The Giant Panda Plan Read online

  Dedication

  For Goo Goo,

  who taught me to sew

  and made my childhood magical!

  —K.M.

  To Isla, an excellent dog

  —Z.S.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1. The Zoo!

  2. New Furry Friend!

  3. A Magical Plan!

  4. A Tricky Knot!

  5. Panda Problems

  6. Practice Makes Perfect

  7. Magic or . . .

  8. Mayhem

  9. The Magic of Compromise

  10. The Giant Panda Showcase

  11. Ta-Da!

  The Real Baby Panda!

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Books by Katrina Moore

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  1

  The Zoo!

  “ROAR! ROAR!” I call to the lions.

  I stand on my tippy-toes to get as close as I can to them.

  “Why won’t they roar back, Mom?” I ask.

  “It looks like they’re sleeping,” Mom says. Then she pulls me down off the fence. Now I can’t see the animals! I try to climb back up. But Mom gives me her serious look and says, “Don’t be trouble.”

  I am Bessie Lee. Mom calls me trouble. Sometimes. Gramma calls me Gah Yee, my Chinese name. Bailey, my ten-year-old sister, calls me annoying. And everyone calls me teeny. Because I am teeny. I am the teeniest in my ribbon-dancing class. I am the teeniest in my first-grade class and in my family. And right now, I am the teeniest and only one who cannot see the lions at our first-grade field trip to the zoo.

  I blink my eyes real slow. And show Mom my sweetest smile.

  “Mom, can you carry me?” I ask. “Please?” I add, so she knows I am using my good manners. She picks me up. It worked. Ta-da!

  “Why are you being carried like a baby?” Margo asks.

  Margo is my classmate. She calls me a baby a lot. She also tattles on me when I am being trouble. Margo is never trouble. She always follows the rules. Like the rule you have to stay with your class buddy on the field trip. Our first-grade teacher, Ms. Stoltz, made Margo my class buddy. Even though we are not buddies. But now my mom is her chaperone, too. A chaperone is the grown-up in charge. So Mom and I have to stay with Margo.

  “I just want to see!” I say. I hug my mom tighter. Margo rolls her eyes.

  “Bessie, over here!” Ella calls me over to her side of the exhibit. There are big tigers there!

  Mom lets me down, and I run over. Margo struts over, too.

  The tiger paces back and forth. Then it stops and stares right at us with its bright yellow eyes.

  “Wow!” Ella says. “Tigers are so cool. They’re my favorite!”

  “I like the elephants better because they’re smarter,” Margo says. “You know they can show emotions like humans?”

  She says a lot more things. But Ella and I stop listening. We pretend we are tigers and chase each other around Mom.

  “What’s your favorite animal?” Ella asks. She paws me with her hand. We laugh.

  “I don’t know,” I say. I paw her back. Then we flop down on the ground like the sleeping lions. Some of Ella’s long brown hair flies into my mouth.

  “Plegh,” I say, spitting out her hair. We laugh some more.

  “Oh, girls,” Mom says. “Get up, please.”

  Margo stands right next to my mom. She flips her blond hair over her shoulder.

  I shrug my shoulders and huff. It makes me feel cool like Bailey.

  “Can I have my wand, Mom?” I ask. I want to do a trick to make Margo disappear. Just for a teeny bit.

  I call myself Teeny Houdini. That’s because I’m magic. Just like the greatest magician of all time, Harry Houdini. I have a magic hat, a magic wand, a special magic cape, and a real bunny, Baby Rabbit. Plus, Gramma gave me a book, Abracadabra: Magic for Kids. It’s full of magic tricks. Bailey helps me practice them if I beg her enough. I packed all my stuff in my backpack, which Mom is carrying for me, just in case. You never know when you might need magic!

  “No magic at the zoo, Bessie. Remember?” Mom reminds me.

  Oh, boo. I’m stuck with Margo.

  “Did you like the gorillas?” asks Ella. She helps me up off the ground.

  “Yeah!” I pretend to be a gorilla. “Ooh-ooh-ee-ee,” I say, pounding my chest. “But they’re not my favorite.”

  I don’t know which animal is my favorite yet.

