Sample book · Soft Watercolor
Brandy’s Backyard Treasure
The family in this book is made up. Yours would be painted from your photos.
Brandy knows the squirrels are hiding something wonderful. With floppy ears alert and her nose to the ground, she sets out to solve the mystery in her own backyard.
Brandy knows the squirrels are hiding something wonderful. With floppy ears alert and her nose to the ground, she sets out to solve the mystery in her own backyard.
In Brandy’s backyard, late-autumn leaves whispered, hush-hush-hush. Two squirrels zipped along the chain-link fence, each carrying an acorn. Brandy’s floppy ears lifted. Her pink tongue paused mid-pant. “Treasure,” she decided. “Definitely treasure.”
3
Up the maple went the squirrels, quick as a sneeze. Brandy sat at the bottom and thought hard. Squirrels never hurried for nothing. Somewhere in this backyard, they were hiding something wonderful. And Brandy was going to find it.
5
Under the maple, Brandy found three clues: a cracked acorn cap, a feather, and a tiny pawprint in the damp earth. She followed the pawprint in a grand circle—and discovered her own back feet.
7
So Brandy watched instead. From behind the deck steps, she saw a squirrel dig a little hole in the garden corner, drop something in, and pat-pat-pat it flat. Then it scampered off, as if nothing had happened at all.
9
That night, Brandy dreamed of treasure: a golden bone, a mountain of tennis balls, a squeaky crown just her size. And while she dreamed, the sky let go of its very first snow.
11
A dusting of early snow hid the garden corner. Brandy dug with joyful, thumping paws. She uncovered a tennis ball, a muddy mitten, and a spoon. Fine treasures, perhaps—but surely not squirrel treasure.
13
She dug once more, right where the squirrel had patted. Out tumbled acorns. Dozens of acorns! Up on the stone wall, the squirrels chattered and flicked their tails. Chit-chit-chit! It sounded a lot like “Please.”
15
By afternoon the snow had melted, and Brandy sat and thought. The squirrels’ treasure was not for keeping. It was their winter dinner, every last acorn, and they had worked so hard to hide it.
17
Brandy gently nudged the earth back. She tucked leaves over the spot and stood guard while the squirrels checked their pantry. From the house came the warm clink of her own dinner bowl.
19
Inside, Brandy found her own treasure waiting: a full bowl, a warm blanket, and a window just right for keeping watch. Out in the maple, two squirrels curled up snug. Everyone, it turned out, had exactly the treasure they needed.
21For every dog who knows the squirrels are up to something.
Inside the book
- The cast
- Brandy (dog) and the squirrels (next door)
- The setting
- A backyard on a lake in late autumn
- The dedication
- For every dog who knows the squirrels are up to something.
