Fossil Frenzy Read online

  CONTENTS

  1. BAD NEWS

  2. ATTACKED!

  3. FOSSIL WARS

  4. THE MISSING TOOTH

  5. ON THE CASE

  6. THE SUSPECT

  7. A THREE-THOUSAND-DOLLAR MYSTERY

  8. A TALE OF TWO TEETH

  9. AN EMERGENCY TREE HOUSE MEETING

  10. ANOTHER DINOSAUR DIG

  A DINO-MITE MINI GLOSSARY

  HARDY BOYS COMIC STRIP

  1

  Bad News

  Joe Hardy’s clawlike fingers crept across the kitchen table and grabbed the helpless hot dog.

  “ Roar!” he growled in his best dinosaur voice. He chomped down on the hot dog with his teeth and tore a piece off.

  His brother, Frank, raised his eyebrows. “Uh, what are you supposed to be, exactly?”

  “An ultrasaurus. Can’t you tell?” Joe said.

  “Ultrasauruses are herbivores, remember? They only eat plants,” Frank pointed out.

  “Oh.” Joe considered this. “I’m a T. rex, then. They’re carnivores, right?”

  “Right. T. rex loves meat. Except they didn’t have hot dogs back then,” Frank joked.

  Joe grinned. “Ha-ha.”

  The two brothers had talked about nothing but dinosaurs all weekend. The next day they were going on a field trip to the Bayport Natural History Museum with their school’s science club. The museum was famous for its huge brachiosaur skeleton, and a bunch of other dinosaur artifacts too. The boys couldn’t wait!

  Joe and Frank really liked the science club, which was led by science teacher Mr. Wachowski. Their good friends Phil Cohen and Chet Morton were in it. The other members were Tico Sanchez and Aisha Mehta from Frank’s fourth-grade class and Isobel Kaltman from Joe’s third-grade class. The club was pretty new, but they’d already done some cool activities—like growing bacteria in petri dishes and seeing who could turn bananas brown and yucky the fastest.

  Joe took a sip of his lemonade. “Hey, Frank? What are the dinosaurs that eat everything? Om . . . Omni . . .”

  “Omnivores. They eat plants and meat,” Frank said.

  “Yeah, that’s me. I’m an omnivore! I’m going to hunt down hot dogs and french fries!” Joe reached for Frank’s plate. “ Roar!”

  “Hey, those are my fries!” Frank protested.

  Just then Aunt Gertrude strolled into the kitchen holding a basket of clean, folded laundry. “You dinosaurs need to goof around less and eat more,” she scolded. “Your mother needs your help in the yard, remember?”

  Joe and Frank groaned. They had almost forgotten about spring cleanup. Leave it to Aunt Gertrude to remind them of something not fun.

  Still, Aunt Gertrude wasn’t always the Queen of Chores. And she had been a big help to Mr. and Mrs. Hardy since moving in with them. She lived in a big room over the garage that Mr. Hardy had fixed up.

  “Afterward can we go over to Chet’s house?” Frank pleaded. “He invited us to come over and check out his new Dinosaur Rampage video game.”

  “Yes. Did you make up your beds?” Aunt Gertrude asked.

  “Uh . . .” Joe and Frank exchanged a glance.

  “Yard work, then make your beds, and then you may go,” Aunt Gertrude said.

  The brothers nodded and quickly scarfed down the rest of their lunches.

  When they had finished, they put their plates and cups in the dishwasher and headed outside. The early spring air was cool and smelled like wet leaves. In a shady spot near the driveway, the last mound of snow from winter had almost melted away. Squirrels bounded across the lawn.

  Laura Hardy was busy raking one of the flower beds. She wiped her brow and smiled at her sons. “You’re just in time. Can you start pulling up weeds and making a pile over there?” She pointed to a spot on the grass.

  “Sure, Mom,” Frank said.

  “Where’s Dad?” Joe asked.

  “He had a meeting with Officer Heller,” Mrs. Hardy replied. Fenton Hardy was a private investigator who often worked with the Bayport Police. He used to be a member of the NYPD, a.k.a. the New York Police Department.

  Like their father, Joe and Frank were detectives. They had solved more than a dozen mysteries in Bayport—everything from finding a missing dog to chasing down zombies. They weren’t in the middle of a case at the moment, though. In fact, things had been unusually quiet in Bayport.

