Gator on the Loose! (14 page)
I am especially indebted to my longtime editor, Nancy Hinkel, for asking me to propose a book idea I thought kids would enjoy. Assistant editor Allison Wortche worked closely with Nancy and me to shape the characters and plot. My agent Wendy Schmalz’s support also proved indispensable. In addition to these wonderful people, a whole team of super-creative people at Random House, including the designer, Sarah Hokanson, as well as illustrator Priscilla Lamont, worked hard to create this beautiful book. Thank you!
Sue Stauffacher lives with her husband and sons in a 150-plus-year-old farmhouse in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Over the years, possums, bats, raccoons, mice, squirrels, crows, ducks, woodchucks, chipmunks, voles, skunks, bunnies, and a whole bunch of other critters have lived on the property. Though Sue is not a rehabilitator herself, she is passionate about helping kids know what to do when the wild meets the child.
Sue’s novels for young readers include
Harry Sue, Donutheart
, and
Donuthead
, which
Kirkus Reviews
called “touching, funny, and—gloriously human” in a starred review. Her most recent picture book,
Nothing but Trouble
, won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work—Children. Besides writing children’s books, Sue is a frequent visitor to schools as a speaker and literacy consultant, drawing on two decades of experience as a journalist, educator, and program administrator. To learn more about Sue and her books, visit her on the Web at
www.suestauffacher.com
.
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2010 by Sue Stauffacher
Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Priscilla Lamont
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Visit us on the Web!
www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stauffacher, Sue.
Gator on the loose! / by Sue Stauffacher ; illustrated by Priscilla Lamont. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Animal Rescue Team)
Summary: Chaos ensues when Keisha’s father brings an escaped alligator home to
Carters’ Urban Rescue, but it gets out of the bathroom while Grandma is
guarding it.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89539-5
[1. Alligators—Fiction. 2. Animal rescue—Fiction. 3. Family life—Fiction.
4. Racially mixed people—Fiction.] I. Lamont, Priscilla, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.S8055Gat 2010
[Fic]—dc22
2009018340
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
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