  Ding. Ding. Ms. Stoltz rings the teacher’s bell. She brings it with her everywhere.

  “Attention, class! Gather around,” Ms. Stoltz calls. She waits for all the chaperones and our whole class to come near her.

  Margo stands right in front of me. Now I can’t see again. My friend Jae spots me and waves me over to him. He scoots over so I have a space in the front.

  “Thanks!” I whisper. Jae nods and smiles.

  “First graders, I want you to meet Ms. Deer. She is a zookeeper. That means she is a zoo animal expert. Her job is to take excellent care of the animals. And she is going to take us to visit someone very special . . . the newest animal here!

  “Before we go on, I want you to find your partner. And find your chaperone. We’re all going together to the next exhibit. And we’re all going to walk. Right?”

  We all nod. I cannot wait to hear what animal we are going to meet. And Ms. Stoltz said it is new! Is it a baby? I bounce up and down.

  “Okay, everyone. Are you ready to meet the baby panda?”

  BABY PANDA?!

  Ooh-la-laddie!

  We all jump up and down.

  Ms. Deer leads the way. No one walks.

  We are going to meet a baby panda!

  2

  New Furry Friend!

  The panda exhibit is surrounded by bamboo walls. There is a large grassy area with tall trees and giant rocks, a fun playground, and a hammock. There are shady spots and sunny spots, too. Everyone runs to the outdoor area. They point and shout at a giant panda that’s sitting on a branch in a tree.

  Except me. I keep running until I get to the indoor viewing area under the rock tunnel.

  “Gramma! Daddy!” I shout.

  I hug Gramma around the waist. She hugs me back and pats me on the head.

  “Shh,” says Daddy. He brings his index finger to his lips. “We’re not supposed to be here, remember?” Daddy winks.

  I am supposed to have only one chaperone on the field trip. But Mom likes us to do everything together. That’s why she told Daddy and Gramma to come. Bailey would be here, too, but Mom says she can’t miss school. Mom told them to camouflage so no one knows they are here. Camouflage means you wear the colors of the zoo to be sneaky like a ninja. Daddy’s wearing a green golf shirt, khakis, and a safari hat. Gramma’s wearing a brown sweater vest over her silk shirt. No one knows they are here.

  “Hello, Mr. Lee. Hello, Mrs. Lee,” Margo greets them. Then she looks right at me. “You’re not supposed to run, Bessie.”

  I bet she’s going to tattle on me. But Mom comes over and says, “Thanks for catching up to Bessie, Margo. You’re such a good partner.”

  Margo smiles.

  Gramma taps my shoulder. She points to the panda bear den.

  “Where’s the baby panda?” I ask.

  I press my hands and face against the glass.

  Ooh-la-laddie!

  In the back corner of the den, I spy the baby panda! It’s sitting like a teddy bear. It is white and black and the cutest animal I ever saw. Except for Baby Rabbit. But the baby panda is even fluffier than Baby Rabbit.

  Slup. Slup. Slup. The baby panda licks something orange and gooey off a big red ball.

>   “What’s it eating?” Margo asks.

  “Sweet potato,” Ms. Deer, the zookeeper, says.

  Our whole class is around us now. Ms. Deer tells us more about the baby panda. She points to a sign with his name on it, Xiao Qi Ji. I stay pressed against the glass as I listen.

  “This is Shiau Chi Ji, our newest panda,” the zookeeper continues. “He’s only five months old. He loves sweet potatoes. Mostly, though, he still drinks his mom’s milk. His mom is the panda you saw up in the tree in the outdoor enclosure. Since Xiao is so young, he still spends most of his time in the den. His name translates as ‘little miracle’ in English.”

  The zookeeper keeps talking, but I hear only a little bit of what she says.

  I am mesmerized by Xiao! Mesmerized means you cannot look away because your new furry friend is so cute that you get tingly in the knees.

  “You are a little miracle,” I whisper to Xiao.

  Slup. Slup. Sl— The baby panda looks up. Sweet potato is slushed all over his fuzzy little face.

  “He’s moving!” my friend Gorkem shouts.

  Now everyone crowds around the glass that separates us from the baby panda. I am squished against the glass. At least I’m still in the front.

  The baby panda crawls toward us.