  A little too quiet.

  “You two must be very excited about your field trip tomorrow,” Mrs. Hardy remarked.

  “Yeah! Mr. W. said we get to do a dinosaur dig while we’re there,” Joe said eagerly.

  “And we get to take home whatever we find,” Frank added.

  “Hey, guys!”

  Joe and Frank turned. Chet was running down the sidewalk toward the Hardys’ house.

  “Hey, Chet! We’re supposed to go to your house, remember?” Frank called out.

  Chet stopped in their front yard. “I just heard some bad news, and I couldn’t wait,” he said, panting for breath.

  “What news?” Joe demanded.

  “It’s about Adam Ackerman,” Chet announced. “He just joined the science club. And he’ll be going on the field trip with us tomorrow!”

  2

  Attacked!

  Adam joined the science club? That is bad news,” Frank agreed.

  “Are you sure? Did Adam tell you?” Joe asked Chet.

  Chet shook his head. “No way. I never talk to Adam unless I have to. I ran into Phil at the comic book store, and he told me. He heard it from Tico, who heard it from Mr. W.”

  Adam was the biggest bully at Bayport Elementary School. Like Joe, he was eight years old and a whole year younger than Frank. But Adam was bigger and meaner than any other eight- or nine-year-old they knew. He often got into trouble at school—and out of school too.

  “Adam’s going to ruin the field trip for us. I don’t know how. But he’ll find a way,” Chet complained.

  “We won’t let him. We’ll tell him he’d better behave . . . or else!” Joe said, shaking his fists.

  “If we tell him to behave, he’ll do the opposite,” Frank warned. “I think the best plan is just to keep our heads down and keep our eyes open.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Chet said quickly.

  Joe frowned and said nothing.

  Frank knew that his brother didn’t believe in standing around and doing nothing. Joe was like a dinosaur: all action and zero patience.

  “Come on, Joe. Let’s finish our chores so we can go to Chet’s house and play Dinosaur Rampage,” Frank suggested, trying to distract him from the Adam problem. “Chet, you want to help us?”

  Chet eyed the rakes and shovels lying on the grass. “Sure. I guess yard work will be good practice for the dinosaur dig tomorrow!”

  • • • •

  “Welcome to the museum! I’m Maya Leone, and I’m an exhibit assistant here.”

  Maya hugged a clipboard to her chest and smiled at the science club kids. She wore a light green polo shirt with a picture of a stegosaurus and the letters BNHM on it. The letters stood for “Bayport Natural History Museum,” Frank guessed.

  “Today I’m going to be your guide through the wonderful world of dinosaurs,” Maya continued. “I’m new to the museum, so please bear with me!”

  Frank, Joe, Chet, Phil, Tico, Aisha, and Isobel clustered together in the vast museum lobby, leaving their backpacks and lunch boxes with the coat check. Mr. Wachowski stood next to Maya, looking like a mad scientist with his wild gray hair and buggy black glasses.

  Frank glanced around in awe. Dinosaur artifacts filled the marble and mahogany room. Some of the items were in cases; some were out in the open.

  He noticed Adam hanging back from the rest of the group and checking out a
bronze model of a pteranodon. Pteranodons were very large winged reptiles that lived in the time of the dinosaurs. Adam poked its outspread wings with his finger, even though the sign said NO TOUCHING!

  Frank stared at him suspiciously. What was Mr. Troublemaker up to now?

  “Today you’re going to see some amazing dinosaur fossils,” Maya said. “Can anyone tell me what a fossil is?”

  Tico’s hand shot up in the air. Aisha raised her hand at the same time.

  “Fossils are animals or plants or other living things that are preserved—,” Tico began.

  “In stone or some other hard substance,” Aisha cut in.

  Tico glared at Aisha. She glared back.

  “Yes, you’re both right,” Maya replied. “Does the whole animal or plant or other living thing have to be preserved in order for it to be considered a fossil?”

  “No,” Isobel said under her breath. She didn’t raise her hand, though. Frank wondered why, since she obviously knew the answer.

