In the Garbage, page 4
The word centipede means “hundred feet.” (Centi means “hundred” and pede means “feet.”) But whoever named centipedes must not have been counting carefully. Different kinds of centipedes have from thirty to over 300 feet!
Millipede means “thousand feet.” (Milli means “thousand.”) But the millipede with the most feet has only 750!
WHERE TO FIND MORE TRUE STUFF
Would you like to become a garbologist? Or maybe you just like to read about trashy stuff. If so, here are some books you might enjoy:
Life in a Garbage Dump by Jill Bailey (Chicago: Raintree, 2004). You’ll find out about everything that lives in dumps—from bacteria and funguses to snakes and bears. Lots of interesting facts and things to do.
Garbage! Where It Comes From, Where It Goes by Evan and Janet Hadingham (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990). Lots of information about what people around the world do with their garbage. Watch out! This can get pretty strange.
Pee Wee’s Great Adventure: A Guide to Vermi-composting by Larraine Roulston (Kalamazoo, MI: Flowerfield Enterprises/Flower Press, 2004). This short booklet tells an amusing story about a worm’s life with other creatures in a compost heap. It also gives instructions for vermicomposting, using worms to recycle garbage and paper into great plant food. To find this booklet, go to www.wormdigest.org or other vermicomposting Web sites.
There’s a Hair in My Dirt: A Worm’s Story by Gary Larson (New York: HarperCollins, 1998). What would worms think about the world if they could think? Very funny and very wise!
Keep reading
for a sneak peek at
Andrew, Judy, and Thudd’s
next exciting adventure—
ANDREW LOST
WITH THE BATS!
Available July 2006
Excerpt copyright © 2006 by J. C. Greenburg.
Published by Random House Children’s Books, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York.
GOING BATTY
“Yaaaaargh!” hollered tiny Andrew Dubble. He was as big as a beetle and hanging on to the back of a bat.
The bat zigged and zagged and zoomed through the twilight sky. It was searching for its dinner of bugs.
The wind stung Andrew’s eyes, tugged his scalp, and blew him backward. Every zig and zag made Andrew’s stomach slosh. Urf! he thought. I feel like throwing up.
URRRRRP!
Andrew popped out a big, garlicky burp. It’s the pepperoni pizza from lunch, he thought. He gripped the soft fur of the bat’s neck tighter.
meep … “Drewd okey-dokey?” came a squeaky voice from Andrew’s shirt pocket. “Drewd hit by mosquito stinger.”
It was Thudd, Andrew’s little silver robot and best friend.
“I’m as okay as anyone hanging off a bat can be,” said Andrew. “But it’s like the worst roller-coaster ride ever and there’s no safety belt!”
“Androooooooo!” came a wail from the other side of the bat.
It was Judy Dubble, Andrew’s thirteen-year-old cousin. She was dangling from the tip of one of the bat’s big ears like an earring. “Jooodeeeeee!” hollered Andrew, trying to make his little voice heard over the wind. “Get onto the back of the bat! You won’t flap around so much!”
“Whaaaat?” yelled Judy. “I can hardly hear you! I’m trying to get off this stupid ear!”
Judy reached for the bat’s neck with one hand and grabbed a fistful of fur. Her eyes squeezed into slits as her other hand let go of the ear.
Suddenly Judy was bouncing like a rodeo cowgirl off the neck of the bat. One hand waved frantically in the air.
Finally, Judy grabbed a clump of bat fur with her free hand. She climbed up the bat’s neck and tucked herself in behind one of the bat’s ears.
The air swarmed with specks and dots flying like dizzy airplanes. Sometimes Andrew could make out what they were—mosquitoes, beetles, moths.
Nyeeeeeee …
A high-pitched whine hurt Andrew’s ears.
meep … “Mosquito!” said Thudd.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2006 by J. C. Greenburg.
Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Jan Gerardi.
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks and A STEPPING STONE BOOK and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
ANDREW LOST is a trademark of J. C. Greenburg.
www.randomhouse.com/kids/AndrewLost
www.AndrewLost.com
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Greenburg, J. C. (Judith C.)
In the garbage / by J. C. Greenburg ; illustrated by
Jan Gerardi. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Andrew Lost ; 13) “A Stepping Stone book.”
SUMMARY: Andrew, his cousin Judy, and Thudd the robot wind up at a garbage dump when Andrew’s latest invention, the Goa Constrictor, shrinks them to the size of beetles and swallows them.
eISBN: 978-0-307-53244-2
[1. Refuse and refuse disposal—Fiction. 2. Inventions—Fiction. 3. Size—Fiction. 4. Cousins—Fiction.]
I. Gerardi, Jan, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Greenburg, J. C. (Judith C.).
Andrew Lost ; v 13.
PZ7.G82785Inw 2006 [Fic]—dc22 2005021776
v3.0
J. C. Greenburg, In the Garbage
