Snowpea the Puppy Queen, page 4
“I can dig this!” Martha quipped, burrowing her front legs into the litter and covering the room in tiny grains.
As the monster approached, the three stood in the empty plastic box and watched as it sucked up the sand, seeming to cough and choke. Vrrr-ttt-tt-t. Vrrr-ttt-tt-t. The robot was struggling.
“I hope there’s a cookie in there for you, too, you fiend!” Martha yelled. But now wasn’t the time for jokes—now was the time to plot their final blow.
Snowpea looked up at the blankets hanging in the center of the room. They reminded her of the fight that had divided her from the puppies, and she wanted nothing more than to rip the barrier down. And then it hit her: “We can trap the monster under the blankets—like a net!”
The monster banged and clanged around the room, knocking into the toy basket and the scratch post, and each collision made Snowpea jump. But no monster could get away with stealing from her friends!
She climbed the scratcher and held on to one end of the string. Across the room, Kat and Martha leapt up toward the string. And on the count of three, just as the evil robot monster passed under the blankets, Snowpea yelled: “Tear down the blanket wall!”
Vrrrr-rrrr-rr-r-sppt-tt-t-t-trrrhhhm. The robot sucked up the blankets until its mouth was jammed. And at long last, the monster machine spun fully onto its back and broke down completely.
At first, they were afraid to approach.
Snowpea observed from a distance, then grabbed her wand scepter and held it away from her body, poking at the upside-down monster to see if its little teeth-feet would move. But the room was silent and still, aside from the sound of puppies panting and drooling on the floor in exhaustion. “Did we do it?” Kat asked. “Did we slay the beast?”
Snowpea held her head up high and declared with pride: “Hear ye, hear ye. At long last the evil robot monster… has perished!” She tapped at the compartment on the bottom where the blankets had jammed its wicked jaws. “Now let’s get your banana!”
Snowpea ripped the robot’s bottom off, and inside she could see a vast collection of dust, cat fur, sand, bits of garbage, and… the banana toy! As she grabbed the filthy yellow toy, she shook it, and dust went flying through the air, making the room sparkle and the puppies sneeze.
“I can’t believe… achoo!… you got our toy back!” Kat squealed. “You’re a true friend. A true queen!”
“Achoo! A true queen!” Martha agreed, grabbing hold of the squeaky toy with Kat.
They squeak-squeak-squeaked and spun in circles, ears flopping and drool flying. The look of joy on their faces was contagious, and Snowpea could no longer hold back her happiness. “Life’s too short not to have a little fun with your friends… and make a little mess!” she said, and she grabbed an armful of debris from the belly of the beast and tossed it into the air.
A cloud of dust and dirt surrounded her, and as she looked above her, paws in the air, she saw something sparkling overhead.
“It’s my glitter-mouse!” she cried as her beloved childhood toy fell into her arms.
Snowpea darted around the filthy room, chasing her glitter-mouse with carefree bliss, and the puppies joined in on the fun, too. For the rest of the afternoon, they took turns batting their toys around together and leaping over one another with unbridled joy. And although it was noisy—and although it was a mess—playing with her friends made life feel perfectly perfect.
CHAPTER 14 Bless This Mess
Weeks passed by, and Snowpea and the puppies had become closer than ever. Kat and Martha had learned to be playful without being (too) destructive, and Snowpea had learned that sometimes a little bit of chaos actually made life more fun… and that friendship was more important than anything you could own.
As the sun rose through the window of Fosterland, Snowpea awoke squeezed between the doggy duo, who were licking her cheeks with their huge tongues. She giggled, happy to receive love in the form of a morning bath. “It smells like puppy breath in here!” She laughed. “Thank you for that.”
Haroun stepped into the doorway just as Snowpea’s mane was sticking straight up, styled with saliva. “Nice hair.” He smirked.
“That’s puppies for ya!” Snowpea replied with a wink.
“Well, little ones, I came to tell you that today is a very special day,” Haroun said. “It’s the day you each find your home—the kingdom over which you shall forever reign.” He bowed his head, then pointed to the window.
Snowpea, Martha, and Kat peeked through the glass to see that the fairy godmother was setting up a large playpen in the grass, where each of them would soon meet their adopters.
“Oh, I’m so excited to meet my people!” Kat squealed. “When they arrive, I’m going to bow and then offer them my paw, like this,” she said, lifting a foot.
“Ooh! And don’t forget to ask, ‘How do you do?’ ” Martha chimed in.
“Just be yourselves!” Snowpea smiled. “They’re going to love the two of you exactly as you are.” It was funny for Snowpea to think that she tried to put Kat and Martha through puppy school… when it turned out that she was the one with the most lessons to learn. The friendship the three of them shared would stay with her forever.
Soon, the fairy godmother came to bring them outside, where they played in the grass and chased their favorite toys together while they awaited their adopters.