  “Anyone?” Maya prompted. “Well, the answer is no. Fossils can also be just parts of living things, like bones or teeth or claws. They can even be the traces of living things, like footprints.” She paused for a moment and then added, “Okay, everyone. Follow me this way.”

  She continued talking about fossils as she led the group out of the lobby and down a long hall. They passed a gift shop, the Dino Deli, and the library.

  At the end of the hall was a huge two-story room. In the middle of the room was a gigantic dinosaur skeleton. Frank couldn’t believe his eyes. The skeleton was almost as big as his house!

  “This is our famous brachiosaur. His name is Bruno, and he’s . . . Let’s see. He’s approximately 150 million years old,” Maya said, peeking at her clipboard. “For a long time the brachiosaur was considered the largest dinosaur that roamed the earth. It was an herbivore, which meant that it ate only plants.”

  “How could it get so huge just eating salad and stuff?” Chet asked.

  “These guys ate a lot of leaves and twigs,” Maya said with a grin. “Anyway, Bruno’s not our only dinosaur. If you look around, you’ll also see Alvin the allosaurus, April the apatosaurus, and Victor the velociraptor. We also have some other fun things too. Over there is an ornithopod footprint in a cast that you can touch. Ornithopods were small-to-medium-size herbivores that mostly ran on two feet. And near that is some fossilized dinosaur poop.”

  “Ewwwwww!” everyone groaned.

  “I’m totally taking a picture of that,” Phil said, reaching into his pocket for his cell phone. “Hey, Frank, do you know if—”

  “Frank! Look out!” Joe yelled suddenly.

  Frank turned—but not in time. He saw a dark flash of wings before something slammed into his face.

  3

  Fossil Wars

  Ow!” Frank yelled.

  He fell back against Phil, and Phil dropped his phone to the ground. The entire group turned and stared at them.

  Frank rubbed his cheek where the flying object had hit him. Joe reached down to pick it up.

  It was a toy pteranodon. Joe remembered seeing a display of the toys in the doorway of the gift shop. This one still had the price tag on it, as well as a label that said TERRY THE PTERANODON.

  “What on earth is going on?” Mr. Wachowski demanded. “Who threw the pteranodon at Frank? And whose cell phone is that?”

  “It’s mine,” Phil confessed as he bent down to get it. He turned it over in the palm of his hand. “Oh, whew! The screen’s not broken.”

  Mr. Wachowski frowned. “Let’s keep our phones put away, shall we? And what about the pteranodon? Who’s responsible for that?”

  Someone cracked up. Joe turned around. It was Adam.

  Of course.

  Mr. Wachowski crossed his arms over his chest. “Adam? Do you have something you’d like to share with the rest of us?”

  Adam blinked. “Who, me?” he said innocently.

  “Yes, you,” Mr. Wachowski replied. “Did you throw the pteranodon at Frank?”

  “I was, uh, just seeing how far it could fly,” Adam explained. “It was a science experiment. Frank’s face got in the way.”

  “Does the pteranodon belong to you?” Mr. Wachowski asked him.

  Adam shrugged. “I, uh, borrowed it from the gift shop. I was going to give it right back.”

  “Please do that. Now. And no more shenanigans from you, young man, or I’ll have to call your parents to come pick you up,” Mr. Wachowski warned him.

  Joe handed the pteranodon to Adam. As Adam grabbed it, he bumped against Joe with his elbow—hard. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?” Adam taunted in a low voice.

  Joe narrowed his eyes at Adam. He was this close to elbowing him back. Instead he took a deep breath and turned away.

  After Adam left the room to return the pteranodon, Chet walked up to Joe and Frank. “I told you Adam was going to be trouble,” he murmured.

  “You were right,” Frank said grimly. “I’m glad Mr. W. chewed him out. Maybe he’ll stop being such a jerk now.”

  • • • •

  Later in the morning Maya led the group upstairs to the Young Scientists’ Wing. In the center of the wing was a big, shallow pit filled with lots and lots of sand.

  “A sandbox? Is this a room for babies or what?” Adam snapped.

  “Actually, this is our version of a dinosaur dig site,” Maya explained patiently. “Does anyone know what you call a scientist who studies dinosaurs?”

  “A paleontologist,” Isobel said under her breath.

  “Paleontologist!” Tico and Aisha shouted at the same time.

