In the Jungle Read online

  Hiya! My name Thudd. Best robot friend of Drewd. Thudd know lotsa stuff. What kind of plant eat meat. What part of jungle ant taste good.

  Drewd like to invent stuff. Thudd help! But Drewd make lotsa mistakes. Drewd invent shrinking machine. Now Drewd small as beetle. Fly into jungle on back of bird. Thudd worried. Want to see what happen? Turn page, please!

  Get lost with

  Andrew, Judy, and Thudd

  in all their exciting adventures!

  Andrew Lost on the Dog

  Andrew Lost in the Bathroom

  Andrew Lost in the Kitchen

  Andrew Lost in the Garden

  Andrew Lost Under Water

  Andrew Lost in the Whale

  Andrew Lost on the Reef

  Andrew Lost in the Deep

  Andrew Lost in Time

  Andrew Lost on Earth

  Andrew Lost with the Dinosaurs

  Andrew Lost in the Ice Age

  Andrew Lost in the Garbage

  Andrew Lost with the Bats

  Andrew Lost in the Jungle

  AND COMING SOON!

  Andrew Lost in Uncle Al

  To Dan, Zack, and the real Andrew,

  with a galaxy of love.

  To the children who read these books: I wish

  you wonderful questions. Questions are

  telescopes into the universe!

  —J.C.G.

  To Cathy Goldsmith, with many thanks.

  —J.G.

  CONTENTS

  Andrew’s World

  1. It’s a Jungle down There

  2. Ssssssss … keekeekee keekeekee

  3. The Case of the Killer Tree

  4. No Laughing Matter

  5. We Just Ate WHAT?

  6. Trapped!

  7. Eat This!

  8. Fasten Your Seat Belts …

  9. Saved by the Smell

  10. The Biggest Problem Is Getting Smaller …

  True Stuff

  Where to Find More True Stuff

  ANDREW’S WORLD

  Andrew Dubble

  Andrew is ten years old, but he’s been inventing things since he was four. Andrew’s inventions usually get him into trouble, like the time he accidentally took the Water Bug underwater vehicle on a trip to the deepest place on earth.

  Andrew’s newest invention was supposed to save the world from getting buried in garbage. Instead, it squashed Andrew and his cousin Judy down to beetle size. They got hauled off to a dump, thrown up by a seagull, and carried off by a bat. Now they’re flying across the Pacific Ocean on the back of a bird!

  Judy Dubble

  Judy is Andrew’s thirteen-year-old cousin. She’s been snuffled into a dog’s nose, pooped out of a whale, and had her pajamas chewed by a Tyrannosaurus— all because of Andrew. Judy thought that nothing weirder could ever happen to her— until today.

  Thudd

  The Handy Ultra-Digital Detective. Thudd is a super-smart robot and Andrew’s best friend. He has helped save Andrew and Judy from the exploding sun, the giant squid, and a monster asteroid. Now can he protect his tiny buddies from meat-eating plants, dinner-plate-sized spiders, and shocking animals?

  The Goa Constrictor

  This giant fake snake is Andrew’s newest invention. Goa is sort of short for Garbage Goes Away. The Goa is supposed to keep the world from getting buried in garbage by squashing rotting vegetables, green meat, and dirty diapers down to teensy-weensy specks. Unfortunately for Andrew and Judy, the Goa doesn’t just shrink garbage. In two minutes and one stinky burp, the Goa can shrink anything—and anyone!

  Uncle Al

  He’s a super-secret scientist, Andrew and Judy’s uncle, and Thudd’s inventor. Uncle Al is really smart, but is he smart enough to save his beetle-sized niece and nephew from the incredibly weird dangers of the Australian jungle? Even the trees are deadly!

  IT’S A JUNGLE DOWN THERE

  I wonder where we are now, thought Andrew Dubble. Andrew, no bigger than a beetle, poked his head above a feather on the bird’s back. A cold wind smacked his face as he peered at the earth far below.

  “Wowzers schnauzers!” Andrew shouted. “I see green down there! It’s land! Now maybe this bird will take a break. She’s been flying over the ocean for ages!”

  Another feather on the bird’s back twitched. A pile of frizzy dark hair popped up and went wild in the wind. It was Andrew’s thirteen-year-old cousin, Judy.

