Ratnip comes snout-to-snout with a monster in this fourth book of the chapter book series from the author of Good Dog. Word on the street is that there’s a dumpster monster living in the darkest, gloomiest alley of the City. The monster is bigger than a cat, smellier than rotten cabbage, and always hungry! One night, when Ratnip gets carried away on a treasure hunt, he accidentally wanders into the monster’s den. Will he make it out with all his whiskers still in place? With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Ratnip chapter books are perfect for emerging readers. Cam Higgins wrote her very first book about a cat who lived in an alleyway when she was eight years old. As a child, she loved visiting a neighboring farm and seeing all the animals. Now Cam has a pup of her own, who is very mischievous, and she still loves writing about animals. Cam lives in New York City with her two children, her husband, and Laila the dog. Allison Steinfeld grew up in Connecticut where she spent hours getting lost in her library books. She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her two very fluffy cats. When not providing essential head scratches and belly rubs, she finds time to illustrate books like the Wait! What? series and the Kid Legends series. CHAPTER 1 LEGEND HAS IT RATNIP FACT: The City is one of the best places in the world. The sidewalks are teeming with pecking pigeons, crawling cockroaches, and scurrying squirrels. Not to mention the trash cans. They’re always full of goodies, treasures, and snacks. All of it waiting to be discovered by… me! But The City isn’t all candy wrappers and corndogs. There are some less than wonderful parts too. Like the DUMPSTER MONSTER. If you’ve never heard of this terrifying creature, you are not alone. I didn’t know about it either until just the other night. It was a warm evening. I was at the ice cream shop with my four siblings. Everywhere we looked, there were sweet ice cream puddles to slurp off the sidewalk. And boy, did we slurp those puddles! Our whiskers and paws turned sticky, and our bellies filled up with sugary yumminess. Once we had eaten our fill, we started heading back home. That’s when I noticed a small alley behind the ice cream shop. “Look!” I said, pointing at the alley. “A shortcut!” “NO!” Marg squeaked. Pepperoni grabbed me by the shoulder. “Ratnip,” he said, “you must promise to never, EVER go down that alley. Okay?” “O-okay,” I replied. “But why?” “It is time you learned about the Dumpster Monster,” Pepperoni replied, clearing his throat. Dumpster Monster? I looked at Veggie and Anchovy. They looked just as surprised and confused as I felt. “Legend has it that a rat once lived here in The City,” Pepperoni began. “He ran through the streets every night, looking for food and adventure. Then one night he wandered down this alley, all alone.” Pepperoni paused, and we all stared into the alley. Just a few moments ago, it had seemed like a perfectly safe shortcut. Now, it looked pitch-dark and eerie, as if it stretched on forever. “Halfway down the alley, the rat found a dumpster,” Pepperoni continued. “It was filled to the brim with cartons of ice cream, waiting to be gobbled up!” Mmmm. Veggie, Anchovy, and I rubbed our bellies, imagining such a glorious discovery. But we had no idea what was coming next in the story. “The rat dug deeper and deeper into the dumpster,” Pepperoni said. “Night turned to dawn, and the sun came up, and still the rat kept eating. “Finally, he had licked every ice cream container clean. And that’s when he realized… the ice cream was RADIOACTIVE!” Veggie, Anchovy, and I gasped. At that very moment, we heard a clanging noise. It sounded like it was coming from the alley! The five of us squeaked and sprinted off down the sidewalk. And we didn’t dare look back!