  “That’s right, a paleontologist,” Maya said. “Paleontologists go through dig sites around the world in search of bones, teeth, claws, eggs, and other fossils. That’s what you guys are going to do here today.”

  Joe turned to Isobel. “You should talk louder so Maya can hear you,” he advised.

  Isobel blushed and shook her head quickly.

  Joe didn’t know Isobel very well. She was the new girl in his class. She must be really shy, he thought.

  “You can all grab a tray and some tools from the bin over there,” Maya said, pointing. “On the wall you’ll see some pictures of the kinds of fossils you may come across in the sandpit. Everyone gets to take home one item they find.” Then she added, “Just so you know, these aren’t real fossils. But they’re exact copies, made from liquid rubber and fiberglass. The real ones are supervaluable. They can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, or even more.”

  “Whoa, that’s expensive,” Phil said.

  Tico and Aisha raced over to the bin. “I call dibs!” Tico said, grabbing a fistful of tools.

  “Hey, no fair. You took, like, half that stuff!” Aisha complained.

  “Tico! Aisha! Let’s calm down. Tico, please leave some tools for the rest of us,” Mr. Wachowski said sternly.

  Everyone took a tray and some tools and began digging. Joe kneeled down by the pit and sifted through the sand. After a couple of minutes he came up with . . . sand. There were no bones, teeth, claws, or other fossils in his spot.

  He continued digging. He still came up with nothing. Being a paleontologist was hard work!

  Maya’s cell phone rang. She spoke to someone briefly and hung up. “I’m so sorry, but I have to take care of something in the front office,” she announced to the group. “I’ll meet you all at noon in the cafeteria. In the meantime, if you find something during your dig, you can put it in one of the cloth bags that say ‘Fossils-to-Go’ on them. The bag is yours to take home too. Happy hunting!”

  The group continued digging. Mr. Wachowski joined in too. After a while some of the kids found bone fragments and other fossils. They stored their treasures in the Fossils-to-Go bags, just like Maya had told them to do.

  “Hey, everyone! Look what I got!” Tico exclaimed. He held up a curved brown tooth. It was almost as long as his hand.

  “Wait, that’s mine! You’re a thief, Tico!” Aisha cried out.<
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  4

  The Missing Tooth

  Give it back!” Aisha yelled at Tico, reaching for the dinosaur tooth.

  “It’s mine!”

  “No, it’s mine!”

  Mr. Wachowski marched up to the two of them. “What’s going on? Who does this belong to?”

  “It’s mine. I got it first!” Tico declared.

  “No, it’s mine. I saw it first!” Aisha corrected him.

  “The tooth was sticking out of the sand over there,” Tico said, pointing. “I don’t care if she saw it first. She didn’t call dibs or anything. I grabbed it before she did.”

  Mr. Wachowski turned to Aisha. “Is this true?”

  “Well, yeah. Kind of. But I saw it first, and that’s what counts!” Aisha insisted.

  “It sounds like Tico got to it before you did,” Mr. Wachowski told Aisha. “Why don’t you keep digging? I’m sure you’ll find something else.”

  “Not fair,” Aisha muttered.

  Tico grinned smugly and put the dinosaur tooth in one of the cloth bags, setting it aside until he could get his bag.

  “Aisha doesn’t look too happy,” Joe whispered to Frank.

  Frank nodded. “Yeah. She and Tico are competitive with each other. I wonder what’s up with that.”

  • • • •

  The next day, after school, the science club met in Mr. Wachowski’s classroom. Frank had always loved Mr. W.’s room. Microscopes, beakers, and Bunsen burners covered a big table in the middle. A blue-tongued skink, which was a special kind of lizard, lived in a hundred-gallon aquarium by the windows; his name was Slither. A human skeleton occupied a back corner of the room, wearing a Bayport Bandits baseball cap.

  Frank, Joe, and the other science club members had brought in their dinosaur dig fossils for a show-and-tell. “Okay, who wants to go first?” Mr. Wachowski called out. “I’m very excited to see all your discoveries.”

  Isobel raised her hand. “I’m sorry, Mr. Wachowski. But I, um, left my fossil at home,” she apologized.

  “No worries, Isobel. Just bring it in next time,” Mr. Wachowski said. “Anyone else?”