Liz and the Sand Castle Contest Read online

  Liz explained it was an octopus, and it seemed to be sick. “I’m going to call my friend’s mom. She’s a veterinarian. Maybe she’ll know how to help it.”

  Tommy stopped. He watched Liz walk on with the heavy bucket. “But what about your sculpture?” he called after her. “Aren’t you going to finish?”

  Liz shrugged. Maybe she’d have time to finish Sunday morning. All of a sudden, she didn’t care so much about the contest.

  Liz’s dad dialed the number for Dr. Purvis’s vet clinic on his cell phone. He handed the phone to Liz so she could explain the situation.

  “Hmm, this a tricky one,” Dr. Purvis told Liz. “If the octopus is sick, there’s not much you can do. But maybe it’s just weak for some reason. In the water, it could get into trouble. It might help to keep it out of the ocean—just until it gets its strength back.”

  Dr. Purvis advised Liz to keep the octopus in seawater in the biggest container they had. “I would put it back in the ocean tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be stronger by then,” she said.

  Back at the cottage, Liz’s mom found a kiddie pool in a storage shed. With Stewart’s help, Liz brought buckets of ocean water up from the beach. They used them to fill the pool. Then they lowered the octopus into it. The octopus drifted out into the pool.

  Liz set up a beach chair next to the pool. She sat down to keep the octopus company.

  She had followed all of Dr. Purvis’s instructions. Now all she could do was wait . . . and hope.

  Windy Worries

  After dinner, Liz’s family went out to play mini-golf. She’d wanted to stay with the octopus. “Come on, Liz,” her dad had said. “We’ll only be gone an hour or so.”

  Now, on the eighth hole, Liz checked her watch. They’d been gone forty-five minutes! She really wanted to get back.

  But it was Liz’s turn to putt. Distracted, she swung way too hard. Her ball launched off the green. A sudden gust of wind lifted it farther. It sailed off in the direction of the first hole.

  The ball bounced off a rock. Then it hit a boy on the back of his leg. “OW!” he cried out.

  Liz hurried over. “I’m sooo sorry!” she exclaimed. “I—”

  The boy turned. It was Tommy! He and his parents were just starting their game.

  “That kind of hurt!” Tommy said sternly.

  “I really didn’t mean to,” Liz said. “Really, really.” She looked at Tommy’s parents. Liz tried a smile, but she was embarrassed.

  “Not to worry,” Tommy’s mom said kindly. “No harm done.”

  Before Liz could say anything else, another wind gust blew the baseball cap off her head. She hurried after it. She grabbed it right before it landed in a water trap. When she turned, Tommy and his family were moving on to the second hole.

  Liz returned to her family on the last hole. They’d been busy taking their turns. They hadn’t seen Liz’s run-in with Tommy.

  The next morning, Liz watched her step as she walked down to the beach. She was carrying the octopus in a bucket of seawater. It looked stronger today!

  Liz’s family got their beach spot set up again. Then Liz passed the bucket off to her parents. They were going to babysit the octopus for the morning. Meanwhile, Liz would go down the beach to finish her sculpture. After the contest, if the octopus seemed ready, they’d release it together.

  Liz got to the contest area a few minutes late. She hurried along the row of sand plots to her own at the very end. She passed some amazing sculptures! One girl was working on a lighthouse. An older man was adding balconies to a skyscraper. There was even an igloo made of sand!

  Tommy was already in his square, hard at work. Liz looked away when he glanced up. She still felt pretty embarrassed about the mini-golf.

  Then Liz stopped in her tracks.

  She was staring at her sand plot. The red strings were still there, marking her square. But her sculpture was not! The barn, the animals, everything—gone. Instead, there were just lumps and drifts of sand where all her hard work had been.

  What happened? thought Liz. Who would do this?

  Tommy’s Idea

  Liz looked over at Tommy. He was watching her with a strange look on his face. To Liz, it seemed like he was waiting to see what she would do next.

  Liz couldn’t believe it. Did he wreck my sculpture? On purpose? she wondered.

  Liz tried to stay calm. But Tommy had been so mean to her the day before. And now this?

