Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Creature Crossing
    Creature Crossing
    Creature Crossing
    Ebook105 pages56 minutes

    Creature Crossing

    By Betty Levin and Jos. A. Smith

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Ben, Kate, and Foster, the trio of friends from Starshine and Sunglow return in this satisfying sequel in which Ben finds a tiny creature in a ditch and is convinced he's stumbled upon something really big -- really big. It looks exactly like a baby dinosaur, but how can Ben be sure without letting the potentially explosive secret out? With help from Kate and Foster the answers begin to come together. But soon there's a new problem, and an even bigger challenge that will unite -- and galvanize -- the youngsters and their entire community.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateNov 2, 2010
    ISBN9780062029904
    Creature Crossing
    Author

    Betty Levin

    Betty Levin is the author of many popular books for young people, including The Banished; Look Back, Moss; Away to Me, Moss; Island Bound; Fire in the Wind; and The Trouble with Gramary. Betty Levin has a sheep farm in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where she also raises and trains sheepdogs. In Her Own Words... "I started writing stories almost as soon as I began to read. They were derivative and predictable-as much a way of revisiting characters and places in books I loved as it was a means of self-expression. I don't remember when words and their use became important. In the beginning was the story, and for a long time it was all that mattered. "Even though I always wrote, I imagined becoming an explorer or an animal trainer. This was long before I had to be gainfully employed. It wasn't until after I'd landed in the workplace, first in museum research and then in teaching, that I returned to story writing-this time for my young children. Then a fellowship in creative writing at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College gave me and my storymaking a chance. One affirmation led to another, and now there are books-and some readers. "When I talk with children in schools and libraries, I realize that child readers are still out there. When they get excited about a character or a scene, a new dimension opens for them, a new way of seeing and feeling and understanding. "Of course there is always one child who asks how it feels to be famous and to be recognized in supermarkets. I explain that the only people who recognize me are those who have seen me working my sheep dogs or selling my wool at sheep fairs. That response often prompts another query: Why write books if they don't make you rich and famous? I usually toss that question back at the children. Why do they invent stories? How does story writing make them feel? "Eventually we explore the distinction between wanting to be a writer and needing to write. If we want to write, then we must and will. Whether or not we become published authors, we all have tales to tell and stories to share. Literature can only continue to grow from the roots of our collective experience if children understand that they are born creative and that all humans are myth users and storytellers."

    Read more from Betty Levin

    Related to Creature Crossing

    Related ebooks

    Children's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Lech

      Feb 8, 2022

      Lech
      4 min read

    • Article

      WINNERS APRIL 2023 STORY CONTEST Pet

      Sep 1, 2023

      Danah Jang, age 10Westlake, OH Finn, the Goat Picasso I had a tawny-colored goat named Finn. I raised him after finding him in the fields. He was in poor condition, calling out with miserable, piercing wails. The heart-melting scene convinced me to

      9 min read

    • Article

      Nostalgia, Secrets & Lies

      Aug 12, 2020

      Nostalgia, Secrets & Lies
      7 min read

    • Article

      Not My Cat

      Aug 21, 2023

      The rise and fall of fur, sunlight rippling across his perfectly groomed coat – it’s enchanting, hard to look away. For 30 minutes, she’s watched the cat sleeping on three blankets, folded and piled on top of one another. She’s cold, but can’t bring

      6 min read

    • Article

      Animal Angels

      Apr 25, 2023

      Animal Angels
      5 min read

    • Article

      Marked with SILVER

      Jan 17, 2024

      Marked with SILVER
      12 min read

    • Article

      Nostalgia, Secrets & Lies

      Aug 12, 2020

      Nostalgia, Secrets & Lies
      7 min read

    • Article

      How The Life Goes On

      Feb 4, 2021

      How The Life Goes On
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Gnome

      Oct 1, 2019

      The Gnome
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Fox And CINDERELLA

      Dec 7, 2022

      The Fox And CINDERELLA
      6 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • Article

      One Look Back

      Jun 1, 2023

      One Look Back
      20 min read

    • Article

      Gone To The Birds

      Jul 21, 2019

      Gone To The Birds
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Humbug AN ARTFUL DECEPTION

      Oct 1, 2022

      The Humbug AN ARTFUL DECEPTION
      8 min read

    • Article

      Taking Sides

      Apr 1, 2022

      Taking Sides
      7 min read

    • Article

      Animal Angels

      Apr 27, 2020

      Animal Angels
      3 min read

    • Article

      Kittens Next Door

      Oct 1, 2021

      Kittens Next Door
      3 min read

    • Article

      Abandoned

      May 24, 2022

      Abandoned
      5 min read

    • Article

      TOUGH Love

      Jul 14, 2021

      TOUGH Love
      2 min read

    • Article

      My First Pet

      Feb 2, 2020

      My First Pet
      9 min read

    • Article

      Abandoned

      Jun 3, 2021

      Abandoned
      5 min read

    • Article

      Fantastic mr Fox

      Dec 2, 2021

      Fantastic mr Fox
      3 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cupboard LOVE

      Jul 26, 2023

      Cupboard LOVE
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Glove

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Glove
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Ladies Book Club

      Apr 10, 2024

      “Our brains are shaped with the capability to care deeply but also to kill. This deep ambivalence is potentially problematic. A society filled with people who are inherently very compassionate and very violent might prove unstable.”1 1Emile Bruneau,

      25 min read

    • Article

      Slither Off!

