Bo and the Dragon-Pup (Unicorn Diaries #2) Read online

  Bo and the Dragon-Pup

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  UNICORN DIARIES

  books!

  For Kirsty.

  May you always believe unicorns are real. X – R.E.

  Special thanks to Kyle Reed

  for his contributions to this book.

  Copyright © 2020 by Rebecca Elliott

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920.

  SCHOLASTIC, BRANCHES, and associated logos are trademarks

  and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume

  any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled,

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  system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known

  or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention:

  Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are

  either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any

  resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments,

  events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Elliott, Rebecca, author.

  Title: Bo and the dragon-pup / Rebecca Elliott.

  Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Branches/Scholastic Inc., 2020.

  | Series: Unicorn diaries ; 2 | Summary: Rainbow Tinseltail (called Bo)

  has never actually seen a dragon, but when things start going missing from

  Sparklegrove School for Unicorns all clues seem to point to a dragon-pup

  called Scorch – but when Scorch does not return to the dragon caves, Bo and the other

  unicorns become worried that he has gotten lost in the forest and they

  set out to find their new friend.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019007658| ISBN 9781338323382 (pbk. : alk. paper) |

  ISBN 9781338323405 (hardcover : alk. paper) | e-ISBN 9781338323412

  Subjects: LCSH: Unicorns – Juvenile fiction. | Dragons – Juvenile fiction. |

  Magic – Juvenile fiction. | Friendship – Juvenile fiction. |

  Diaries – Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Unicorns-Fiction. | Dragons-Fiction.

  | Magic-Fiction. | Friendship-Fiction. | Diaries-Fiction. | LCGFT: Diary fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.E45812 Bk 2020 | DDC [Fic]- dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019007658)

  First edition, March 2020

  Edited by Katie Carella

  Book design by Maria Mercado

  Table of Contents

  1

  Hello!

  1

  2

  Unicorn Detectives

  12

  3 The Dragon Hunt

  22

  4 The Trap

  40

  5 The Missing Dragon-Pup

  54

  6 Rainbow Rain

  66

  1

  Hello!

  Sunday

  Hello, Diary!

  It’s me again! Rainbow Tinseltail! But

  you can call me Bo.

  I wonder what adventures we’ll have

  in Sparklegrove Forest this week!

  1

  By the way, Sparklegrove Forest is

  where I live. Here it is:

  Rainbow Falls

  Troll Caves

  Glimmer

  Sparklegrove School

  Glade

  for Unicorns

  Dragon

  Nests

  Budbloom

  Meadow

  Snowbelle Mountain

  Unipods

  Fairy Village

  Twinkleplop

  Lagoon

  Goblin

  Castle

  Lots of magical creatures live here . . .

  3

  Like dragons! Truth is, I’ve never

  actually seen a dragon. But here are

  four things I know:

  Dragons live in

  nests.

  They love

  throwing rocks.

  They breathe fire.

  They only eat food the color of fire

  (like red tomatoes,

  sunny oranges, and

  yellow custard).

  But enough about dragons.

  4

  As you can see, I am a unicorn.

  Horn

  Good for reading in the dark!

  Rainbow Mane

  Can store lots of stuff!

  Tummy

  Filled with brightly

  colored food!

  Hooves

  Rainbows shoot out of them

  when we dance!

  5

  Unicorns are much more than a

  glowing horn. Here are some fun

  UNI-FACTS:

  We each have a different Unicorn

  Power. I’m a Wish Unicorn.

  I can grant

  one wish

  every week!

  We sneeze glitter.

  ACHOO!

  We live together in unipods.

  We’re not good at doing cartwheels.

  OOF!

  7

  I love Sparklegrove School

  for Unicorns! S.S.U. is my

  school and my home.

  This is my

  BEST friend Sunny

  Huckleberry. He

  is a Crystal Clear

  Unicorn. He can

  turn invisible!

  Here are all my friends and our

  teacher.

  Jed

  Nutmeg

  Piper

  Mr. Rumptwinkle

  Scarlett

  SunnyMeMonty

  Check out their TWINKLE-TASTIC

  powers!

