yo–yo,” he says. “Are you hungry? Here’s some lunch.”
He unfolds a piece of paper towel on the desk. Inside are two blueberries, a potato chip, a corner crust of bread, and a little wet morsel of tuna fish. A feast!
Marvin and Elaine can’t finish it, but they have a taste of everything. The blueberries are sweet. The potato chip is salty.
“Yum!” Elaine says as she takes a bite of tuna fish. “This will last us all weekend.”
After their lunch, James tucks them in his shirt pocket. “There’s a creek in the backyard,” he tells them. “Let’s take this boat and go play.”
He picks up the little toy sailboat.
Marvin and Elaine cannot believe their luck. First they got to fly, now they will get to sail! There is so much to do in the country.
CHAPTER THREE
The Creek
Behind the house, across the field, is a brown creek. The water flows over rocks that shine in the sun. Trees grow along the muddy banks, and Marvin sees a dragonfly land on the tall grass.
James sees it too. “Wow, a dragonfly!”
The dragonfly is green and blue, with long silver wings. It darts through the air.
James kneels on the bank of the creek.
“First, let’s see how fast the water is going,” he says. He puts the sailboat in the creek.
They all watch. The boat floats gently down the creek until it bumps into a pair of rocks. James has to lean over the water to get it.
“Do you want to go for a ride?” he asks Marvin.
Of course Marvin does! He crawls onto James’s finger, and James sets him down in the middle of the sailboat. It has a cabin with windows, benches in the back, two oars, and a beautiful white sail.
“What about your friend?” James asks.
Elaine climbs out of the pocket, stretching her legs toward James’s finger. He picks her up and puts her in the boat.
“Ready?” he asks. “Anchors away!”
The little boat rocks and dips, floating down the creek. Marvin and Elaine are sailing!
“Oh my goodness, what a fancy boat,” Elaine says. “Marvin, it’s like we’re on a cruise!”
They look over the sides at the brown water rippling past. They can see pebbles on the bottom of the creek, and sometimes a tiny fish. On the banks of the creek, there are waving grasses and patches of flowers.
“This is great!” Marvin says. He and Elaine sit on the benches in the back of the boat as it drifts downstream.
They see James waiting for them up ahead. He puts his hand in the water and catches the boat, carefully picking them up.
“Did you like that?” he asks. “Want to go again?”
Of course they do! They float down the creek again and again. Each time, they see something new: a mossy rock, a stick poking out of the mud, little black tadpoles swimming. Up ahead, a long wooden board lies across the water.
James says, “I know! You can go under the bridge.”
He is just leaning over to set the sailboat in the water when a big yellow dog comes splashing into the creek.
“Hey!” James shouts, laughing. He drops the boat. Plop!
Suddenly, Marvin and Elaine are spinning downstream.
“Oooo, we’re going fast!” Elaine says.
“Hold on,” Marvin tells her, gripping the side of the boat. Water sprays his face.
“I’m coming,” James calls, but they can see he’s playing with the dog. The dog is jumping and wagging its tail, licking him.
The sailboat floats toward the bridge.
“Watch out!” Marvin yells. He and Elaine grab the sides of the boat as it sails under the dark board.
Then they are out in the sunlight again, floating down the creek. There are more rocks here. The boat bumps into a big one and shifts back and forth, almost turning over.
“Ooomph,” Elaine says, holding her stomach. “This is making me seasick.”
“Me too,” Marvin says. “Where’s James?”
They know he isn’t far away, but they’re ready to get out of the boat. Elaine grabs one of the little oars and tries to steer toward the muddy bank.
Finally, the boat comes to rest in a patch of tall grass.
“Good,” Elaine says. “Now we can relax.”
They are just stretching out in the sun when Marvin gets a strange feeling.
It is the feeling of being watched.
There in the reeds is a big, spotted frog.
“A frog!” Marvin shouts.
The frog’s long, sticky tongue comes straight toward him, fast as a whip.
Elaine leaps up and smacks the frog’s tongue with the oar.
It sucks the oar back into its mouth. Snap!
“Quick,” Marvin cries. He snatches Elaine’s leg and pulls her over the side of the boat.
“But Marvin, I can’t swim—”
They tumble into the water just as the hungry frog tries again to eat them.
CHAPTER FOUR
Sink or Swim
The cold water rushes over Marvin and Elaine. Marvin is an excellent swim–mer, but he has never gone swimming in a creek before. The water is moving so fast, and Elaine, who can’t swim at all, is trying to climb on top of Marvin’s head.
They are sinking below the surface, gasping for air.
“Elaine,” Marvin yells. “You’re pushing me under. You have to hold on to my back.”