  Judy shook her hair away from her face. “Fat chance, Bug-Brain,” she yelled above the wind. “This bird is an arctic tern! She’s on her way to Antarctica! Unless Uncle Al gets our messages, we’re penguin chow!”

  Uncle Al was Andrew and Judy’s uncle, and he was also a super-smart, super-secret scientist.

  meep … “Unkie Al not call back yet,” came a squeaky voice from Andrew’s shirt pocket. It was Andrew’s little silver mini-robot and best friend, Thudd. “And penguin not eat bugs.”

  “Oh, great,” groaned Judy. “So we’ll just turn into bug-sized ice cubes.”

  The bird spread her wings wide and glided.

  “She’s going lower,” said Andrew.

  Now Andrew could see a wide, sandy beach and a forest beyond.

  “Looks like a deserted island,” said Andrew.

  “Noop! Noop! Noop!” said Thudd. “Australia! Continent!”

  “Australia!” said Judy. “Cities! People! Someone could find us!”

  As the bird glided lower still, Andrew saw driftwood and heaps of seaweed on the beach. But he didn’t see any people.

  Now the bird was flying over the forest. It looked like a bumpy blanket of green. Here and there, tall trees poked through. A river zigzagged through the greenness like a silver snake.

  The bird swooped down through the tree-tops and into the forest.

  At first Andrew could hardly see in the dim light under the leaves. His eyes were used to the brightness of the open sky.

  The air was alive with screeches and cries and cackles, chirps and whistles, and a sound like crazy laughter.

  The bird dove under huge fan-shaped leaves.

  “Look at this place!” Judy said. “Nothing but tangles of trees and vines! It’s a jungle!”

  meep … “Rain forest,” said Thudd. “Australian rain forest strange, strange, strange!

  “Got plants and animals that not live any other place. Got most poisonous snakes in world! People found eighty-six thousand kindsa insects! Found ten thousand kindsa spiders!

  “People always finding new kindsa plants and animals. Maybe Drewd and Oody find new stuff.”

  “Neato mosquito!” said Andrew. “Maybe I’ll find a new kind of spider.”

  “Eeeuw!” Judy groaned. “Ten thousand kinds of spiders are way too many!”

  meep … “Maybe Oody find new kinda plant,” said Thudd. “Rain forest got lotsa plants. Make lotsa oxygen for earth. Lotsa medicines come from rain-forest plants.”

  Judy rolled her eyes. “We don’t need to find plants,” she said. “We need to find people.”

  meep … “Rain forest not got lotsa people,” said Thudd.

  The bird slowed down. She settled herself on a branch midway up a tall tree.

  The air felt warm and damp against Andrew’s skin.

  Andrew sniffed in the jungle smells— green leaves, sweet flowers, and something musty, like a wet basement.

  Andrew looked down to the floor of the rain forest way below. “We must be six stories above the ground,” he said. “But at least we’re on land again.”

  “Let’s get off this bird chop-chop,” said Judy, “before she heads for penguin country.”

  Andrew climbed down through the feathers on the tern’s back. He reached a long flight feather at the edge of a wing.

  “Hmmmm …,”
he pondered. “We can jump from this feather to the branch below.”

  Just then, the bird swiveled her head. Andrew saw his reflection in a shiny black eye. “Um, I wonder what arctic terns eat,” he said.

  meep … “Eat little fish. Shrimp. Insects, too,” said Thudd.

  “Or insect-sized humans,” said Andrew. He ducked under a flight feather and pulled it down tightly over himself.

  A pointy red beak dove into the feathers behind Andrew. Then it plunged into the feathers close to Andrew. The beak grabbed the bottom of one of the feathers. It nibbled along the edges right up to the tip.

  meep … “Bird preen feather,” said Thudd. “Spread oil to keep feather dry. Preening make feather smooth for flying. Get rid of little bugs, too.”

  The beak preened another feather even closer to Andrew.

  “Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

  Just then, the red beak grabbed the feather he was clinging to and began to preen it. The beak pushed Andrew to the very tip of the feather. He was barely hanging on. That black eye was looking right at him.

