Elizabeth Harper Neeld listened while I told her about the raccoons and the car and the radio before I even wrote a single word. She was the one who said I needed pies. Oh, yes, pies were needed.
Also needed were answers about Hummers, which Phil at LA Custom Coaches provided. Thank you, Phil.
For answers about the DeSoto automobile, Dave Duricy manages a website called DeSotoLand: duricy.com/~desoto/.
I am indebted to the late J. Frank Dobie, for his 1939 essay, “The Roadrunner in Fact and Folklore,” for background on the chaparral. And for all things IBWO, no one writes more passionately than Phillip Hoose. His book, The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, has had an honorary place on our coffee table for years.
Gratitude goes to my sweet husband, Ken, who sat beside me while I read the whole thing through out loud and helped me catch a boatload of mistakes. Jeannie Ng, copy editor extraordinaire, helped me correct those mistakes. It’s safe to say, she saved my bacon. My mom, Pat Childress, laughed just when I needed to hear some laughter.
My biggest thanks goes to Cynthia Leitich Smith, who sent me an e-mail that said simply, “Write something funny.” At first, I didn’t understand. But now I do.
Kathi Appelt has discovered raccoons in her chimney, in her yard, and, most annoyingly, in her garbage. This latter is what led to the Havahart trap that snared a baby raccoon. But when she went to check on the raccoon, there was the baby’s brother, holding vigil right beside the trap. It was way high on the “saddest things ever” list. From that moment on, raccoons have been free to roam the Appelt yard, despite their shenanigans. None have tried to live in her car . . . yet Kathi keeps an open eye out for GBHs and hopes like crazy that the IBWO will someday return. She is the author of the Newbery Honor-winning, National Book Award finalist, PEN Center USA Literary Award-winning The Underneath; the critically acclaimed novel Keeper; and many picture books. She lives with her husband in Texas.
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
SIMON & SCHUSTER | NEW YORK
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Also by Kathi Appelt
Keeper
The Underneath
ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS • An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 • www.SimonandSchuster.com • This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. • Copyright ©2013 by Kathi Appelt • Jacket illustration copyright ©2013 by Jennifer Bricking. • Jacket design by Dan Potash• Jacket illustration by Jennifer Bricking• All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. • ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. • Atheneum logo is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. • The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. • Design by Dan Potash • The text for this book is set in Adobe Caslon Pro. • 0613 FFG • First Edition • Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data • Appelt, Kathi, 1954– • The true blue scouts of Sugar Man Swamp / Kathi Appelt. — 1st ed. • p. cm. • Summary: Twelve-year-old Chap Brayburn, ancient Sugar Man, and his raccoon-brother Swamp Scouts Bingo and J’miah, try to save Bayou Tourterelle from feral pigs Clydine and Buzzie, greedy Sunny Boy Beaucoup, and world-class alligator wrestler and would-be land developer Jaeger Stitch. • ISBN 978-1-4424-2105-9 • ISBN 978-1-4424-8121-3 (eBook) • [1. Swamps—Fiction. 2. Land developers—Fiction. 3. Swamp animals—Fiction. 4. Raccoons—Fiction. 5. Scouting (Youth activity)—Fiction. 6. Humorous stories.] • I. Title. • PZ7.A6455Tru 2013 • [Fic]—dc23 • 2012023723
Contents
The First Night
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
The Next Morning
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
The Next Night
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
The Second Day
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
The Third Night
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
The Third Day
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
The Fourth Night
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
The Fourth Day
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
The Last Night
Chapter 98
The Last Day
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Acknowledgments
About Kathi Appelt