  Thingamabob

  Healer

  Unicorn

  Unicorn

  Flying

  Weather

  Unicorn

  Unicorn

  Size-Changer

  Shape-Shifter

  Unicorn

  Unicorn

  9

  We study GLITTERRIFIC subjects, like:

  MAGICAL CREATURES

  COLORFUL COOKERY

  HORN CARE

  MATH

  10

  My friends and I each have a special

  unicorn patch blanket. The patches

  show everything we’ve learned so far.

  Every week, Mr. Rumptwinkle tells us

  what new patch we’re going to try to

  earn. Then we work hard all week for it!

  I can’t wait to find out what this

  week’s patch will be!

  11

  2

  Unicorn Detectives

  Monday

  Diary, my friends and I made a

  SHOCKING discovery this morning!

  When we woke up, Monty’s patch blanket

  was MISSING!

  Don’t worry Monty, we’ll help you find it.

  I definitely had it with

  me when I went to sleep.

  12

  We searched our unipod.

  It
must be here

  somewhere.

  Then we all searched the forest near

  our school.

  But we couldn’t find it anywhere!

  13

  We trotted over to Mr. Rumptwinkle

  to tell him the bad news. And we saw

  something else super shocking!

  Mr. Rumptwinkle! Your glasses

  look, um, different. Where are

  your normal ones?

  Good question! My glasses were on

  my nightstand when I went to bed. But

  when I woke up, they were gone!

  So I’m wearing an old pair.

  Your glasses are missing, too?

  We told Mr. Rumptwinkle about

  Monty’s blanket. Then we checked to

  see if anything else was missing.

  14

  Nutmeg’s slippers had also

  disappeared!

  A missing patch blanket!

  Missing glasses! AND missing

  slippers! A thief must have

  snuck in while we

  were asleep!

  But who would steal

  that kind of stuff?

  That is the perfect

  question to start off our

  week, Scarlett! You see,

  this week will be the

  DETECTIVE patch week!

  Work together to solve

  this mystery, and you will

  all get a new patch at the

  Patch Parade on Friday.

  15

  Scarlett used her thingamabob

  power to magic up detective hats and

  magnifying glasses for all of us.

  Then we looked for clues.

  I found the first one!

  Look!

  16

  The small window at the top of our

  unipod was open.

  The thief must be someone

  who can jump up high!

  Or someone really tall.

  Or someone who can fly.

  17

  Later, Monty found another clue.

  TWINKLING TAILS!

  There are crumbs over here!

  We studied the crumbs.

  Which kinds of creatures eat carrots?

  18

  We studied our MAGICAL CREATURES

  books while we ate lunch.

  Carrots are orange . . .

  Orange is the color of fire!

  And who eats

  fiery-colored foods?!

  GASP!

  DRAGONS!

  We quickly came up with a plan.

  Let’s go on a dragon hunt tomorrow!

  That sounds dangerous.

  Maybe we should ask

  Mr. Rumptwinkle?

  No. If we want our new patch,

  we’re going to have to solve

  this mystery on our own.

  Jed is right. Besides,

  we won’t get close

  to the dragons.

  We’ll just spy on them

  to see if they have our

  stuff. Then we’ll tell

  Mr. Rumptwinkle!

  20

  Sunny and I were too excited to

  sleep. We’ve never even gone near a

  dragon nest before!

  I wonder what the dragons will look like.

  I bet they’re HUGE and MEAN!

  Oh, don’t say that.

  I don’t want to go

  if it’s too scary.

  Don’t worry, Bo.

  We’ll be together.

  Diary, I can’t wait for the dragon hunt!

  21

  3

  The Dragon Hunt

  Tuesday

  We woke up early to search for

  dragons.

  Look!

  Dragon footprints!

  22

  We followed the footprints until they

  stopped.

  Great. What do we do now?

  Suddenly, Nutmeg called down to us.

  The leaves on these treetops are burned!

  23

  We stared up at the trees above.

  I bet a FIRE-BREATHING dragon did that!

  There are lots of

  burned leaves!

  Lead the way, Nutmeg!

  24

  We trotted deep into the forest until

  we heard a big ROAR! Orange flames

  shot up into the sky!

