{"product_id":"nessie-quest-isbn-9780525645702","title":"Nessie Quest","description":"\u003cb\u003eFans of Erin Entrada Kelly's \u003ci\u003eHello, Universe\u003c\/i\u003e and Melissa Savage's own \u003ci\u003eLemons\u003c\/i\u003e will devour this voice-driven novel packed with humor and heart about two friends who head off on an adventure to find the Loch Ness Monster.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAda Ru thought her parents were finally going to agree to a Fitzhugh family vacation to Disney World the summer before sixth grade. Then her father announces he's taking a teaching position in Scotland, and moving the family there for the entire summer. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eObviously, Ada Ru is anything but happy. She doesn't like their new home, she hates haggis, and she certainly doesn't like the idea that she will be away from her best friend all summer. To top it all off, there is said to be a monster in the lake near their house! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat's when she meets Hamish Bean Timmy, Hammy Bean for short, captain of the Nessie Quest Monster Chaser boat tour. He knows everything there is to know about the fabled Loch Ness Monster and Scotland. But as the two unlikely friends embark on an epic adventure to spot the lake monster, they end up discovering more than they ever could have imagined.“Nessie may elude us still, but this \u003cb\u003efriendship-driven\u003c\/b\u003e quest should not do the same…. Family ties, found friendships, and community support give this novel its \u003cb\u003eheart\u003c\/b\u003e.”–\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ada Ru is motivated, headstrong, and sassy with \u003cb\u003ea big heart\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003ereaders will have a blast\u003c\/b\u003e exploring Loch Ness with her.\" \u003ci\u003e— Booklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"This adventure \u003cb\u003echarms in every way\u003c\/b\u003e.\" --\u003ci\u003eSchool Library Journal\u003c\/i\u003eMelissa Savage is the author of \u003ci\u003eLemons\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Truth About Martians\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNessie Quest\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eKarma Moon--Ghost Hunter\u003c\/i\u003e. She is also a child and family therapist. Even though she's never actually seen a Loch Ness Monster in person, Melissa loves to learn and write about the mysteries of cryptozoology for children. She lives in Colorado. You can follow Melissa on Twitter at @melissadsavage, and visit her at melissadsavage.com.\u003cp\u003e1\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBanana Famous\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWords may seem innocent enough, but I’m here to tell you that they’re a way bigger deal than most people know. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey are so powerful, in fact, that they can change you in a single, solitary second. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWords can propel you so high that you could fly straight up to the sky blue. Or can seem so heavy on your shoulders that you think you’ll never stand straight again. And there’s one reason for that. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWords make us feel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd feelings are everything. They control who we are and how we live and every single choice we make. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy name is Adelaide Ru Fitzhugh. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAda Ru for short. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRu for even shorter. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI’ve been writing since I was born, so I know words real good. One day I plan to write words so important that lots of people are going to want to read the way I put them together. And they’ll feel something while they read them too. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI’m talking about a legit, big-time writer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd by that, of course, I mean super famous. Like go-to-the-grocery-store-for-bananas-in-a-limo kind of famous. Just like J. K. Rowling probably does. I mean, if you’re as famous as her, you certainly don’t go shopping in a plain old white Prius named Patty that has a save the trees bumper sticker on it like we have. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn my Kreative Kids writing class in Denver, I learned another real important thing about words. If you want to write a really good story, I mean, a really super-good one, you should write what you know. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo I decided to think long and hard about what I know. Unfortunately, I got bubkes. And bubkes is a big problem for a serious writer. My life is actually pretty boring. Not that I’m complaining about that. I mean, I love my life on Tennyson Street just outside the city of Denver. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s predictable. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd that’s me. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut predictable isn’t exactly exciting or interesting and it certainly doesn’t make you feel. There’s no pop to predictable, and as a writer, if you don’t have pop, you’ve got zip. I mean, where does a girl like me find pop when I’ve never been kidnapped by pirates on the high seas or raised by wolves? I’ve never known one single animal that could talk and I’ve certainly never been abducted by aliens . . . at least as far as I know.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI just finished sixth grade at Skinner Middle School, I’m the president of the Tennyson Street Beyoncé Beyhive Fan Club, and I’m a champion cupcake eater. I refuse to swim in any public pool (because of the pee) and I have an award-winning collection of ceramic kittens.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e See what I mean?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e That’s bubkes big-time. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis year Mom even helped me start my very own podcast. It’s called Words with Ru. The problem is, it’s very hard to find something with pop in it to talk about on your very own podcast when nothing interesting has really happened to you yet. That’s probably why I only have two subscribers to date. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNan and Granddad Fitzhugh.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e But if I had pop, who knows how many people I’d get. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI’ve been waiting all this year for something cool to happen to me. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd now, the summer after sixth grade . . . it does. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDun, dun . . . dun. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSpoiler alert: there may or may not be an actual real live lake monster involved, but that’s all I’m going to say about that. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor now, anyway.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e And it all started with a Friday Family Fitzhugh Meeting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat’s So Wrong with Disney World?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Hear ye, hear ye,” I call out, banging my fist like a gavel on the kitchen table. “Let the Friday Fitzhugh Family Meeting come to order.