THE
SNOW DAY
FROM THE
BLACK LAGOON
Get more monster-sized laughs from
#1: The Class Trip from the Black Lagoon
#2: The Talent Show from the Black Lagoon
#3: The Class Election from the Black Lagoon
#4: The Science Fair from the Black Lagoon
#5: The Halloween Party from the Black Lagoon
#6: The Field Day from the Black Lagoon
#7: The School Carnival from the Black Lagoon
#8: Valentine’s Day from the Black Lagoon
#9: The Christmas Party from the Black Lagoon
#10: The Little League Team from the Black Lagoon
#11: The Snow Day from the Black Lagoon
#12: April Fools’ Day from the Black Lagoon
#13: Back-to-School Fright from the Black Lagoon
#14: The New Year’s Eve Sleepover from the Black Lagoon
#15: The Spring Dance from the Black Lagoon
#16: The Thanksgiving Day from the Black Lagoon
#17: The Summer Vacation from the Black Lagoon
#18: The Author Visit from the Black Lagoon
#19: St. Patrick’s Day from the Black Lagoon
#20: The School Play from the Black Lagoon
#21: The 100
th
Day of School from the Black Lagoon
#22: The Class Picture Day from the Black Lagoon
#23: Earth Day from the Black Lagoon
#24: The Summer Camp from the Black Lagoon
#25: Friday the 13
th
from the Black Lagoon
The Black Lagoon
by Mike Thaler
Illustrated by Jared Lee
SCHOLASTIC INC.
THE
SNOW DAY
FROM THE
BLACK LAGOON
To
Akimi & Janelle
Creative Partners—M.T.
To my big brother, Jim,
who is always calm, cool, and collected—J.L.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,
downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into
any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means,
whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without
the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding
permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557
Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
e-ISBN: 978-0-545-54830-4
Text copyright © 2008 by Mike Thaler.
Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Jared D. Lee Studio, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
scholastic, little apple, and associated logos are trademarks and/or
registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, February 2008
Contents
Chapter 1: There’s No Business Like
Snow Business . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 2: Dressed to the Teeth . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 3: The Blizzard of Oz . . . . . . . . . .16
Chapter 4: Winter Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Chapter 5: The Arctic Is for the Byrds . . . . . 26
Chapter 6: Cold Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Chapter 7: Arctic Expedition . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 8: Perks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 9: Winter Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Chapter 10: Go for the Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Chapter 11: A School Day . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Chapter 12: Winter Survival Tips . . . . .. . 60
CHAPTER 1
THERE’S NO BUSINESS
LIKE SNOW BUSINESS
I hate winter! Winter should
last for one day right before
Christmas.
6
7
And snow…I hate snow. There
should be just enough to powder
the corners of windows, like
in greeting cards. But instead,
winter lasts for months and
months and the snow piles
up until everything is buried
underneath it.
8
9
10
CHAPTER 2
dressed to the
teeth
And the clothes you have
to wear to go outside—you’re
buried in layers of itchy wool.
You spend half the day zipping
up zippers, snapping snaps, and
buckling buckles.
11
Then there’s the mile-long scarf
your aunt knits for you that you
have to wrap around and around.
And don’t forget the rubber
overshoes that totally resist
going over shoes.
12
Last but not least, there’s the
wool cap, earmuffs, and mittens
that cover up every last bit of
you.
Now you’re a proper mummy,
ready to be buried in the white
tomb of winter.
13
And just when you get
everything zipped, snapped, and
buckled, you have to go to the
bathroom, which means starting
all over again. So by the time
you’re ready to go outside…it’s
dark. That’s another thing—
during the winter, the sun goes on
vacation to Florida, and daylight
only lasts for a couple of hours. I
hate winter!
14
15
CHAPTER 3
THE Blizzard of oz
So when I turn on the weather
channel and see a winter blizzard
warning for my area, I get very
nervous. And when I hear that
two to three feet of snow is
expected, I really panic. That
doesn’t mean a snow day, it
means a no day—nothing moves,
nothing happens.
16
17
Your house becomes an igloo
and your town becomes the
tundra. Your life is frozen like a
TV dinner. If you could have a
snow day when the sun is shining
and you could get out of your front
door, that would be one thing.
But a snow day that’s full of snow
is another.
18
19
20
CHAPTER 4
WINTER SPORTS
Eric calls. He’s all excited. He
talks like the circus is coming to
town instead of a blizzard.
21
22
“Come on, Hubie. There’s so
much we can do!” he says.
“Like what?” I ask.
“Winter sports,” he answers.
“You mean like shoveling out
the driveway and slipping on the
ice?”
“No, like sledding and ice
skating and skiing,” he explains.
“It’ll be great!”
23
“I like my sports played on
reliable surfaces—solid, non-skid
surfaces.”
“Boy,” sighs Eric, “you don’t
know what fun is!”
24
25
CHAPTER 5
THE ARCTIC IS FOR
THE BYRDS
That night it snows. It always
amazes me how those pretty little
Flakes can quietly turn into a great
white monster by morning.