Kat’s adopters were the first to arrive. They clipped a small harness on her, and she held her head high to show off for her friends. “Look at that! I’m ready for a life of hiking and playing! Do I look like a grown dog?”
“Oh, Kat, you look marvelous—like the Queen of the Mountaintop!” Snowpea smiled.
Then came Martha’s adopter, who tossed her a small tennis ball. “Look at me! I’m ready to play fetch at the beach! What do you think?” Martha said with pride.
“Martha, you’ll be the Queen of the Shore!” Snowpea said.
Finally, after the puppies’ adopters went inside to pack up Kat’s and Martha’s things, it was Snowpea’s turn to meet her adopter, and she groomed herself in the sunshine to prepare for the most important introduction of her life. “Oh, I hope I make a good first impression,” she said under her breath as her person approached with a basket of toys in her hand.
“Snowpea, you’ll be the Queen of Foreverland, and a fine friend to all who live there!” said Martha.
Kat nodded and booped Snowpea on the nose with her muddy paw.
Cross-eyed, Snowpea looked down at her nose and saw that it was now splotched with mud—right before she was meeting her forever family. She looked up at the puppies and smiled. “Thank you! Hey, a little dirt never hurt!” She hugged her puppy friends tight one last time, then turned with her head held high, dirt smudge and all, to meet her adopter and finally head to her very own kingdom.
The True Story of Snowpea
Snowpea was found outside without a mother when she was just a day old and was brought to an animal shelter in Chula Vista, California. From there, she came to my house and was placed in a toasty incubator where she could be cozy and warm during her first weeks of life. As she grew up, I hoped that we would eventually be able to find another foster kitten to be her friend.
Around that time, a litter of newborn puppies was rescued from right across the border in Tijuana, Mexico, and they needed a safe place to go. My nonprofit organization, Orphan Kitten Club, divided the puppies into different foster homes (puppies are a lot of work!) and two of them—Martha and Katharina—came to stay with me! Since Snowpea didn’t have any kitten friends, we decided to introduce her to the little puppies who were right around her size.
Snowpea was curious and friendly right away, and she loved to play with the puppies! But the one thing she didn’t like was how messy they were while potty training. She was always trying to cover their stinky pee pads! Snowpea would groom them vigorously and always tried her best to keep them—and their room—clean. Over time, the puppies learned to go potty outside, and Snowpea loved them as if they were her sisters. Whenever the puppies slept in their dog bed, Snowpea would squish in between them as if she were a puppy, herself!
Martha and Katharina are now big, fluffy dogs who each found loving homes, and Snowpea is treated like a queen in a forever home of her own. The three of them just might be one of the cutest foster groups I have ever had!
More from this Series
Baby Badger
Emmett and Jez
Super Spinach
About the Author
Photograph by Andrew Marttila
HANNAH SHAW is an award-winning kitten rescuer, humane educator, and unwavering animal advocate who has dedicated her life to protecting the tiniest and most vulnerable felines. Her project, Kitten Lady, provides educational media and instructional workshops that help individuals and animal shelters learn how to save the lives of kittens—in a fun and engaging format. Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of Tiny but Mighty and Kitten Lady’s Big Book of Little Kittens. She is also the founder of Orphan Kitten Club, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that saves the lives of neonatal kittens and provides lifesaving grants for kitten programs throughout the United States.
KittenLady.org
YouTube.com/KittenLady
Facebook.com/KittenxLady
@kittenxlady on Instagram
Aladdin
Simon & Schuster, New York
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Hannah-Shaw
Also by Hannah Shaw
KITTEN LADY’S BIG BOOK OF LITTLE KITTENS
Adventures in Fosterland series
EMMETT AND JEZ
SUPER SPINACH
BABY BADGER
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
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First Aladdin hardcover edition July 2023
Copyright © 2023 by Kitten Lady, LLC.
Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.
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Book and jacket designed by Tiara Iandiorio
Jacket photograph on back cover top right by Andrew Marttila
Jacket illustration and other photographs copyright © 2023 by Kitten Lady, LLC.
The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Shaw, Hannah René, 1987- author. | Johnson, Bev, illustrator.
Title: Snowpea the puppy queen / by Hannah Shaw ; illustrated by Bev Johnson.
Description: First Aladdin paperback edition. | New York : Aladdin, 2023. | Series: Adventures in Fosterland | Summary: Snowpea teaches two boisterous puppies how to behave properly in Fosterland.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023005825 (print) | LCCN 2023005826 (ebook) | ISBN 9781665925587 (pbk) | ISBN 9781665925594 (hc) | ISBN 9781665925600 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Cats—Fiction. | Dogs—Fiction. | Animals—Infancy—Fiction. | Behavior—Fiction. | Foster home care—Fiction. | LCGFT: Animal fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S4935 Sn 2023 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.S4935 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023005825
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023005826
Hannah Shaw, Snowpea the Puppy Queen
