With the Frogs Read online

  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.

  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

  Andrew Lost in Uncle Al

  Andrew Lost in the Desert

  Andrew Lost with the Frogs

  Hiya! My name Thudd. Best robot friend of Drewd. Thudd know lots of stuff about frogs and ponds. How tadpole lose tail and turn into frog. How baby bug start out like worm in pond and grow up to be flying bug. Some reasons why frogs disappearing.

  Drewd like to invent stuff. Thudd help! But Drewd make lotsa mistakes. Drewd invent shrinking machine. Now Drewd small as bug. Drewd invent flying machine to visit frog pond. Lots of danger! Frogs eat bugs! Will frogs eat Drewd? Want to find out? Turn page, please!

  CONTENTS

  Andrew’s World

  1. Gotta Wear Your Wannabee

  2. Crash Landing!

  3. The Floating Brain

  4. What a Horrible Baby!

  5. Time for the Schnozzles

  6. Plant Food!

  7. The Mystery of Too Many Legs

  8. Bad Stuff at the Bottom

  9. Super-Duper Pooper-Scooper!

  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. His inventions usually get him in trouble, like the time he accidentally took the Time-A-Tron on a trip to the beginning of the universe.

  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 bug size. They got hauled off to a dump, thrown up by a seagull, carried off to a rain forest, and stuck inside their uncle Al!

  Now Andrew is flying off to a frog pond to investigate why frogs are disappearing all over the world. But will Andrew be the one who’s disappearing?

  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 had promised herself that she’d never let Andrew talk her into another stupid adventure again. But then she got hungry….

  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 the really weird stuff inside Uncle Al. Now can he protect his buddies from the jaws of a water tiger?

  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!

  At first the Goa shrank Andrew and Judy to the size of beetles. But since then, they’ve been changing size more often than some people change their underwear!

  GOTTA WEAR YOUR WANNABEE

  “Ergh!” grunted ant-sized Andrew Dubble. Andrew, wearing a furry black-and-yellow-striped jumpsuit, was on a ledge outside a kitchen window.

  His arms were covered by black metal tubes, jointed at the elbows. He was struggling to get his legs into pants made from the same tubes.

  “You’re not supposed to be outside, Bug-Brain,” came a voice from the window sill behind him. “And what’s with that stupid outfit?”

  It was Andrew’s thirteen-year-old cousin, Judy. Judy was ant-sized, too.

  “I’m dragging you back inside,” she said as she climbed through a hole in the screen and onto the ledge.

  Andrew stood up stiffly in his metal pants. “I figured that since we’re bug-sized, we need some bug advantages,” he said. “So I made us these suits. They’re called Wannabees.”

  Judy rolled her eyes. “Bug advantages!” she said. “I don’t want anything that bugs have! I just want what humans have—like being human size!”

  A few weeks ago, Andrew was working on his latest invention, the Goa, short for Garbage Goes Away. The Goa was supposed to squash garbage down to the size of specks. Andrew did shrink some apple cores and stinky cheese, but he also accidentally shrank himself and Judy down to bug size.

  “Uncle Al is working on getting us big again,” said Andrew. “But we’re so small that we need protection right now. We’re so soft, we could get crushed or eaten if something big comes along. Bugs are little, too, and they’ve got lots of ways to protect themselves.”

  meep … “Hit Drewd!” came a squeaky voice from a pocket in Andrew’s Wannabee.

  It was Andrew’s little silver robot and pocket-sized best friend, Thudd.

  “That’s the best idea I’ve heard since we got shrunk,” said Judy. She made a fist and punched Andrew hard in the chest.

  “Ooof!” she said, rubbing her hand. “It’s like you’ve got a hard shell!”

  “Super-duper pooper-scooper!” said Andrew. “Our skeletons are on the inside. But all insects and spiders have their skeletons on the outside, like this.”

  meep … “Called exoskeleton,” said Thudd. “Exo mean ‘outside.’”

  Andrew nodded. “If you fall from a high place when you’re wearing the Wannabee, you won’t get hurt. If something tries to bite you, you’ll be hard to chew.”

  He pulled the hood of the Wannabee over his head.

  Andrew clomped over to a peanut shell on the window sill. He reached in and pulled out a Wannabee like the one he was wearing. He held it out to Judy.

  “This one’s for you,” he said. “Try it on. I think it’s your size.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding!” said Judy. “It looks so uncomfortable. Besides, every one of your stupid inventions has gotten us in trouble. If we just stay in the house, we won’t need this junk.”

  Andrew shook his head. “We can’t just hang around the house,” he said. “We’ve got to help Uncle Al save the frogs.”

  Uncle Al had rescued Andrew and Judy from jungles and deserts—and even from inside himself! He had also invented Thudd.

  Now he was trying to figure out why frogs were disappearing all over the world.

  Judy rolled her eyes. “Ever since Uncle Al told us about the disappearing frogs, that’s all you think about,” she said.

