Izzy's Tail of Trouble, page 1
Copyright Page
For Lynne and Drowsy — C.A.
For my pup, Olive, who was worth all the trouble — K.C.
ISBN 978-1-5253-1108-6 (EPUB)
Text © 2022 Caroline Adderson
Illustrations © 2022 Kelly Collier
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Kids Can Press Ltd. or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Kids Can Press Ltd. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters (e.g., Popsicle).
Published in Canada and the U.S. by Kids Can Press Ltd.
25 Dockside Drive, Toronto, ON M5A 0B5
Kids Can Press is a Corus Entertainment Inc. company
www.kidscanpress.com
The artwork in this book was created digitally.
Edited by Yasemin Uçar and Sarah Howden
Designed by Andrew Dupuis
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Izzy’s tail of trouble / written by Caroline Adderson ; illustrated by Kelly Collier.
Names: Adderson, Caroline, 1963– author. | Collier, Kelly, illustrator.
Identifiers: Canadiana 20210350091 | ISBN 9781771387330 (hardcover)
Classification: LCC PS8551.D3267 I995 2022 | DDC jC813/.54 — dc23
Kids Can Press gratefully acknowledges that the land on which our office is located is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
We thank the Government of Ontario, through Ontario Creates; the Ontario Arts Council; the Canada Council for the Arts; and the Government of Canada for supporting our publishing activity.
Title Page
Written by Caroline Adderson
Illustrated by Kelly Collier
Kids Can Press
CONTENTS
The Baby Stealer
Super Flower Baby
The Dangers Of Ice Cream
Dog Jail
Dr. Zoë
Room To Skooch
A Big Mess Of Sunshine
What Are We Going To Do With That Dog?
Packed And Ready
Izzy’s Doghouse
Disobedience Class
Teenager Training
The Most Favorite Treat
THE BABY STEALER
“Be a good baby and don’t bite me,” Isabel cooed.
Rollo went on chewing Isabel. He had fangs, but he used them gently. The problem was Isabel couldn’t pull off the dress she’d squeezed him into when he was chewing on her hand.
Zoë brought over another. “Try this one. It’s Glory’s. She’s the biggest doll I have.”
Rollo grabbed the new dress in his teeth and growled. Now Isabel could free him from the too-tight one.
“Babies don’t growl, Rollo,” Zoë scolded.
Isabel thought of something funny then. “What if babies did growl? And what if they had fangs, too?”
“Nobody would have babies,” Zoë said. “They’d be too scared!”
They both burst out laughing at the thought of those scary fanged babies growling in their cribs.
Rollo wasn’t scary, though. And he wasn’t a real baby. He was Isabel’s dog — the cutest, funniest puppy, a brown ball of fur. The girls were playing with him at Zoë’s house because Zoë had a lot of dolls and doll things.
As well as clothes, there were doll hats for Rollo to tear off, doll purses for him to chew and a doll crib for him to sleep in. Except Rollo didn’t sleep. He jumped right out and bumbled off in a zigzag so that his two mothers had to chase after him and plop him back in the crib. Over and over!
But nap time was finished now. They were trying to dress their baby and go for a walk. Going for a walk was the best part of playing babies with Rollo at Zoë’s house because Something Awful always happened …
Isabel squeezed Glory’s dress over Rollo’s head. When she pulled his furry front legs through the sleeves, they looked like two flowered sausages.
“This one’s tight, too,” she said. “But at least he’s in it.”
“Oh, baby!” Zoë told Rollo. “You’re so cute! Just like a real baby except with a tail and fur all over your face. Let’s put on your hat.”
Zoë dropped a bonnet on Rollo’s head. He tore it off.
“Never mind,” Isabel said. “Let’s go out.”
She was impatient for Something Awful to happen.
As they carried their hatless, shaggy baby down the hall, Isabel kept an eye out for Someone Awful.
“Is he going to come?” she whispered.
“Probably,” Zoë said, and Isabel felt all shivery.
The doll carriage was outside. As Zoë loaded in their baby, Isabel scanned the backyard. Last time, he hid in the shrubs next to the garage.
“Are you sure he knows I came over and we’re playing babies?” Isabel asked.
“Pretty sure,” Zoë said.
“Because it’ll be boring if he doesn’t come.”
“Let’s go,” Zoë said, and she set off through the open gate, pushing the doll carriage with Rollo in it. Isabel followed, glancing over her shoulder just in case.
“Lie down, baby,” Zoë told Rollo. She stopped. “Make him lie down, Izzy. It’s dangerous for babies to ride standing up.”
Isabel said, “Lie down, Rollo.” When Rollo didn’t, she pushed gently on his back. He tried to lie down then.
“Look,” Isabel told Zoë. “He’s bulging right over the sides of the —”
Two arms shot out from behind her and snatched Rollo.
“AHHH!!!” Isabel and Zoë screamed. “THE BABY STEALER!!!”
The Baby Stealer tore back through the gate with Isabel and Zoë racing after him. “Baby Stealer!” they yelled. “You give our baby back right now!”
