Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare

By Sands Hetherington, Jessica Love and Gail Kearns

When pineapple cheesecakes start disappearing from the world's only Pineapple Cheesecake Factory across town, Crosley, a zany red crocodile, enlists the help of young John Degraffenreidt to straighten things out. In this adventure-fantasy, the unlikely pair sneaks out of John's house by becoming invisible, thanks to the I-ain't-here doodad Crosley uses from the bunch of whatchamacallits hanging on his belt. On the way to the subway they get better acquainted, and John finds out the wacky reason Crosley is red, and also what happens if he gets any water on him. They get on the Night Folks Limited train and ride all the way to the Cheesecake Factory where they meet the giant manager, Big Foot Mae. There is danger ahead, but the Night Buddies must stay with their "Program" (the Night Buddies word for Adventure) if the world's supply of pineapple cheesecakes counts for anything. And it surely does, especially to Crosley who is totally goofy about the things and never seems to get his fill.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dune Buggy Press
• Release date: Aug 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9780984741755

Sands Hetherington

Sands Hetherington is a single dad, world traveler, and lifelong learner who turned his son's idea for a bedtime story into a 7-time award-winning children's book series. He enjoys writing, storytelling, and taking care of favorite 4-legged friends. Sands has an MFA in creative writing and an MA in English from UNC-Greensboro.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

 okay, there’s lots of others too, but Cros and me are the featured guys, right?

I didn’t want to go to bed is how the whole thing got started. It’s why the Night Buddies got in it too, but don’t worry, you’ll find all that out. Just make sure you know that I really did put up this huge fuss.

I wouldn’t brush my teeth, right? And I didn’t want to take my clothes off. I argued about everything in the world for several minutes. And when I finally did get in bed, I threw the covers off and sat straight up.

I’m real hungry, I yapped at Mom and Dad.

Dad grinned and tried to cover me back up. How can you be hungry? You ate so much pineapple cheesecake I thought you’d get sick. Then Mom kissed me on top of my head where it’s real curly and clicked off the light and they went away.

But I wanted some more! I yelled after them.

Sleep tight, Mom said from somewhere. Love you.

My belly hurts! I hollered in the dark, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good.

And it didn’t either. So in a minute I rolled over and shut my eyes. "I did want some more," I fussed, and then I pulled the covers up around my ears.

Funny ya should mention pineapple cheesecakes tonight, said the sound. CLACK! Hey, I wonder if any’s left.

 CLACK!   There, it did it again and made the bed jump. It came from down on the floor, and I scooted to the edge of the bed and looked over.

There was a light beam squirting out from underneath.

I’m King o’ the Hogs about pineapple cheesecakes! YERK! YERK! YERK! YERK!

The light beam bobbed around some more, and then a flashlight poked out, the regular kind like you get in drugstores. A scaly foot with big ol’ claws was holding it!

I watched and waited. I wasn’t scared, I mean not exactly. I couldn’t think of any reason to be scared. And like I said, I wasn’t ready to go to bed yet anyway.

The scaly foot holding the flashlight was connected to a short lumpy leg, and right after that, edging out sideways from underneath and shoving two video games and my catcher’s mitt out first, was the rest of a fairly regular-looking crocodile in a bright yellow suit. Fairly regular-looking except for one thing: as soon as the flashlight flashed on his hide, I could see that he was red. Red as red paint.

So this character gets up and straightens his suit out and sits down in my chair. It was a funny sight, too. His stubby back legs stuck straight out in front, and his giant tail went down the side of the chair and all the way around it on the floor. But he did it easy enough, like he had sat in all sorts of chairs. He folded his stumpy front legs across his chest and blinked at me.

 Awright, he pointed, like hidin’ in that closet right over there?"

Fine with me, I blinked back. You said you were a hog, though. You sure don’t look like one too much.

Now why would I wanna be one o’ them guys? Hogs make dumb-lookin’ crocodiles, he said. "Ain’t that a fact!" CLACK! CLACK!

This was his two zillion teeth clacking together. I figured he must like the sound of it. He grinned at me with about one zillion: What I meant was, I act like a hog when I eat pineapple cheesecakes. I can’t hardly stop.

Hey, me too, I grinned, kicking off my covers. I decided he sounded more like a chain saw than anything else. One with the volume knob turned down.

It’s just weird it should come up right now, said the crocodile. And he stopped and blinked again. "I mean here I sit, your brand-new Night Buddy, first time on the job, an’ the very first thing anybody talks about is pineapple cheesecakes! YERK! YERK! YERK!"

He laughed and turned his feet bottoms-up like when you ask a question: "Jeeks, little buddy, that’s the whole Program for tonight. That’s what we’re gonna go see about. The big factory where they make all the pineapple cheesecakes in the world, over across the river, it turns out they’re in a whole lotta trouble, an’ we gotta go over an’ try an’ help ‘em."

I sat up on the edge of the bed: Try an’ help ‘em what?