“But I’ll drown!” Elaine cries. “I need to be up high.”
She crawls on top of Marvin’s head again and now Marvin nearly drowns.
Finally, he gets Elaine to wrap her front legs over his shoulders. Now he can swim.
Marvin tries to paddle toward the bank but the water is going too fast. His legs quickly get tired.
“There’s a big rock,” Elaine says, pointing. “Swim that way.”
Marvin thinks it must be nice to ride on someone else’s back and give orders. As best he can, he swims toward the rock.
It is slippery with moss, but Elaine finds a spot where she can get a grip. She climbs off Marvin’s back. Then she helps him up.
They try to catch their breath.
“Marvin, you nearly died!” Elaine says. “Thank goodness I saved you. That mean frog would have gobbled you up. Why, you would be sitting inside its belly right now if I hadn’t—”
“Elaine,” Marvin says, “stop.”
Elaine frowns. “I’m just saying, you’re lucky I was there.”
Marvin is not feeling very lucky. They are stuck on a rock in the middle of the creek, and James doesn’t know where they are.
They can see James walking along the bank. The dog is gone. James is holding the empty sailboat and calling, “Little guy! Where are you?”
What are they going to do now?
“I hate to say it, Marvin,” Elaine says. “But you may have to swim to the shore. James will never find us on this rock.”
Marvin does not like this idea. “The water is going too fast! I won’t make it.”
“Well, what are we going to do? We can’t stay here,” Elaine says.
They are stumped. The rock is dark and wet. Even if James looks this way, he won’t see their black shells.
Then Marvin spots the dragonfly hovering over the tall grasses.
“Let’s see if she can help us,” he says.
Marvin and Elaine start waving their legs and yelling to the dragonfly. “Hey! Over here!”
“What’s the matter?” the dragonfly calls. “Are you stuck?”
“Yes! Can you go get that boy?” Marvin shouts. “If you fly near him, he’ll see you. Then you can land over here by us, and he’ll know where we are.”
The dragonfly does not look happy. “That sounds like a lot of work,” she says.
“Please!
” Elaine cries. She points at Marvin. “He nearly got eaten by a frog! I had to save him.”
“Oh brother,” Marvin mutters.
But the dragonfly knows about frogs. “You poor thing,” she says. “I had a close call with that frog myself. Okay, I’ll help. But are you sure the boy won’t try to catch me?”
“He won’t,” Marvin promises. “He’s kind to insects.”
“Okay, here goes,” says the dragonfly.
She zips along the bank toward James.
He is bent over the creek, poking in the grasses with a long stick. She darts in front of his face.
“Oh!” he cries. The dragonfly makes shimmering circles in the air.
“Look at her,” says Elaine. “Show–off.”
But the dragonfly gets James to watch her. She flies straight to the rock where Marvin and Elaine are waiting and lands next to them.
James walks along the creek, dragging his stick. He still doesn’t see Marvin and Elaine.
“Honestly,” the dragonfly says. “Humans are so slow.”
She flutters up again and flies in front of James’s face. Then she darts back to the rock and hovers over Marvin and Elaine with her big silver wings shining in the sun.
“There you are!” James shouts, smiling. “I was afraid I lost you!”
Phew!
Marvin waves his thanks to the dragonfly.
She soars away, calling, “Glad to be of service!”
James stretches his long stick across the water to the rock. “Can you climb on this and crawl to me?”
Elaine looks at the stick. “Do you think that’s safe?” she asks Marvin.
“If James says it is,” Marvin answers.
Carefully, he climbs on top of the stick.
Elaine follows.
They crawl over the bumpy bark.
The brown creek flows beneath them.
Finally they reach the end of the stick and climb into James’s hands.
“Yes!” James says. “You made it!”
Marvin and Elaine breathe a sigh of relief as James tucks them safely back into his shirt pocket.
CHAPTER FIVE
City or Country, Friends Forever
After the excitement of the boat ride, Marvin and Elaine are ready for a rest. They ride in James’s pocket as he walks across the field.
He comes to a long fence with a barn behind it. “This is where that yellow dog lives,” he tells them. “I wish I could have a dog.”
Elaine makes a face at Marvin. Marvin is not afraid of dogs, because dogs don’t bother beetles. But Elaine does not like the way dogs drool and slobber.
James looks down at them. “Maybe my dad and Christina will let me have a dog out here in the country.”
Elaine looks at Marvin. “I hope they don’t! What if James likes dogs more than beetles?”
But Marvin isn’t worried about that. If James wants a dog, Marvin hopes he will get one. James is his best friend, and when James is happy, Marvin is happy.
