The Great Peach Experiment 1, Erin Downing [books to read romance .TXT] 📗

horns, making the giant muskie look much more terrifying than it did in real life. At least, he hoped muskies didn’t look like that in real life, or he’d have to remove lakes from his swimming goal. No way would he put his feet anywhere near a fish like that!

The rain had finally let up—for good, it seemed—so the family found a grassy space to set up their picnic. After just a few bites of her sandwich, Lucy lay back in the grass and disappeared inside her book. She had already finished both A Night Divided and Amina’s Voice, and was now reading Fish in a Tree.

Seeing his sister with her book gave Herb an idea. He raced back to the food truck and grabbed his copy of The Penderwicks. This was the novel he and Lucy had been reading together, chapter by chapter, each night before bedtime. When he was lucky, she’d read him a chapter during the day, too. Now, he dropped it on his sister’s belly and said, “Read?”

She muttered, “I’m reading my own book.”

Herb pleaded, “Please? Then everyone can listen to the story. We just got to an exciting part, remember?”

Lucy reluctantly sat up and cradled The Penderwicks in her hands. Herb knew it was one of the books on Lucy’s summer reading list, but he also knew she’d already read it three times before. One of the reasons Herb loved the story so much is that it was about a family of fun siblings and their really nice dad who have an exciting summer adventure together. Now that his family was on a similar adventure, Herb was enjoying the book even more.

“Are you two reading a book together?” Dad asked, holding out his hand for a look.

“Lucy reads me a chapter every night,” Herb announced. “Sometimes I read a page to her, too, but Lucy has to help me with some of the hard words.”

“You’re reading novels already?” Dad asked, looking shocked.

Herb stuck out his chin proudly. “Yep. I’m a good reader.”

“I see.” Dad nodded. “How wonderful.”

“Well?” Herb said, turning to Lucy. “Are you going to read to us or not?”

Dad clutched the book tighter in his hands. “Would it be okay if I read the next chapter? To everyone? Maybe we could do a family read-aloud this summer?”

Lucy and Herb exchanged a surprised look. Then Lucy shrugged her approval, while Herb flopped down on his belly and perched his chin on his hands. “I like the character Skye best,” he told his dad. “I think you will, too.”

“I see,” Dad said again, opening the book to their folded-down page. Freddy continued to draw, while Lucy pulled out one of the LEGO three-in-one sets she’d packed for the trip. Dad stretched his legs out in front of him and cleared his throat. “Skye, huh? If she’s your favorite, I can’t wait to meet her.”

From the Sketchbook of Freddy Peach:

KILLER MUSKIE

The giant muskie in Hayward, Wisconsin, was insane!

13

  WORLD’S SMALLEST POOL

After their picnic, eaten in the shadow of Hayward’s giant fiberglass fish (which, even Lucy had to admit, was pretty awe-inspiring), the Peaches got back on the road.

Dad suggested they push on through and drive all the way to Chicago that night, so they could get up and try to sell more pies the very next day. “We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us if we want to have any chance of winning the Food Truck Festival!” he explained. But there was a lot of cheering when, a few hours into the evening’s drive, Dad yawned loudly and announced that he was too tired to drive any farther.

So the family stopped for the night between Minneapolis and Chicago, at a rural campground somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin. Though it was dark when they arrived, there was a sign at the campground entrance that promised an outdoor pool and a game room. Since it was long past bedtime, Lucy told Herb she would take him to the pool first thing in the morning.

As soon as they had their tents set up, Lucy stretched out inside her sleeping bag and tried to read, but she fell asleep with her book open almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. She slept soundly until morning, waking from a deep sleep when her little brother zipped open her tent and begged her to take him to the pool. Lucy consulted her watch and decided that eight o’clock was late enough. Herb had gone almost one whole week of summer break without stepping foot in a real pool, and if they’d been home, she would have taken him to the community center pool at least four times by now.

The three Peach kids changed into their swimsuits, stuffed Herb into a life jacket for extra safety, and followed a trail of rickety wooden signs to the campground’s outdoor pool. They left their Dad to drink his morning coffee and read his articles in peace. As they headed off, Dad called out, “Hustle back—we can’t afford to waste time!” Lucy groaned inwardly, but flashed him a thumbs-up.

There was a big, thick iron fence around the pool, but the gate wasn’t locked. Lucy pushed it open, and the Peaches got their first glimpse of the campground’s “pool.”

“Do you think we’ll all fit into this puddle at the same time?” Freddy asked, laughing. “Or maybe we should take turns? I bet I could jump from one side of the pool to the other without actually landing in the water!” Then he added, “I think I saw a picture of this exact pool in Guinness World Records, under the category ’World’s Smallest Pool.’ ”

Lucy giggled. “It’s totally possible all the water in this pool will overflow if all three of us get in at the same time.” Nevertheless, she tossed their towels onto the only chair that fit on the pool deck and dragged her big toe through the water. The pool was chilly, but