  “He’s heading right for Bessie!” Whitney’s eyes are the largest of our class.

  My heart goes thump-thump-thump as he comes closer. All my classmates scoot closer to me to be near the baby panda. But I do not take my eyes off him. Everything else becomes blurry. Like when there’s lots of stuff on the pantry shelf but you have superfocus and find the cheesy doodles hidden in the corner. I love cheesy doodles! But right now, I think I love baby Xiao even more.

  Xiao stands up on his back legs. He lifts his fluffy front paws.

  “Awww!” we all say.

  Then he takes one paw and presses it where my hand is. If the glass was not here, we would be holding hands. I stand very still. My smile is so big it touches my eyes. My heart goes thud-thud-thud. Xiao squeals. He’s looking right at me.

  Two of my classmates, Brayden and Chris, scoot closer to me.

  “Lucky Bessie!” Brayden says. “The panda likes her.”

  “More like loves her!” Chris says.

  “I love you, too,” I whisper to Xiao. He squeals again.

  “Maybe he’s squealing because he’s sad,” Margo says.

  “Actually, regular loud squeals are signs of a healthy cub!” the zookeeper says. “He’s trying to play with her. How sweet! Speaking of sweet . . . ,” Ms. Deer continues.

  But I cannot focus on what she is saying. Xiao now puts his other paw where my other hand is. He is squealing like crazy. His little black nose is pressed against the glass. He is trying to hug me.

  I wish I could hug him, too! We could eat sweet potatoes together. And I could give him bamboo from Gramma’s garden. He could eat all the bamboo he wants. I would eat cheesy doodles instead. Xiao would love to play with Baby Rabbit, too.

  The glass between me and Xiao is all fogged up. Because he keeps squealing and breathing with his cute little nose smushed up against it. I make my side fog, too. Then I trace a heart with my finger on the glass. I made a heart around his head. I love the baby panda.

  “There’s a really large threat to pandas,” Ms. Deer says.

  I quickly turn around. Threat means something really bad will happen. Like when I make a mess in Bailey’s room and she threatens to tell Mom and Daddy if I don’t clean it all up. But this threat seems much worse. Because Ms. Deer’s voice is slow and serious.

  I stand very still. And do not blink. And I make my ears very big, too.

  “There are fewer than nineteen hundred giant pandas living in the wild. The largest threat to them is habitat destruction. That means people are cutting down the forests where they live.”

  “Who is destroying their homes?” I ask. “I will stop them!”

  “Well,” Ms. Deer sighs. “We all are. All people. Pandas used to live in lowland areas. But because people wanted to farm and build houses and shops, they cleared the forests—the pandas’ homes. Now the pandas are isolated, or far away, from each other. They can’t find each other and make new panda families. So there are fewer and fewer pandas. At one point, they were endangered. Now they are vulnerable. Things are better, but they still need our help. They are still in danger of losing their homes and not being able to reproduce, or make enough baby pandas to keep pandas around for a long time.”

  My chest begins to get all tight. My eyes start to sting.

  Xiao chirps behind me. I feel his breath on my back through the glass.

  He paws the glass. I turn around and lean my forehead against the glass. I press my hand to his paw.

  “I will help you, baby Xiao. I promise,” I whisper.

  It will take a miracle to help him.

  Or maybe . . . some magic.

  Good thing I am Teeny Houdini!

  3

  A Magical Plan!

  After the panda exhibit, I race to Ms. Stoltz. I need a plan to save baby Xiao and the giant pandas. What is my plan? I do not know. But it will be magical! I cannot wait to tell Ms. Stoltz.

  I tug-tug-tug the back of her sweater. Except she is not paying attention to me.

  “Hurry along, friends,” Ms. Stoltz calls to us all. She zips away from me to the front of the group. “We have to stick to our schedule! It’s time for our picnic. Then we’ll see some more animals.”

  I will have to wait to make a magical plan! Waiting is the worst!

  Mom finds a shady spot to set up our picnic. “What about this spot, girls?”

  “It’s great, Mrs. Lee,” Margo answers.

  Mom doesn’t wait for me to respond. She lays out the picnic blanket. Margo sits down like a proper princess.

  “It’s too far from Ms. Stoltz.” I pout. I stomp my foot.