  “Some frogs have even gone extinct,” said Andrew. “Uncle Al and the frogs need our help. There’s a frog pond just beyond this yard. We’ve got to go there and see what we can find out.”

  “Right,” said Judy. “At our size, it will take us a year to get to that pond.”

  “No it won’t,” said Andrew.

  Andrew reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny black remote control. He pressed some of its buttons.

  Suddenly a dead leaf at the end of the w
indow ledge fluttered. It lifted. Beneath it was an odd flying machine. At the top was a pair of large, buggy-looking wings that had been wired together. Beneath the wings were two little seats, and under them, three wheels.

  “Cheese Louise!” said Judy. “What is that?”

  Andrew smiled and cocked his head. “It’s the GNAT,” he said. “GNAT is short for Global Navigation and Transportation.

  “I made it from a pair of dragonfly wings I found in the garden and stuff in Uncle Al’s workshop.”

  “Global!” said Judy. “That stupid-looking thing wouldn’t get you from here to the kitchen sink.”

  “You wanna bet?” said Andrew. “I’ll bet you the last crumb of Uncle Al’s super-delicious fudge. I’ve got it in my pocket.”

  “Hmmmm …,” Judy pondered. “I’m so hungry. Okay.”

  Andrew pressed more buttons on the remote.

  Whrrrrrrrrrrr … The GNAT’s wings fluttered slowly at first, then faster, then so fast that they seemed to disappear.

  Whirring softly, the GNAT lifted a couple of inches off the window sill and set itself down in front of Andrew.

  Andrew packed Judy’s Wannabee gear in a box beneath the GNAT’s seats. “You’ll want your Wannabee later,” he said.

  “Fat chance,” said Judy.

  Andrew got into the left-hand seat and fastened his seat belt. He patted the seat next to him. Judy climbed in and pulled her seat belt across her lap.

  “Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew. “Now I’ll be able to test the GNAT.”

  “What!” said Judy. “You haven’t tested this stupid thing?”

  “You saw that it flies,” said Andrew. “But if it’s carrying us, it needs a lot more power.”

  He pointed to a set of pedals beneath each seat. “We both need to pedal in order to keep the engine going.”

  Judy’s nose twitched. “I smell something funny,” she said.

  “Mothball flakes,” said Andrew. “I put some in the pockets of our Wannabees.

  “Mothballs keep all kinds of bugs away—snakes, too! Mothballs mess up their sense of smell.”

  Judy’s face went white. “Snakes!” she yelled.

  Andrew sighed and looked away. “I guess I’m just braver than you are,” he said.

  “No you’re not!” said Judy, pedaling.

  Andrew grinned. He started pedaling, too, but nothing happened.

  “I told you so,” said Judy. “Give me that fudge crumb.”

  “Not yet,” said Andrew. “The GNAT is storing energy as we pedal. It’s like winding up a toy plane.” WHRRRRRRRRR …

  Suddenly the GNAT’s wings were beating. The wind from the wings bent Andrew’s antennas and blew Judy’s hair over her face. The GNAT lurched from side to side like a woozy clown, then it zoomed off the window ledge and into the trees.

  CRASH LANDING!

  The GNAT was zigging and zagging. It was flying in circles. It was doing loop-de-loops.

  “Aaaaaaaaack!” hollered Judy. “Get this thing back to the house, Bug-Brain!”

  Uncle Al’s yard was a blur of green. The wind whooshed against them. Leaves slapped Andrew’s face.

  Andrew yanked at the steering wheel, but the GNAT was out of control. He quickly pressed some buttons on the remote, but his invention seemed to have a mind of its own.

  “The GNAT isn’t working right,” said Andrew.

  “Urf!” said Judy. “I feel sick!”

  “Stop pedaling,” said Andrew. “The GNAT will go slower. Maybe then I’ll be able to land it.”

  As the GNAT slowed, it flew more smoothly. Andrew could steer it now.

  He glimpsed a silvery glint below. Sunlight on water! he thought. It’s the pond!

  The GNAT was gliding down.

  WHRRRRRRRRRRR … came a sound like the GNAT, but louder. At first all Andrew could see was a bright streak rushing at them. Then it turned and shadowed them—a long, slim green body and a blur of wings.

  meep … “Dragonfly!” squeaked Thudd. “Fierce hunter! Eat anything that move. Catch prey with legs. Eat and fly!”

  Andrew watched as the swift dragonfly dropped lower and kept pace with the GNAT. The insect’s prickly legs looked like a spiny cage.

  The GNAT jittered in the air. The dragonfly’s mouth opened wide. It was so close that Andrew could look up and see inside. Two sets of jaws, one inside the other, were lined with needle-sharp teeth.

  Andrew shuddered. His head would fit nicely inside those jaws.

  The dragonfly dipped. The tips of its clawed feet scratched Andrew’s cheek.

  Judy leaned over the side of the GNAT. “I see something that looks like a little raft below us,” she said.