26
27
It also snows in my dream. I’m
sitting in the living room watching
the weather channel, and snow is
falling all around me. Soon the
TV is covered up and I’m sitting
at the North Pole. A penguin
comes up to me and asks if there
will be school tomorrow.
28
29
“I don’t think so,” I say. “How
are the roads?”
“Icy,” says the penguin.
“You see what?” I ask.
“Icy, icy,” says the penguin.
“I know you see, but how are
the roads?”
The penguin doesn’t answer.
30
CHAPTER 6
COLD TURKEY
I think I’ll stay in bed all day.
It’s warm and dry and safe. But
mom comes bounding in just as
I’m snuggling down.
“Come on, Hubie. It’s beautiful
outside. It snowed all night.”
“Mom, I know.”
“Let’s get dressed, go out, and
make a snowman!”
Uh-oh, I know what that means.
Sixteen layers of mittens, hats,
scarves, hoods, boots, pants,
sweaters…
“Come on, Hubie. You’ll love
it.”
31
I won’t love it. But I love Mom,
so I’ll humor her. I start by putting
on my thermal underwear and
build from there. Around noon,
I button the last button and snap
the last snap.
32
33
34
“Mom, I’m hungry.”
“Okay, Hubie, let’s have lunch.
Open up your snowsuit a little so
you won’t get overheated.”
So I unzip and unsnap and have
lunch. After lunch, I’m back on
the launch pad. All systems go…
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
BLAST OUT!
35
CHAPTER 7
ARCTIC EXPEdITION
I open the front door and am
greeted by a winter wonderland.
Everything is covered over.
Wherever you walk, it’s like
plodding through clouds — thick
clouds . . . wet clouds . . . white
clouds.
Mom and I start rolling a big
snowball for the snowman’s
bottom. Then we roll one for
the snowman’s top and one for
his head. So far, we have three
scoops of a giant snow cone.
Then mom goes in the house and
gets a carrot for a nose and two
36
radishes for eyes. I put my cap
on him and I must say, he looks
pretty impressive.
37
Eric comes over with his sled
and we tramp off to find a hill.
The closest we come to one is my
neighbor’s driveway. So we pile
on the sled and let it rip! Fun!
38
39
After thirty rides, we build a
snow fort and have a snowball
fight with Freddy and Derek who
have wandered over.
40
CHAPTER 8
PERKS
After a truce has been declared,
we go inside. Mom gives us hot
apple cider and we all dry off. I
take out one of my board games
and we’re good for another two
hours. It starts to snow again so
Mom says that Freddy, Eric, and
Derek can stay over. Mom builds
a fire in the fireplace and we
all toast marshmallows and tell
ghost stories.
41
42
43
44
45
CHAPTER 9
WINTER TALES
Eric tells us the story of the
Killer Snowman.
“There were these people
who made a snowman with a
carrot nose and radish eyes. It
sat on their front lawn and didn’t
move…until it was struck by
lightning. Then it blinked its
radish eyes, blew its carrot
nose, and started to walk like
Frankenstein.”
46
47
“Why didn’t it melt?” asks
Freddy.
“What melt?”
“The snowman —when it was
hit by lightning.”
“It didn’t melt—it came to
life.”
“It would have melted.”
“This is my story,” says Eric.
48
“Anyway, it came to life and
went looking for an ice-cream
store.”
“Why?” asks Derek.
“Because it was hungry,”
answers Eric.
“What did it eat?” I asked.
“A snow cone,” says Eric.
49
I look out the window and our
snowman is still standing quietly
in the moonlight.
Suddenly, there’s a knock at
the door. We all freeze.
50
51
CHAPTER 10
GO FOR THE GOLD
It’s our neighbor with his snow
blower. He offers to clear our
driveway.
“That’s okay,” says Mom. “It’s
nice to be snowed in.”
It’s true. We were all stranded
on a fireplace island in a sea of
snow. After hot chocolate and
more ghost stories, we go to
bed.
I have a funny dream that night.
I’m in the winter Olympics. I’m
entered in every event—skiing,
ski jumping, speed skating, even
bobsledding. I am fantastic and
52
win 21 gold medals. In figure
skating, my partner is the
snowman. But he melts before
we can finish our routine.
I’m awakened by the sound
of the snowplows clearing our
street. That means that there will
be school today.
53
54
55
CHAPTER 11
A SCHOOL DAY
The school bus picks us up at
the usual time. We all sit bundled
up in stocking caps and earmuffs.
The bus smells like wet wool.
56
At school, Fester has turned
the radiators up to full steam and
the classrooms are toasty.
Mrs. Green asks us to write a
report about what we did on our
snow day. This is my report, and
I must admit I did have a good
time. I still don’t like winter, but
it would be o
kay if it lasted for a
week…if every day of that week
was a snow day.
58
59
1) Don’t lick the lampposts.
2) Don’t fall down. You are
now a beach ball of protective
clothing and have the mobility of
a watermelon.
3) When any part of your body
turns purple and falls off—go
indoors.
4) Don’t go sledding off the
roof of your house, even though
it’s the best hill you can find.
5) And go to the bathroom
before you get dressed.
60
61
62
63