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s my job to bring the meeting to order every week. I don’t wear a judge’s robe or anything that official, but it’s still a pretty big deal. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Mom.” I nod in her direction. “First order of business.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Her job is agendas and refreshments. Tonight’s snack is a plastic bowl full of Jelly Belly jelly beans. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSide note: I only eat the Buttered Popcorn ones. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s because I totally love them. It’s like if I was forced to live on a desert island and could only bring two things with me for my survival, it would be Buttered Popcorn jelly beans and an endless supply of soda. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhich is the exact reason why I’m digging through the plastic bowl as Mom announces the first order of business. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“First up . . . chores and cleanliness.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI sneak a covert eye roll and keep on digging through the beans. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOther than the hear ye part and an occasional order in the court, the meetings are pretty dullsville. They always start exactly the same. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWho’s been slacking on their chores? (Me) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWho isn’t keeping their room clean enough? (Me)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWho’s not making their bed in the mornings? (Yep, me again)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWho’s not mowing the lawn? (That one . . . has Dad’s name written all over it) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the spring meetings we sometimes have an additional category on the agenda. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Fitzhugh summer vacation destination.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat’s also when someone inevitably brings up the subject of Disney World and asks why we can’t ever go there (that’s me too if you didn’t already guess it). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCan someone please tell me what’s so wrong with Disney World? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy best friend, Britney B, went two summers ago and said it really is where dreams come true. It even said so on the Disney souvenir book she brought home with her. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMe and Britney B have been best friends since first grade when her family moved two doors down from us. We like all the same movies, we both agree that adding vegetables will ruin a perfectly good pizza every time and we look just alike, with plain brown hair and skinny bodies with ugly knobby knees that we both detest. Last month, in an extremely-bad-idea best-friend pact, we both chopped our hair in bobs at the chin. I hate mine, but she loves hers. Probably because she looks way better in it than I do. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI know everything there is to know about her and she knows the same about me. That’s the way real best friends are. For instance, I know that right this second, she’s waiting on me to come over so we can watch Taken Souls on the Syfy channel. We watch it together every single Friday after the Fitzhugh Family Meetings. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Mom is finished with her chore slacking list, she nods to me. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI pound on the table three more times. “Next on the agenda,” I announce.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMom looks at Dad. “Summer plans,” she announces. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWait . . . what? This is way earlier than usual and I haven’t even planted all my Disney World hints yet. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI sit straight up and cross two sets of fingers on each hand. I close my eyes tight and wait for it. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCome on, Disney World. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCome on, Disney World. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCome on, Disney World.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Dad’s going to talk about summer plans this year,” Mom says.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI peek one eye open.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDad never leads any agenda item and he’s certainly never led the summer plans one. It’s unprecedented. Maybe that’s a good sign.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOr maybe not.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI close my eyes tight again and wait for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e He clears his throat. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI hold my breath. Magic Kingdom, here I come!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd then . . . he says it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe lays a bomb on me that changes my entire life. With just one line, and believe me, it’s got nothing to do with dreams coming true either.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“We are spending the entire summer in Scotland.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo warning. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo doomsday prep. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo You had better sit down for this one. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt has to be a joke. I give him a good long stare while I wait for the punch line.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExcept there isn’t one. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Order in the court. Order in the court.” I pound my fist gavel on the table, then stare at Dad. “Are you seriously kidding me right now?” I ask him. “Because it’s so not funny.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe gives me his extra-wide grin. The one that shows all his straight white teeth and the getting-old crinkles right at the corners of his eyes, and he says, “Nope. We are going for the whole summer. We’ll get to see Uncle Clive and Aunt Isla and your cousin Briony. It’s been six years since we’ve gotten a chance to visit.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSuddenly all the Buttered Popcorns aren’t sitting so well inside my belly. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Adelaide Ru,” Mom says, grabbing my wrist and pulling my hand out of the bowl of beans. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMom’s the only one who never calls me anything short. She uses my whole name every single time. She says it’s because it’s too beautiful a name to go short. Even though she goes short on hers all the time because her real name is Elizabeth and everyone calls her Libby. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRight this minute she’s frowning hard at me. “You know I don’t like it when you dig around in there with your licked-on fingers. It’s gross. One more time and I’m putting the jelly beans away.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Dad, do we really have to spend the entire summer there?” I ask him. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“We don’t have to, my little Rutabaga,” Dad says. “We get to.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDad never goes short on my name and he doesn’t go long either. Basically, he calls me anything with an r and u in it. Rutabaga is one of his favorites. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI sigh and lay my chin in my hand. This can’t be happening. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTennyson Street is my life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy home. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI can’t live somewhere else for an entire summer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn our summer vacations, I’m usually homesick by Tuesday and already packed by Wednesday. I mean, unless we were to go to Disney World. That’s a whole different story.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s not that I don’t like seeing other places. I just love our Tennyson life and get homesick real easy. The small redbrick house just outside the city is ours and always has been. It’s the best house on the best street. The bright white shutters and a matching porch swing that I helped paint. Mom’s rosemary shrubs lining the front walk that I helped plant. Tennyson is even where we found our three-legged orange tabby cat, Mr. Mews. He was a stray in the back alley by the garage, snacking on old leftovers from Parisi out of our garbage can. He looked up from his gnarly ravioli and actually smiled at me. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat’s when I knew in my heart he was mine. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSide note: Parisi has the best spaghetti carbonara on the planet. And I’m not even exaggerating either. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I’m sorry to inform you but I am unable to move to Scotland for an entire summer at this time,” I tell them. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMom raises her eyebrows at that one. “Oh?” she says. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What about my Sunday-afternoon Bookworm Club at the BookBar? Or . . . or our Italian Wednesdays at Parisi? Or Mexican Tuesdays at El Chingon when we order our cena y bebidas completely in Spanish? Not to mention we just painted my room cornflower blue and put up the new curtains too. Oh, and what about my podcast? I can’t let my audience down.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I’m sure Nan and Granddad Fitzhugh won’t mind missing a few episodes.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I have more subscribers than Nan and Granddad Fitzhugh,” I inform her. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Who else?” she asks. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSilence. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This isn’t about subscribers,” I tell her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Ru Ru Bugaboo,” my dad says with that same wide smile. “We’ll be back in September.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeptember? This is a nightmare. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It’s good news,” he goes on. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Ah, wrong,” I inform him. “Good news would be a week at the Magic Kingdom. This is the opposite of good news. This is . . . it’s . . . well, it’s bad news is what it is.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Buttered Popcorns are now sending a critical warning that they might want back out. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMom chimes in. “Wait until you see where we’re staying this time. It’s called the Highland Club, and it’s inside a Benedictine abbey. It’s one of the oldest buildings in the town of Fort Augustus and was originally built in 1876 as an abbey, but they’ve renovated it into modern apartments. Doesn’t that sound fun?” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Not especially,” I say. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe ignores me. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What an adventure,” she goes on, popping in a green Jelly Belly. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMaybe a Sunkist Lime or Watermelon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “I’m the number one reviewer in the Bookworm group. I need to keep up my quota because you just know that Emmanuelle Penney is champing at the bit to take my top spot. She’s only two away.” I hold up two fingers to show them both. “Two . . . away.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is going to be wonderful,” Mom goes on. “Do you remember how much fun you and your cousin Briony had last time?” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Remember? How could I forget? She shaved my Malibu Barbie doll.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Oh . . .” Mom waves a hand. “You’ve long outgrown Barbies, anyway.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Barbie was bald, Mom. Bald.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I’m sure Briony’s grown up just like you have,” Dad chimes in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “Did I not mention that she also still sucked her thumb at six? And she smelled . . . shall we say questionable?” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMom isn’t listening. “I think it’s an amazing opportunity to get to visit family we hardly ever see,” she goes on. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Uh . . . try bizarro,” I mumble. “I mean, who spends an entire summer in a whole other country? People go for a week, maybe two. Not three months. That’s nuts.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDad cocks his head to the side the exact same way that Britney B’s beagle, Cheez Whiz, does when you talk to her because she only understands certain words, like park, ball and pizza delivery. For all the rest of the words she just turns her head sideways, trying real hard to figure out what you’re saying. Me and Britney B call that look a Cheez Whiz. And it’s Dad’s Cheez Whiz that makes my heart start beating even harder because I realize that this situation is just like with Disney World. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI don’t get a say.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Dad got a position at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Inverness,” Mom says. “To teach an advanced photography class for the summer term. We will be renting out our house at the end of the month to a lovely family. The Morgensterns. They have a five-year-old daughter named Delilah.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSome random girl rolling down Tennyson on my Razor scooter with the pink trim?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEating my raspberry-filled Funfetti cupcakes at Valhalla?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSleeping under my poster of Beyoncé--the I Am . . . Sasha Fierce album.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s a complete and total nightmare is what it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What about Mr. Mews?” I demand. “He’s not going to like this one bit.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The Morgensterns have graciously agreed to take care of him for the summer while they’re here,” Mom says. “They said their little Delilah loves cats.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yearling","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300385837285,"sku":"NP9780525645702","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525645702.jpg?v=1767733623","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/nessie-quest-isbn-9780525645702","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}