At one point, Mitzi drew the curtains, hoping not to even have to look at the bears partying on her lawn. But the bears simply exclaimed, “We LOVE shadow puppet shows!” and continued to party.
Gasping for breath and turning blue, the townscritters felt like failures once again.
“Maybe if Mayor Quill sings a solo …” suggested Sam.
The mayor’s quills began to quake. A storm was brewing.
“No one needs to sing a solo, sir,” Humphrey assured him. “I think if we sing for one more hour …” But glares from the other townscritters stopped Humphrey’s thought.
“That’s it!” fumed the mayor. “I’m putting an end to this. I will demand that they leave. After all, I am the MAYOR! It will be decreed!” And he marched right up to the door of the lodge, but before he could knock—
“QUILLY!” cheered the bears. “You’ve come to the celebration!”
“This is no time to celebrate,” said the mayor.
“Quilly, come dance with us!” begged the bears. They dragged Mayor Quill onto the dam and stuck a cup of juice in his hand. “SHIMMY, SHIMMY, SHAKE!” they chanted.
The dam shook. In fact, it shook the earmuffs right off of Nelson’s head.
“This is an outrage!” said Nelson, poking his head out of the lodge. “Stop that this instant!”
But the bears continued to party.
Seeing how much the beavers were bothered by the dancing, the townscritters suddenly developed an interest in dancing, too.
“Oh, sir, those are some mighty fine dance moves,” said Humphrey, joining in.
“I feel the beat in my feet!” said Bernice as she stomped and kicked her back feet. “Come on, Dawn, let’s clean up this dance floor!”
In spite of themselves, the residents of the Grumpy Woods got their groove on.
The dam trembled. The logs quivered. The carefully constructed lodge started to creak.
“Nelson, do something!” shrieked Mitzi.
“I’m getting seasick,” moaned Devon.
“It’s a housewarming party!” cheered the bears. “Welcome home!”
By now the dam was really hopping. Mayor Quill almost lost his balance, and grabbed on to Mops’s tail for balance.
“CONGA LINE!” cheered Mops.
The conga line quickly formed and made its way toward the shore, with all the critters in tow. The littlest bear brought up the rear, and as he jumped from the beaver dam to shore, his wee paw pushed off just enough to finally dislodge the whole wooden structure.
With a great shudder, the logs splintered and gave way. The dam broke as the Grumpy River came roaring through with a giant whoosh, and the lodge washed away with the current.
Nelson, Mitzi, Devon, Cricket, and the baby scrambled to the roof.
“If I’d wanted a yacht, I would have asked for a yacht!” screamed Mitzi.
Cricket pouted. “Next time we’re hiring contractors.”
Nelson and Devon put on their earmuffs. It was going to be a long ride downstream.
Back on shore, the bears waved good-bye to the beavers. “How clever of them to turn their house into a houseboat,” said Shades.
“When living on a houseboat,” stated Bubs, “the world is your backyard.”
“BON VOYAGE! HAVE A GREAT CRUISE!” cheered the bears as they continued waving from the bank of the river. And you know what?
The townscritters cheered, too.
They were feeling just a little less grumpy. THE END.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In previous chapters, Marcie Colleen has been a teacher, an actress, and a nanny, but now she gets to write children’s books while eating triple-decker giggle-and-jelly sandwiches in her pajamas! She lives with her husband and their mischievous sock monkey in San Diego, California, where every day is the best day ever. This is her debut chapter book. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright
A part of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
SUPER HAPPY PARTY BEARS: GNAWING AROUND. Copyright © 2016 by Imprint.
All rights reserved. For information, address Imprint, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
eISBN 978-1-250-10674-2
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Imprint logo designed by Amanda Spielman
Illustrations by Steve James
First Edition—2016
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