Dory Fantasmagory: Tiny Tough

By (author) Hanlon Abby
Short description/annotation:
The fifth adventure in the enormously popular Dory Fantasmagory series takes on the tried-and-true theme of childhood friendships, and turns it on its head, Dory-style.
Description:
When her big sister Violet has friend trouble at school, Dory tries to come to her rescue. But Dory’s active imagination takes over, and she is sure that Violet’s lost treasure (a friendship bracelet) has something to do with pirates. In search of the treasure, Dory meets up with a real pirate crew and finds that a pirate’s life is harder than she thought. At sea, Dory longs for her imaginary friend Mary. But Mary has gone off with an exciting new friend of her own and Dory is crushed with jealousy. Just when things can’t get any worse, Dory’s old enemy, Mrs. Gobble Gracker shows up and Dory’s ocean adventure takes a surprising turn.
Biographical note:
Abby Hanlon has taught creative writing and first grade in the New York City public school system. Inspired by her students'' storytelling and drawings, Abby began to write her own stories for children, and taught herself to draw after not having drawn since childhood. She lives with her husband and two children in Brooklyn.
Promotional headline:
The fifth adventure in the enormously popular Dory Fantasmagory series takes on the tried-and-true theme of childhood friendships, and turns it on its head, Dory-style.
Excerpt:

Chapter 1 

Such an Amazing Bath Toy 

 

My name is Dory, but everyone calls me Rascal. I have a big sister named Violet and a big brother named Luke. They get all the attention and I don’t get any! Except when they are busy after school. Then I get my mom all to myself. Because I’m never busy. Today my mom says we are going to the library. “Yay!” I say. “I can check out new books!”

“I love our afternoons together,” says my mom. “You’re my little partner.” 

“So that means you like me the best, right?” I ask. 

She winks at me and says, “Nope.”

 

At the library, I go straight to the big desk and ask the librarian, “You know that book about a family who eats breakfast in the shower and the mom wears a dress that’s made out of live chickens?” 

“And the boy eats with his feet and then the lights go off and they think they’re dead but then their cat and dog turn on the electricity.”

“Rascal, are you making this up?” asks my mom.

“No! It’s a real book! And then they think they’re in heaven but they’re really in their living room? It’s so funny! Do you have that book?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know that one,” says the librarian. 

“But here’s a series you might like, it’s called Happy Little Farm.”

“That’s okay, thanks anyway,” says my mom. “Stop growling,” she whispers, and leads me away from the desk.

My mom finds some books she likes and reads out loud. After seven books she says, “Rascal, I’m going to the bathroom. I want you to read quietly while I’m gone, okay?”

“I can’t read.”

“Yes, you can,” she says. “I’ll be right back.” 

A very short kid wearing a dinosaur tail starts talking to me. Her voice sounds like a frog. “Wead me it,” she says, pointing to her book. 

“I’m a bad reader,” I whisper.

“I weally want you to wead it,” she says.

“Ask someone else,” I say.

“Wead it,” says the kid.

“I guess I could tell you a story instead . . .” I suggest. 

“I want a scawy stowy,” she says. 

“Well, that’s easy . . . once upon a time . . .” I whisper, “well, actually right now, there lives a robber named Mrs. Gobble Gracker.”

“Mrs. Wobba Wacka?”

“Yes . . . and she’s very sneaky . . . She lives in a cave and she is 507 years old and has a big black cape . . . and . . . and . . . she has really long fingernails and FANGS like this . . . And she’s been looking for me for a long time. <