James takes them out of his pocket and puts them on the fence post.
“Look,” cries Elaine. “Goats!”
On the other side of the fence, looking at them with interest, are five goats. One goat hops up on a stump.
“Aren’t they funny?” James says. “And see, there’s a horse too.”
Over by the barn, a brown horse starts walking slowly toward them, ears pricked.
“Let’s feed him some grass,” James says. He picks a handful of grass and holds it over the fence. The horse comes closer.
“Look how big he is,” Elaine whispers to Marvin.
The horse rubs his soft nose against James’s hand and eats the grass. Soon the goats come too, and even though they are standing in a field full of grass, they also want James to feed them.
Elaine and Marvin sit on the rail of the fence in the warm sun, watching the animals. “Isn’t this nice, Marvin?" Elaine asks. "Don’t you think it would be fun to live here?”
All around them is the country—the big fields, the rushing creek, fences and trees and wide blue sky. It’s so different from the city. It is quiet. It is green. It is full of animals, not people.
“Yes!” says Marvin.
“Well,” Elaine says quickly, “I would miss my mother and father. But maybe the next time James comes here to visit, our whole family could come —we could have a beetle vacation in the country!”
Marvin thinks that Mama and Papa would like that … eating the country food, seeing the sights, breathing the fresh, clean air.
“That’s a great idea,” Marvin tells Elaine. “Let’s look for a place that would make a good beetle country house.”
“Then we won’t be city beetles anymore,” Elaine says. “We’ll be country beetles.”
Country beetles! That would be something new.
“Do you think James will still like you if you’re a country beetle?” Elaine asks.
“Of course he will,” Marvin says. “No matter where we are, James and I will always be friends.” He looks up at James. “James and I will be friends forever.”
Marvin sees that the horse and the goats have gone back to eating the grass in their own pasture. James is resting his hand on the fence rail, so Marvin crawls on top of James’s finger.
“Hi, little guy,” James says. “Let’s go back to the house. You and your friend can finish your lunch.”
Marvin has to admit he is hungry again after their adventure in the creek.
James picks up Elaine and puts them both in his pocket. Together, they cross the field.
Marvin can see Karl and Christina on the back steps. “James,” they call. “Do you want to go blueberry picking?”
“Sure!” James yells.
“We almost went last weekend,” Christina says, “but we thought it would be more fun to do it with you.”
Marvin and Elaine bob gently in James’s pocket as he walks toward the house, the sun warm on their faces.
“Do you really think you and James will stay friends?” Elaine asks. “What about when you grow up? And James grows up?”
Marvin thinks about this.
“We’ll still be the same inside,” he says.
He looks up at James. He and James have done so many things together. They’ve made pictures, had adventures, helped each other, and cheered each other up.
Of course they’ll stay friends. Marvin is sure. No matter where they go, no matter how big or old or grown–up they become … inside their hearts, a boy and his beetle will always be friends.
About the Author
Elise Broach is the New York Times– bestselling author of books for children and young adults, including My Pet Wants a Pet, Bedtime for Little Bulldozer, The Wolf Keepers, Masterpiece, Shakespeare’s Secret, Desert Crossing, the Superstition Mountain trilogy, and The Miniature World of Marvin & James, James to the Rescue, Trouble at School for Marvin & James, and Marvin & James Save the Day and Elaine Helps!, Books One, Two, Three, and Four in the Masterpiece Adventures series.
Visit her online at She lives in Connecticut. elisebroach.com, or sign up for email updates here.
About the Illustrator
Kelly Murphy is the acclaimed illustrator of many children’s books, including Masterpiece, The Miniature World of Marvin & James, James to the Rescue, Trouble at School for Marvin & James, and Marvin & James Save the Day and Elaine Helps!. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
Visit her online at kelmurphy.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
<
br /> Copyright Notice
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
Riding the Train
CHAPTER TWO
The Country House
CHAPTER THREE
The Creek
CHAPTER FOUR
Sink or Swim
CHAPTER FIVE
City or Country, Friends Forever
About the Author and Illustrator
Copyright
Text copyright © 2020 by Elise Broach. Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Kelly Murphy.
Henry Holt and Company, Publishers since 1866
Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271
mackids.com
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Broach, Elise, author. | Murphy, Kelly, illustrator.
Title: A trip to the country for Marvin and James / Elise Broach; illustrated by Kelly Murphy.
Description: New York: Christy Ottaviano Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2020. | Series: The masterpiece adventures; book five | Summary: James invites Marvin and his cousin Elaine on a trip to the country, and it proves to be a very exciting adventure for the forever friends.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019018545 | ISBN 9781250186096 (hardcover: alk. paper)