  She’s hungry and I’m a bug, thought Andrew. He let go.

  SSSSSSSS … KEEKEEKEE KEEKEEKEE

  “Yaaaargh!” hollered Andrew, tumbling down and down. He waved his hands, frantically trying to grab a leaf or a vine.

  Finally, he snagged something with his right hand.

  “Wowzers schnauzers!” cried Andrew. He was clutching a tall blade of grass. The forest floor was inches below.

  But he was dangling above something strange. It looked like a red-and-white tub covered with hairs. It was so big that beetle-sized Andrew could have taken a bath in it.

  “Holy moly!” said Andrew. “What’s that?”

  meep … “Pitcher plant!” said Thudd. “Pitcher plant carnivorous. Eat meat.

  “Got special juice at bottom of pitcher. Juice digest bug meat that fall inside plant. Like stomach digest pizza inside Drewd.”

  “Jumping gerbils!” said Andrew. “A meat-eating plant, and I’m meat!” He began walking his hands along the blade of grass to get away from the pitcher plant.

  Suddenly the blade bent. Andrew dipped lower. One of Andrew’s legs slipped inside the pitcher!

  Uh-oh, thought Andrew. He tried to pull his leg out, but the inside of the pitcher was too smooth and slippery. Andrew was sweating. The screeching, cackling jungle noises made it hard to think.

  With his free leg, Andrew gave a mighty push against the outside of the pitcher plant. He got his other leg out!

  “Whew!” he sighed, still dangling from the grass. His ears picked up a new sound nearby.

  Ssssssss … keekeekee … keekeekee …

  On the ground beside the pitcher plant, two gigantic black beetles were creeping toward each other. They were hissing and clicking. At the front of each beetle’s head was a curved horn as long as the rest of its body.

  “Holy moly!” whispered Andrew. “Those guys look as big as trucks!”

  meep … “Rhinoceros beetles!” said Thudd.

  Now the beetles’ enormous horns were almost touching. They stopped. They stamped their clawed feet and wagged their armored heads.

  One beetle charged the other. They locked horns under Andrew’s blade of grass. They shook their giant heads from side to side. The bigger beetle flipped the smaller one on its back. The feet of the smaller beetle clawed at the bigger beetle’s head.

  meep … “Male rhinoceros beetles fight to get mate,” said Thudd. “Horn strong, strong, strong! Can cut off head of other rhinoceros beetle!”

  “Watch out below!” came a yell from above.

  Andrew looked up to see Judy tumbling through the air.

  “Ooomph!” Judy landed on a taller blade of grass right next to Andrew. Her feet smacked the top of Andrew’s head.

  “Youch!” he hollered.

  His stem bent lower. His feet clunked against the horn of the bigger beetle!

  Ssssssssss … hissed the beetle. It reared up on its back legs. Its front legs clawed the air. The tip of its terrible horn touched Andrew’s nose!

  “YAAAAARGH!” screamed Andrew.

  “Andrew!” shouted Judy. “There’s a bright green twig sticking out from the tree trunk behind you. Grab it!”

  Andrew swung himself toward the tree. He spotted the twig and wrapped his legs quickly around it.

  “Make room for me,” yelled Judy, swinging herself at the twig. She slammed into it and scrambled on behind Andrew.

  “Now climb a little way up the tree trunk,” said Judy. “Before we fall into the middle of this stupid beetle battle. Then we’ve got to call Uncle Al again.”

  Andrew felt a jolt. “Um, maybe we don’t have to climb up the tree trunk,” said Andrew. “This twig is climbing.”

  THE CASE OF THE KILLER TREE

  “Cheese Louise!” exclaimed Judy. “It is climbing!”

  meep … “Drewd and Oody getting ride on stick insect,” said Thudd. “Rain forest got lotsa insects that look like stick, look like twig. Got insects that look like leaf, too.”

  “Weird-a-mundo!” said Judy, jiggling on the back of the skittering bug.

  meep … “Good disguise for prey animal,” said Thudd. “Look like stuff around it. Disguise called camouflage. Hard for predator animal to find prey animal that got camouflage.”

  “Camouflage, shamouflage,” said Judy. “We could get bounced off this bug any minute. Call Uncle Al again, Thudd.”