Around and around the yard the Baby Stealer ran, Rollo bouncing in his arms. He was tall and skinny with braces on his teeth. Isabel could see the wires flash when he laughed his evil Baby Stealing laugh.
“Corner him!” she shouted to Zoë.
They ran at the Baby Stealer from two sides, driving him against the fence. He sank down in the flowerbed, laughing hard. The two furious, giggling mothers seized his arms and freed Rollo, who began barking his head off.
“Lionel!” Zoë said. “You’re a Baby Stealer and you’re getting a Time Out!”
The Baby Stealer struggled to his feet. “You can’t give me a Time Out,” he told Zoë. “You’re just my little sister.”
“I sure can,” Zoë said and they marched him to the garage. Rollo, in his flowered dress, helped by pulling the Baby Stealer’s pant leg.
Isabel opened the garage door. Zoë shoved the Baby Stealer in.
“Stay there until we say so!” Isabel said before she slammed the door.
Now that their baby was safe, the mothers exhaled with relief. They went inside, made a snack of bread and jam and brought it back out. They ate sitting in the grass, tearing off little jammy pieces for their baby, and feeling that wonderful shivery feeling because they knew at any moment Lionel was going to burst out and steal their baby again.
From inside the garage came a sound like a gigantic burp. Isabel turned to Zoë in surprise. “Was that Lionel burping or a gorilla?”
Zoë laughed. “That’s his ringtone.”
Just then the Baby Stealer sauntered out of the garage with his phone held to his ear. “Yeah,” he was saying. “No way …”
“Hey! You’re supposed to be having a Time Out!” Isabel told him as he passed by.
Lionel ignored her.
Isabel turned to Zoë, who only shrugged and asked, “What do you want to play now?”
SUPER FLOWER BABY
Two weeks passed before Isabel and Zoë played babies again. Isabel’s nanny, Rosa, brought Rollo to school so she could walk them all to Zoë’s house. Usually, Lionel walked Zoë home, but on Baby Stealing days he went straight from his school and found a good place to hide. Isabel felt all shivery thinking about it.
Zoë’s dad worked from home. He came to the door to greet them. “Is Lionel here?” Isabel asked him.
“He is.” He kissed Zoë on the top of her head and scratched Rollo and Isabel behind their ears. “Let him know if you need anything. I’ll see you three cuties later.”
Zoë and Isabel took Rollo to Zoë’s room for his nap. Today when they lifted Rollo into the crib, he couldn’t even sit in it, let alone lie down.
“Huh?” Isabel said. “What happened?”
“He’ll have to nap on my bed,” Zoë said.
“Let’s forget the nap,” said Isabel, who was impatient for the Baby Stealing to start. “Get his dress.”
This time Glory’s flowery dress would barely go over Rollo’s furry snout. The neck hole was too small!
“Did you wash it?” Isabel asked Zoë. “Once my mom washed my sweater and it shrank.”
“I didn’t wash it,” Zoë said. “And I didn’t wash the crib.”
That’s when they knew that Rollo had grown. Because cribs don’t shrink.
“What now?” Zoë asked. “We can’t take a bare-naked baby for a walk.”
“I have an idea,” Isabel said.
She tied the sleeves of the dress around Rollo’s neck. It looked like a flowery cape.
“He’s Super Baby now!” Zoë said.
“He’s Super Flower Baby,” Isabel said. “He has Flower Power! Now the Baby Stealer will never get him!”
Both girls fell into each other laughing. When they finally stopped, Isabel said, “Okay. Let’s go.”
Isabel led the way, with Zoë carrying Rollo. “He actually feels a lot heavier,” Zoë said.
When they reached the kitchen, Isabel stopped in the doorway and gasped. There were two older boys there and one of them was the Baby Stealer! He was taking things out of the fridge. Isabel pulled Zoë back by the arm.
“He’s there,” she hissed. “We’d better go out the front.”
Before Zoë could answer, the Baby Stealer slammed the fridge door and turned. Instead of snatching their baby, he and his friend pushed past the girls. Their arms were full of food: bread, a jar of mustard, cold cuts, lettuce in a plastic bag.
“How about ‘Excuse me’?” Zoë said as they went by.
The Baby Stealer grunted.
Zoë carried Rollo through the kitchen and out the back door.
“I guess they’re going to have a snack first,” Isabel said, following her. “But two Baby Stealers are better than one, right?”
“They’re not going to play with us,” Zoë said.
Isabel was a big amount of disappointed. “If nobody’s going to steal our baby, going for a walk will be boring.”
“It’ll still be fun,” Zoë said. She didn’t have a dog. She loved every minute with Rollo no matter what they played.
Zoë set their baby in the carriage. Right away, Rollo started whining. He was too big for it, too. Isabel lifted him onto the ground.
“I know! Let’s pull him in the wagon,” Zoë said. She headed for the shed with Rollo bounding after her, his Super Flower Baby cape flapping.
Isabel got a better idea then. “Hey! When Lionel hears that our baby has Super Flower Power, he’ll really want to steal him. I’m going to dare him!”
She marched back inside, shouting “LIONEL!!!”