Help ‘em any which way we can, said the crocodile. "They ain’t shipped a single pineapple cheesecake since the trouble started way last week. An’ pretty soon there ain’t gonna be any pineapple cheesecakes. Nowhere anyplace, little buddy! JEEKS!"

I kicked my heel at the bottom of the bed: I’m not little.

Har? said the crocodile.

I’m not little, I said. You keep callin’ me little.

"YiGG! Hey, I sure didn’t mean t’ make ya sore. Sure didn’t mean t’ do that. No sir That’s what we usually say in the Night Buddies. He blinked six or seven times. So okay, what d’ya guess we oughta call ya, then? What d’ya think?"

Everybody I know calls me John, I said, and kicked the bed again.

Well awright, said the crocodile. Sure, we’ll call ya John.

It’s the name I got born with.

An’ hey! he said. "It’s a super name, too, ain’t it? That sure is a super name or my name’s Mary

Reviews for Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare

[miriammartin-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received this as a GoodReads first-read giveaway. I am assuming that this is being aimed at children in about grade 4 (roughly 9-11 years old). It is sufficiently silly to appeal to this age group but I think some of the dialogue and vocabulary may be a stumbling block. It would make a great read-aloud book for a parent and child to share or a teacher to share with their class.

[ljldml · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a delightfully fun story. A red crocodile living under the bed, best kind of monster a kid could have in his room. John Degraffenreidt is a young boy who does not want to sleep at night (parents, does this sound familiar?). John and his new friend , night buddie, Crosley the red crocodile, engage in a wonderful adventure. They are going to the only Pineapple Cheesecake factory to discover why the cheesecakes are disappearing.This is a fantastic story, hopefully the first of many adventures with John and Crosley. It will certainly hold the interest of the young reader. Crosley has his own vocabulary that will keep the reader on his toes. This is a story full of imagination and fun!5 stars

[homeschoolbookreview · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Have you ever eaten a pineapple cheesecake? John Degraffenreidt is a young city kid who doesn’t want to go to bed. He had eaten so much pineapple cheesecake that his dad was afraid that he might get sick. After his parents leave him alone in his room, he hears some strange noises and sees a light beam squirting out from underneath his bed, and out comes a wacky red crocodile in a yellow suit named Crosley who has an astonishing and inventive collection of magical whatchamacallits on his belt. He likes pineapple cheesecake too, and the reason he has come is to enlist John’s aid in joining the Night Buddies and solving a mystery. All the pineapple cheesecakes from the world’s only pineapple cheesecake factory are disappearing. Crosley and John sneak out of the house using an “I-ain’t-here doodad” to escape detection by John’s parents, take the Night Folks Limited subway train, and arrive at the pineapple cheesecake factory where manager Big Foot Mae fills them in on what’s going on. In fact, she shows them. She turns on Jones, the pineapple cheesecake making machine, and they see the cheesecakes being made and boxed, but when the box reaches the end of the line it’s empty! Looking beneath the conveyor belt, they find a pipe that sucks the cheesecakes down through a hole in the floor. What’s going on? And when Crosley and John go down the hole to investigate, whom will they find and will they ever make it back out? By the way, when I was younger I ate all kinds of cheesecakes—cherry, strawberry, blueberry, even chocolate, but never pineapple, until I moved to Akron, OH, and a lady in the church where I preached specialized in making pineapple cheesecake. It was good. This highly imaginative, fantasy-adventure tale will easily appeal to early and middle school aged kids and might especially be useful with reluctant or struggling readers. The font on the page often changes to express different emotions or feelings, and there is a glossary of “Crosley speak” to help youngsters understand what’s being said. Someone noted that the book has clean language and no violence. I would just mention that the euphemistic “gosh” and its equivalent “jeeks” are used, one of the bad guys calls the manager “Big Butt Mae,” and Crosley says, “We gotta shag our keesters outta here,” but this is quite mild. Author Sands Hetherington raised his son John as a single parent from the time John was six and read to him every night during those formative years. The two of them developed the likable and unforgettable Crosley crocodile character in the series during months of bedtime story give-and-take. Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare is intended to be the first in a series featuring the after lights-out adventures if John and Crosley. I rate it “Excelsior!” (that’s Crosley talk for, “Totally super!”).

[ravenswoodpublishi-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Book Title: "Night Buddies, and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare”Author: Sands HetheringtonPublished By: Dune Buggy PressAge Recommended: 8 - 12Reviewed By: Kitty BullardRaven Rating: 5Review: This book is adorable! When pineapple cheesecakes start disappearing at the Pineapple Cheesecake Factory, Crosley the Crocodile has to find a night buddy that can help him solve the mystery and put things to rights. He encounters a young boy by the name of John that is having trouble sleeping. Together they go on a late night adventure to find the reason behind the missing pineapple cheesecakes! With a host of silly characters and a very imaginative plot, this book is a sure winner and kids will absolutely love it. I can’t wait to read more in this series!