  “Bessie Lee,” Mom scolds, “you know better than to act like that. Let Ms. Stoltz enjoy her lunch. We’ll enjoy ours, too. Why don’t you see what Gramma packed us?”

  “Fine,” I huff. Yummy food helps me think, anyway. I plop onto the blanket. I peek into the cooler that Gramma gave Mom before she and Daddy left the zoo.

  Ooh-la-laddie! Gramma packed me an egg-and-ham sandwich, oranges, and two teeny lychee jelly cups. Yum! I slurp down the lychee jelly cups first.

  Now I am ready to think of a plan to save baby Xiao. I dig into my backpack and pull out my magic wand. If I tap-tap-tap my wand to my forehead, maybe an idea will appear. I say my extra fancy magic word that makes magic appear, “Abracadabra-poof!”

  “Bessie,” Mom says slowly. She makes her eyes big and her mouth tiny. That means I have to put my wand away. “Finish eating your lunch, like Margo. Look how good she is!” She pats Margo’s knee.

  Margo grins. Then she takes a dainty bite out of her heart-shaped sandwich with cucumbers and cream cheese. I chomp into my sandwich. It’s sweet and eggy. Gramma makes the best sandwiches.

  “Mrs. Lee, do you know what I learned about the elephants today?” Margo asks.

  “Please, tell me,” Mom replies. She bites into the pineapple bun that Gramma packed for her.

  “Well, you saw how they were playing with that tire swing?”

  Mom turns to Margo and nods. She gives her all her attention.

  “I read on the sign that their trunks are so strong . . . ,” Margo continues. She says a lot more stuff, but I stop listening.

  I finish my lunch . . . mostly. Then I pull my wand out, again, and also my magician’s hat. This will help me think of a magical plan! How can I help the baby panda? I need to focus.

  Ooh! A peacock walks by us. It is bright blue with long green feathers and so, so, so fancy! Mom and Margo are too busy talking to notice. But not me!

  I jump up to greet the peacock. “Hi, birdy! I’m Teeny Houdini!”

  The peacock just looks at me. Then it keeps walking. I follow it.

  Where is it going?

 
We walk up and down, around all the picnic blankets. Next, we cross under a fence. I have to crawl only a little bit to get through. The sun shines on the peacock’s back and makes it shimmer. The peacock’s tail trails behind it like a royal cape. I wish I’d grabbed my magician’s cape! But I walk like I am royal, anyway—just like the peacock!

  Finally, the peacock stops and turns around. It fans out its feathers like a giant green, gold, and blue polka-dot rainbow. It is putting on a show! Ooh-la-laddie!

  But then it comes toward me and calls, “CAH! CAH! CAH!”

  It pokes its beak near my face.

  AHHH! I run, and run, and run, as fast as my teeny legs will let me. I do not stop until I smack into Ms. Stoltz’s sweater.

  “Oh, Bessie,” Ms. Stoltz sighs. “We were looking all over for you.” She pushes her glasses up her nose.

  “Bessie Lee!” Mom yells. She scoots through the group to get to me. “You had me worried to death!”

  “I almost did die, Mom!” I explain. “The peacock almost ate me! But good thing I am superfast and got away.”

  “You shouldn’t wander off,” Mom scolds. She makes her lips tiny like she is mad.

  I give Mom a supersqueeze. “It’s okay, Mom. I am smarter than the peacock.” She sighs and hugs me back.

  “What peacock?” Ms. Stoltz asks. She looks around.

  “The one putting on the show!” I say. “I had to follow it. I had to. It was calling all my attention.” That’s it! I tap-tap-tap my magician’s hat with my wand. I know my magical plan now! I jump up and down.

  “Ms. Stoltz! Ms. Stoltz!” I yell.

  “Yes, Bessie,” she answers. She checks our names off her clipboard to make sure we are all still here.

  “Our class should save the giant pandas! Remember what zoo lady said? They need our help,” I say, using my big-kid voice, like Bailey does. I stand supertall. I speak loudly. But slowly and calmy, too.

  “They do need our help,” Ms. Stoltz agrees. “I think that’s an excellent idea for our class to help the pandas. How should we do that?”