  We ducked behind some rocks and

  peeked over to see –

  Three HUGE dragons! They were

  breathing fire and throwing rocks. We’d

  found the dragon nests!

  We were all a bit scared. My hooves

  were shaking!

  26

  We whispered to one another.

  Wow. Dragons are much bigger

  than I thought they would be.

  There’s no way those dragons could

  fit through our unipod window.

  You’re right. It was silly to think

  a dragon was the thief.

  Great! Can we go home now?

  Okay. Let’s go home.

  As Jed was leading the way home,

  Piper yelped and leaped into the air.

  EEEK!

  What’s wrong, Piper?

  Someone just pulled

  my tail!

  28

  We looked around.

  There’s no one else here.

  Maybe you’re just feeling jumpy

  after seeing those scary dragons?

  I KNOW somebody pulled my tail!

  We kept trotting through the

  forest. But soon, more strange things

  happened.

  29

  A big bunch of leaves flew into

  Monty’s face.

  Ugh! Who threw those at me?!

  We heard giggling in the trees above.

  Someone’s up there!

  HEHE!

  HEHE!

  30

  Suddenly, a DRAGON leaped out in

  front of us!

  ROAR!!!

  31

  Then we saw it was only a little

  dragon-pup! He rolled around on the

  ground, laughing!

  I looked at the dragon-pup and

  realized three things:

  1. This little

  dragon could fly.

  2. He was small

  enough to fit

  through our unipod

  window.

  32

  3. He was chewing

  on a carrot!

  YOU’RE who we’ve been

  looking for!

  33

  The dragon-pup smiled and flapped

  his wings. It seemed like he wanted us

  to play with him.

  I bet you can’t catch me!

  Come back here!

  34

  We spent the rest of the day chasing

  the little dragon through the forest. He

  was fast and very good at hiding!

  Sometimes he’d sneak up on us, then

  fly off again.

  Ugh! Quit pulling my tail!

  35

  At Rainbow Falls, he leaped up and

  splashed us!

  This is silly.

  We’re too tired

  to catch him now.

  And it’s getting late.

  SPLASH!

  We decided to go home and try again

  tomorrow.

  That dragon-pup is so naughty!

  He is. But what if

  he’s not the thief?

  Huh?

  Well, why would

  a dragon-pup

  want our stuff?

  Hmmm. I’m not sure.

  Let’s rethink all of our clues.

  37

  We kept thinking about the clues.

  And at CLOUDtime, Sunny shared a

  new idea about the thief.

  Maybe a rabbit i
s the thief!

  What makes you say that?

  We found carrot crumbs,

  and rabbits love carrots.

  They can jump

  up high, too!

  38

  But we saw the dragon-pup eating a carrot

  today. And if the dragon-pup didn’t steal

  our stuff, then why did he run away

  when we tried to talk to him?

  I don’t know.

  We can’t blame the

  dragon-pup unless we

  know he’s the thief.

  Tomorrow we need to find proof.

  Now I’m worried we might not solve the

  mystery and earn our DETECTIVE patches.

  Oh Diary, I don’t know what to think! We

  all went to sleep feeling very confused.

  39

  4

  The Trap

  Wednesday

  This morning, we trotted back to the

  dragon nests.

  Keep your eyes open for Monty’s

  blanket, Mr. Rumptwinkle’s eyeglasses,

  and Nutmeg’s slippers! If we see the

  dragon-pup with any of our stuff,

  we’ll know he is the thief.

  Be on the lookout for rabbits, too!

  40

  We hid behind the rocks again. The

  big dragons were outside. But today

  they didn’t look scary. They looked sad

  and worried!

  I wish we could hear

  I have an idea!

  what they’re saying.

  Me too!

  Sunny and Monty used their powers

  so they could creep close enough to

  hear the dragons.

  Then they galloped back to us.

  42

  The dragons are worried about

  their younger brother Scorch.

  It sounds like he didn’t

  come home last night.

  Scorch must be the dragon-pup

  from yesterday!

  Oh no! What if he’s missing because of us?

  What if we chased him so far away that