  She marched over to Tommy’s square. “Did you do this?” she demanded. She didn’t wait for an answer. “Hitting you with the golf ball was an accident. You did this on purpose!”

  “Wait! Hold on a second!” Tommy cried.

  Liz felt a hand on her shoulder. She whirled around. Melinda was there. She looked apologetic.

  “I’m so sorry about your castle, Liz,” she said, shaking her head. “I noticed it this morning. One of the beach lifeguards did too. He said the winds were really strong over here last night.” Melinda pointed out a rocky seawall between the beach and some sand dunes. “Yours is the only sand plot that wasn’t shielded by that wall.”

  Liz looked sheepishly at Tommy. She felt bad for yelling at him.

  Melinda went on. “I wish we could have you rebuild everything,” she said. “But I’m afraid we don’t have time. I’m so sorry, Liz.”

  Liz’s heart fell. She was so proud of her barn. She’d really worked hard on it! Now it wouldn’t even be seen by the judges.

  “I understand,” Liz said sadly. “I guess I’ll gather up my tools.”

  Liz noticed Tommy watching and listening. He opened his mouth to say something. Then he closed it again. Liz was sure whatever he had to say wasn’t very nice. I really hope he keeps it to himself, she thought.

  But suddenly Tommy blurted it out.

  “She can help me finish mine,” he said.

  Liz froze. She definitely hadn’t heard that right.

  Melinda smiled. “What good sportsmanship! That’s so nice of you!” She turned to Liz. “Would you like to do that?”

  Liz didn’t know what to say. Was Tommy just teasing? He looked like he meant it. But . . .

  “Are you sure?” Liz asked Tommy.

  Tommy nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “I think I could use some more sand animals around the castle.” He smiled. Not a smirk this time, but a real, warm smile.

  Liz smiled back. She did really want to take part in the contest.

  “Okay!” she cried. She grabbed her sand tools and hopped into Tommy’s square.

  It Takes Two

  Melinda blew her whistle. “Time’s up!” she called out.

  Liz and Tommy put their sand tools down. They stepped away from their castle.

  Liz saw her family watching on the sidelines. She ran over and told them what had happened to her sand sculpture. Then she called Tommy over so she could introduce them. “Tommy let me help him with his castle,” Liz said.

  “Oh, sweetheart,” Mrs. Jenkins said to Liz. “That’s too bad about your sculpture.”

  “Yeah,” said Stewart. “But that castle you guys made is awesome! It has a ton of details!”

  Liz looked over at their castle. They had added lots of horses guarding the outside. Liz had shown Tommy a trick—carving them from a block of wet sand instead of building them up from nothing.

  They even had time to add a mini version of The Critter Club barn as a stable for the horses!

  Liz watched as three judges walked around it. They were writing something on their clipboards. Liz wished she knew what!

  “Hey, Tommy,” Liz said as they stood waiting to hear who won. “How come you didn’t want my help yesterday?”

  Tommy looked down and lightly kicked some sand. “I’m sorry. I . . . I was really nervous,” Tommy explained. “Every summer I enter this contest. And I’ve never won. Not even close! I just really wanted to win, finally—all on my own.”

  Liz nodded. “Well, it was really nice of you to let me work on your castle.”

&n
bsp; “I never could have made those horses by myself,” Tommy replied.

  Finally, the judges were ready. Everybody gathered around to hear Melinda announce their decisions. “The judges have awarded ribbons for first, second, and third place,” said Melinda.

  The third-place winner was the older man who had built the skyscraper.

  “He’s really good,” Tommy told Liz as they clapped. “He’s been building sand castles for years.”

  Second place went to a young woman. Melinda mentioned that she was a well-known artist in Luna Beach.

  “And in first place,” Melinda said, “congratulations to . . .”

  Liz held her breath.

  “Tess Munroe!” Melinda called out. A woman came running up to claim her blue ribbon. She was jumping and clapping! Liz couldn’t help feeling happy for her.

  Liz shrugged and smiled at Tommy. “Oh well,” Liz said.

  “Yeah,” Tommy said glumly. “That first-place castle is good. It has a drawbridge and everything!”