      Jul 9, 2019

      Jon Freeman, 38, from Leamington Spa When my mate’s mate Dean* was chucked out by his missus, I agreed to let him come and kip on my floor for a few nights while he found somewhere new to live. But two weeks grew to a month and three months later

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Creature Crossing

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Creature Crossing - Betty Levin

      Chapter 1

      1It was only by accident that Ben noticed the lizard, or whatever it was. Catching it made him feel like a hunter exposed to unknown risks. It might bite. It could even be poisonous.

      First he had to make sure it was alive. Leaning over the ditch, he poked a stick through the pebbles and rattled them all around. Then, gently prodding, he nudged dead, sodden leaves that nearly buried the creature. It didn’t stir. It looked a bit like a stick itself, a branch with twigs growing out. Those were its legs and feet.

      He almost left it there. Since it wasn’t moving, he figured he had plenty of time to get Kate and Foster to come for a look. Only then he would have to share it with them. He didn’t usually mind sharing like that. But lately he had had to share too much with his little sister, Daisy. Now that she could run all over the place, including his room, she was into everything.

      So Ben decided it would be cool to have something all his own.

      It crossed his mind that even if the thing wasn’t alive, it might still be special. What if it was a fossil out of a dinosaur egg and millions of years old? He almost hoped it would turn out to be hard as rock. He would let his parents keep it on the mantelpiece for a while to show off to their friends. A reporter might come from the local newspaper to take a picture of it, and everyone in school would know who had found this amazing specimen, previously unknown to science. The newspaper headline would read: YOUNG EXPLORER DISCOVERS FOSSIL DINOSAUR HATCHLING.

      Ben had to lie on his stomach to reach whatever it was. Although a few roadside weeds were turning green, the ground was hard and cold, as if still in the grip of winter. Snow had trickled down and then frozen overnight. Ben’s hands were so icy when he finally scooped up the motionless creature that he could hardly feel it. Still, he made a bowl of his hands to cover it. Then he raised two fingers to peek inside just to make sure it was really there.

      Was it his imagination, or had it curved itself into a semicircle? He couldn’t be sure that his own hands hadn’t reshaped it. Examining it, he was sorry not to see more of a dinosaur look about it. Its most vivid feature was the yellow spots on its nearly black body.

      Cupping it in his hands, Ben set off for Kate’s house. It was the time of day when all three kids often got together to plan some project or just hang out. By now Kate would be finishing homework and ready for action. She was a better bet than Foster, who might get so involved in reading or drawing that he wouldn’t bother to come out at all.

      Just as Kate finally emerged from the side door, Ben became aware of a tickling inside his cupped hands. He wanted to look, to see if the creature had woken up and was moving, but the timing was wrong. Just now he had to act as though he were on top of the situation. If he played this right, Kate would beg for a single glance at his treasure.

      2All Kate could think of was that in two more days it would be the weekend. Then she would bring home her kitten, Blackberry, from Flint Farm. Never mind that what she had longed for was a puppy. A kitten was better than nothing.

      She had done everything her parents asked. That was the bargain: to show them that she was old enough and responsible. Even though it didn’t seem fair that she had to do more household stuff than her two older brothers, she hadn’t complained. Anyway, the proving time was almost over. Come Saturday, Blackberry would belong to her.

      As soon as she caught sight of Ben, she noticed that he was holding something and looking secretive. Ben was good at that. She figured she was supposed to ask what was up. Still, she waited for him to speak first. After all, she never held back with him. Both he and Foster had known about the kitten almost as soon as she had. So let him tell his news.

      Guess what I caught, he finally said to her.

      I can’t. Kate could see that whatever was cupped in his hands was small. Not a kitten, she added.

      Rarer than a kitten, he said. Much rarer. Guess.

      She shook her head. Just show me.

      Okay, he said, but you have to come close.

      Kate leaned over Ben’s hands, which remained closed around the secret inside.

      One guess, he insisted.

      Kate drew back. You said you’d show me. She turned away.

      I will. Don’t you want to see?

      But Kate didn’t feel like being strung along. She got enough of that from her brothers. No, she said with finality. Not anymore.

      It took all her strength not to follow him. She knew exactly where he was heading. He would go right past his own house and on to Foster’s. She told herself she didn’t care if Foster saw the thing first, but she minded all the same. Worse, she minded that she minded. Now she was torn between running to Flint Farm to play with Blackberry and the other kittens and following Ben to Foster’s house.

      Then it came to her that she could invite Foster to come with his pad and draw pictures of the kittens. These days all he ever drew were shapes, not things. Some of his shape pictures were sort of interesting, but they couldn’t come close to what he could make of four playful kittens rolling all over one another on the barn floor.

      She took her time so that she wouldn’t seem to be following Ben. She even considered stopping to see Miss Ladd, whose house was closer. But that might take too long, especially if Miss Ladd invited her to stay for tea. It would be rude to turn her down.

      Instead Kate detoured around behind the Josephsons’ in case their dogs were in their outside pen and lonely. But they were indoors today. She could hear them barking in the cellar.

      By now Ben was nowhere to be seen. She guessed he

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1