  “Okey-dokey,” said Thudd.

  There were three rows of buttons on Thudd’s chest. All of them glowed green, except the big purple button in the middle. Thudd pressed the purple button. It blinked three times and went dark.

  meep … “Unkie not answer,” said Thudd.

  “He’s probably on some super-secret project,” said Andrew.

  Judy groaned. “Let’s get off this stupid bug as soon as it stops,” she said. “We’ll look for a safe place and wait till Uncle Al calls us.”

  As the stick insect skittered up the tree, Andrew noticed that the tree trunk looked like a tangle of fat snakes.

  “This is a super-strange tree,” said Andrew.

  meep … “Strangler fig tree,” said Thudd.

  “Strangler!” said Judy.

  meep … “Fig tree gotta strangle other tree to grow,” said Thudd.

  “Start when bird eat strangler fig fruit. Bird fly. Bird poop. Fig seed fall into treetop. Seed sprout. Roots grow down to ground. Get big, big, big! Strangle tree underneath. Roots turn into trunk for strangler fig.”

  “Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew.

  “Meat-eating plants! Killer trees!”

  “Weird-a-mundo!” said Judy.

  All of a sudden, part of the gray-brown tree trunk above them seemed to whip around. It was scrambling toward them!

  Andrew squinted. He made out a lizardy head with fearsome spikes at the top. A row of spikes ran down its neck.

  “Yaaaah!” screamed Judy.

  “Holy moly!” yelled Andrew.

  Eek! squeaked Thudd. “Forest dragon lizard! Eat stick insects!”

  The creature’s neck was puffing out. Its mouth opened—a pink-purple cave surrounded by small, sharp teeth.

  Their stick insect turned away from the forest dragon. Then it was still as a statue.

  Judy gave it a little kick. “Get going! Giddyap! That monster is going to eat you!”

  But the bug didn’t move. Suddenly Andrew was getting soaked. His eyes were burning. His nose filled with a peppermint smell so strong, it hurt to breathe.

  “Blurf!” yelped Andrew.

  “Aaaack!” hollered Judy. An awful spray was shooting from the back of the insect’s head—and blasting the lizard’s face!

  The lizard shook its head. In an instant, it sped down the tree trunk.

  The stick insect scurried higher up the tree trunk.

  “Eck-uh! ECK-UH!” Judy coughed. “It smells like peppermint, but it’s awful!” br />
  meep … “This bug called peppermint-stick insect,” said Thudd. “Peppermint smell make lotsa predators go way!”

  Just then, the big purple button in the middle of Thudd’s chest started to blink.

  meep … “Unkie!” said Thudd.

  “Finally!” said Judy.

  Thudd’s purple button popped open and a beam of purple light zoomed out. At the end of the beam floated a see-through purplish Uncle Al.

  Uncle Al’s shaggy hair always looked like he had just pulled a sweater over his head. His face crinkled into a smile. “Hey there!” he said with a wave.

  “Hey, Uncle Al!” said Andrew.

  “I’m away from my laboratory at the moment,” continued Uncle Al.

  “Oh no!” said Judy. “It’s not Uncle Al. It’s just his answering machine!”

  “Your message has reached my Hologram Helper answering machine,” said Uncle Al. “If you’re calling to have a friendly chat, please press one. If you have discovered life on another planet, please press two. If you’re complaining about smells coming from my laboratory, press three. If this is a purple-button emergency, I will contact you as soon as I can.”

  The Uncle Al hologram waved. “Goodbye! Have fun! Think big!” Then it disappeared.

  NO LAUGHING MATTER

  “Cheese Louise!” said Judy. “Just when we need Uncle Al, he’s not there!”

  Andrew tightened his grip on the peppermint-stick insect. “For now, I guess we should stick with this bug,” he said. “At least it’s got a way to defend itself, and us too.”

  As the stick insect climbed higher, the tree trunk became a forest. Mosses grew in velvety green patches and hung in gray strands. Fern fronds leaned over Andrew and Judy like lacy green umbrellas.

  As they passed dark holes in the tree trunk, Andrew heard noises—scratching, tapping, hissing.

  Andrew imagined what was living deep inside the tree. He shivered.