  As they turned to go, Melinda’s voice rang out again.

  “And one more prize!” she said. “The judges awarded an honorable mention . . . to Liz Jenkins and Tommy Cook!”

  Liz looked at Tommy. Tommy looked at Liz. Then they both started jumping up and down like crazy.

  “Whoo-hoo!” Liz cried.

  “Yes!” shouted Tommy. “This is the closest I’ve ever come to winning!”

  Melinda came over. She had a green ribbon for each of them. “Congratulations!” she said. “And great teamwork, you two!”

  Liz’s dad took a photo of Liz and Tommy in front of their castle.

  Then Tommy came down to the water with Liz and her family. They had the bucket with the octopus, and it was time to let it go!

  “I hope it’ll be all right,” Liz said as she lowered the bucket into the ocean.

  Right away, the octopus propelled itself out of the bucket and into the sea. Within seconds, it had disappeared into deeper water.

  “You’re welcome!” Liz shouted after it with a laugh.

  “Looks like it’ll be just fine,” Mr. Jenkins said.

  “It’s really lucky you found it,” Tommy said to Liz. “And that you know so much about animals. Sand animals and real animals!”

  Tommy’s parents were calling him from down the beach. “Gotta go,” he said. “Maybe I’ll see you around!”

  Liz shook her head. “We’re going home tomorrow,” she said. “But maybe I’ll see you here next summer?”

  Tommy nodded. “We could have a sand castle rematch!” he said.

  “You’re on!” Liz replied.

  Read on for a sneak peek at the next Critter Club book:

  Marion Takes Charge

  “Here, Gabby,” Marion Ballard said to her little sister. “I’ll do that for you.”

  “No, I can do it!” Gabby replied. She was at the front door, tying her shoes. Marion thought she was doing it way too slowly.

  Mrs. Ballard was waiting in the car. Marion checked her watch. It was 8:35. School started at 8:45, and the drive was eight minutes long. If they didn’t get going, they’d be late!

  Finally, Gabby was ready. They rushed outside.

  Phew! thought Marion as her mom backed out of the driveway.

  Marion made sure she had everything. She had her lunch box. She had her sneakers for gym. She peeked inside her homework folder. Yep, she had her homework.

  “Got your lunch, Gabby?” Marion asked her sister.

  Gabby nodded. “Your homework?” Marion said.

  Gabby nodded again. She was in kindergarten. She usually had a short math work sheet and some reading homework.

  “Your reading folder?” Marion asked.

  Gabby’s eyes went wide in alarm. “I forgot to read the new book in my reading folder!”

  Callie Barkley loves animals. As a young girl, she dreamed of getting a cat or dog of her own until she discovered she was allergic to most of them. It was around this time that she realized the world was full of all kinds of critters that could use some love. She now lives with her husband and two kids in Connecticut. They share their home with exactly ten fish and a very active ant farm.

  Marsha Riti is an illustrator based in Austin, Texas. Her premiere picture book is The Picky Little Witch. She likes to take long walks, stopping frequently to pet neighborhood kitties.

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster · New York

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  Meet the author and illustrator and get activities at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Callie-Barkley

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Marsha-Riti

  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.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 • www.SimonandSchuster.com • First Little Simon hardcover edition June 2015 Copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected]. 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.

  Designed by Laura Roode. The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal Std.

  Jacket design by Laura Roode

  Jacket illustrations by Marsha Riti

  Jacket illustrations copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Barkley, Callie. Liz and the sand castle contest / Callie Barkley ; illustrated by Marsha Riti. — First Little Simon paperback edition. pages cm. — (The Critter Club ; #11) Summary: As her friends in the Critter Club animal shelter care for colorful aquarium fish, second-grader Liz and her family spend a long weekend at the beach, where Liz rescues a baby octopus and competes with an unfriendly young neighbor in a sand castle contest. [1. Beaches—Fiction. 2. Wildlife rescue—Fiction. 3. Contests—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction.] I. Riti, Marsha, illustrator. II. Title. PZ7.B250585Lg 2015 [Fic]—dc23 2014043217

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2406-6 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2405-9 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2407-3 (eBook)