  “I’ll try to land us there,” said Andrew, dodging a dragonfly foot.

  Andrew nosed the GNAT down steeply and gained speed. They were going so fast, Andrew could feel the air pulling at his face.

  With a jolt and a bounce, the GNAT landed on a bumpy surface and stopped.

  “Woofers!” said Andrew.

  He scanned the sky for the dragonfly. It was a foot above them. A smaller dragonfly was trapped in its cage-like legs! The big dragonfly began to chew on the smaller one.

  “Holy moly!” said Andrew. “A cannibal dragonfly! But at least it’s not eating us.”

  Judy looked down at the bumpy raft they had landed on. “Yikes!” she hollered. “What’s going on here?”

  The bumps on their landing place looked like the tops of tiny Ping-Pong balls. Some of them were popping open. Buggy little heads were waggling out!

  meep … “Drewd and Oody land on raft of mosquito eggs!” said Thudd. “Wormy thing called larva hatch from egg.”

  “Eeeeuw!” hollered Judy. “We’re on a mosquito island!”

  As soon as each wriggly brown larva squirmed out of its egg, it disappeared into the pond.

  RHUUMMMMM … RHUUMMMMM … RHUUMMMMM …

  The deep sounds from somewhere in the pond made Andrew’s chest rumble.

  “Cheese Louise!” said Judy. “What’s that?”

  meep … “Bullfrogs!” squeaked Thudd.

  There were other noises, too—chirps and whistles and trills. But the frog croaks were the loudest.

  The air smelled like low tide and autumn leaves.

  Andrew scanned the pond. Huge lily pads floated on the greenish water, and tall cattails swayed skyscraper-high above them.

  On the surface of the pond, nothing was still. Long-legged water striders skittered around the mosquito raft. Their feet made little dents in the water as though it were a sheet of thin plastic. A spider many times bigger than Andrew raced along and stopped nearby.

  “Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew. “The pond is like a skating rink for bugs!”

  meep … “Water molecules on surface stick together tight, tight, tight!” said Thudd. “Make lotsa bonds with each other. More bonds than water below.

  “Bonds make kinda skin on surface of water.”

  The spider tapped its two front legs on the water, making little ripples.

  meep … “Spider lure prey,” said Thudd. The spider dove.

  A second later, the spider came up clutching a silvery fish in its jaws. The fish was as large as the spider.

  Splish! Splosh!

  The fish flapped for a few seconds, then it was still.

  The spider skated away with its meal.

  meep … “Spider pour venom into prey with fangs,” said Thudd. “Venom turn inside of prey into goo. Then spider suck out goo as food.”

  “Yuck-a-roony!” said Judy. “Spiders eating fish. Bugs eating bugs. Something could snap us up any minute! Let’s get out of here!”

  Andrew opened the box beneath their seats and pulled out Judy’s Wannabee.

  “Before we go anywhere,” he said, “you’d better put on your Wannabee. There’s a lot of weird stuff in this pond and we don’t know what will happen next. The Wannabee will protect you.”

  meep … “Little bit, maybe,” said Thudd. />
  “A little bit!” said Judy. She folded her arms over her chest and stared out at the busy pond.

  “Oh, all right, give me that stupid suit,” she said. “And give me the fudge crumb you promised me.”

  Andrew looked at Judy. “Um, I don’t think so,” he said. “The GNAT did go farther than the kitchen sink.”

  Judy gave Andrew her wait-till-I-get-my-hands-on-you look. “Fine,” said Andrew. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the fudge crumb, and gave it to Judy.

  Judy munched the crumb quickly. Then she took the Wannabee from Andrew, pulled on the fuzzy black-and-yellow-striped jumpsuit, and struggled into the arm and leg tubes.

  “Now we’re good to go,” said Andrew. “Start pedaling.”

  Andrew and Judy pedaled and pedaled.

  Whrrrrrrrrrrr …

  The GNAT’s wings barely fluttered. “Something’s not working,” said Andrew. The GNAT teetered slowly across the mosquito raft. Ploorp!

  It splashed down in the water. The wheels sank, but the seat cushions kept the GNAT afloat.

  “What’s that?” said Andrew, leaning forward.

  A huge white weird thing loomed in front of them.

  “Aaaaaaack!” screamed Judy. “It’s a floating brain!”

  THE FLOATING BRAIN

  meep … “Called moss animal!” said Thudd. “Moss animal not one animal. Is colony. Millions, millions, millions of tiny animals that live together.

  “Not hurt Drewd and Oody. Moss animal eat things too small to see—germs and stuff.”

  “Gross-a-mundo!” said Judy. “Let’s get out of here!”

  “Pedal harder!” said Andrew.

  It wasn’t easy to pedal underwater, but Andrew and Judy kept at it until they were hot and sweaty. The GNAT’s wings didn’t even flutter.

  Andrew shook his head. “Um, the GNAT isn’t working,” he said.

  “Nothing you make ever works!” said Judy.