Lionel and his friend were in his room playing a video game on his computer. The door was open so she walked right in. That was when Isabel noticed that Lionel’s friend had spots all over his face. Isabel had spots, too, but hers were brown freckles. Lionel’s friend’s spots were red and sore-looking. He was clicking the computer keys and staring at the screen while Lionel made a sandwich from the food spread all over the desk.
She took a big breath to make the dare. “Hey, Lionel, if you try to steal our baby today you’re going to get a big surprise because he’s a Super Baby now with Flower Power so you’ll never be able to get your hands on him and I DARE YOU TO TRY!”
Lionel sort-of smiled at Isabel. At least his lips twitched. But just then his friend with spots nudged him. “Your turn.”
They switched places. Lionel took a bite of his sandwich and began to play the game. Isabel had to go right over and pull on his sleeve to get his attention.
“Who is that?” asked the friend, who was smearing mustard on his bread.
Lionel kept on clicking the computer keys. “Just ignore her.”
“She doesn’t have any teeth,” the friend said.
Was he talking about her? Isabel looked around. Who else?
“I have teeth. See?” She opened her mouth wide. “I just don’t have the two front ones.” She poked the tip of her tongue in and out of the no-teeth space. When she did that with Zoë, Zoë always said “Ew!” and told her to stop.
The boys ignored her.
“You’re not looking,” she said.
“No front teeth and no brain,” said the friend with spots.
Isabel’s mouth dropped open. “Hey! That’s a mean thing to say!”
Both boys started laughing. Isabel turned and stomped back out of the house. She was so burning mad it felt like every freckle on her face had caught on fire.
Outside, Zoë was pulling Rollo in the wagon. When the dog saw Isabel, he leaped out of the wagon and came racing over in his cape. He jumped against her legs, trying to lick her. Licking is kissing for a dog. Isabel sank into the grass and let him.
“Lionel’s friend said a mean thing to me,” she told Zoë. “He said I have no brain!”
Zoë shrugged. “You should hear what they say to me.”
“But why? Why are they so mean?”
“They’re teenagers,” Zoë said.
THE DANGERS OF ICE CREAM
Rosa picked Isabel up from the no-baby-stealing play date.
“Bye, Super Flower Baby! Bye, Izzy! See you tomorrow at school!” Zoë called from her porch.
Isabel gave her a glum wave.
“Didn’t you have fun?” Rosa asked as they walked away.
“No,” Isabel said.
“Uh-oh,” Rosa said. “Are you in the doghouse?”
There wasn’t really a doghouse. The question meant: Is Zoë annoyed with you?
Rosa asked Isabel this question a lot because Isabel often accidentally got in trouble. Just two days ago at school, Isabel tapped Bernadette on the shoulder to show how, when she stuck her tongue in and out of her no-tooth space, it looked like a cute pink worm lived in her mouth. Bernadette screamed because it really did look like a worm. This turned out to be one of the school’s NOs: NO screaming during spelling tests! Even though Isabel wasn’t the one who screamed, she was in the doghouse with Bernadette and her teacher, Mr. Blakie, who sent her to the principal’s office.
Luckily, Isabel didn’t mind going to the principal’s office because Mrs. Kinoshita was nice. Even when she was annoyed, she was nice. Also, she sometimes had Very Dangerous things on her desk that had been taken away from kids who had brought them to school. This week there was an ice-cream scoop.
“Are ice-cream scoops dangerous?” Isabel had asked.
“It depends on how you use them,” Mrs. Kinoshita had answered.
“How about ice cream? Is it dangerous?”
“How about we talk about that worm in your mouth?” Mrs. Kinoshita had said.
Now Isabel told Rosa, “I’m not in the doghouse. I didn’t have fun because Lionel had a friend over. He wouldn’t be the Baby Stealer. Not only that, his friend said …”
Her freckles started burning again.
“What?” Rosa asked.
“He said I HAVE NO BRAIN!”
Rosa frowned. “Izzy? That was mean.”
She bent down and gave Isabel a hug. Then Rollo jumped up against their legs barking his head off because a hug was like a sandwich. Rosa and Isabel were the two pieces of bread and Rollo wanted to be the meat.
“It’s also not true,” Rosa told Isabel.
Isabel sniffed and nodded. “I have plenty of brains. Otherwise where would all my ideas come from?”
“Exactly,” Rosa said.
They stopped hugging, and Rollo stopped jumping and barking. They all walked on, Rollo pulling the leash for home. Pulling hard. Isabel gave it to Rosa to hold because her arm was hurting.
“Rosa?” Isabel said. “Zoë says Lionel’s friend’s spots are zits and that now Lionel has them, too, but he’s got a cream that makes them smaller. Zoë says that everybody gets them and so will I when I’m a teenager. Is that true?”
Rosa looked down at Isabel. She sounded sorry when she said, “I’m afraid it is.”
“Then Rosa? I’m happy about my freckles! The zits can hide behind the freckles and nobody will even know I have them!”
“See?” Rosa said. “Who could ever say you have no brain?”
They walked for a few more minutes, Rollo chewing the leash between pulls. Isabel wondered about the zit cream. Could it make things besides zits smaller? Could it make dogs smaller? If it could, then Rollo could fit into Zoë’s doll clothes again!
