Bus to the Badlands

By Margriet Ruurs and Claudia Dávila

Josh, Mark, Angela and their friends have been waiting for years to go on the class trip to Drumheller, Alberta. Now they are finally the oldest kids at Pleasant Valley grade school and can get excited about the overnight outing. But first, they have a lot of learn about what they'll see in the dinosaur capital of the world. And they have to raise money for all the pizza they are going to eat on the trip! Once they finally get going, a frightening encounter with a slithery serpent leads to an amazing discovery. One that might be even better than all-you-can-eat deep dish!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Sep 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781459816725

Margriet Ruurs

Margriet Ruurs is the author of many award-winning books for children. She enjoys speaking about reading and writing to students at schools around the world. Her adventures have taken her to such countries as Myanmar, Pakistan, Laos, Tanzania and many others. Margriet was born in the Netherlands but has been a Canadian for most of her life. She lives with her family on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

The first week of school is always like a yo-yo to me. The up part is being with my friends again. And I do like recess, learning new stuff and going to the library. The down part is losing my freedom. No more sleeping in or taking off on my bike to Mark’s house or to the pool.

On the first day of school I found out that Mrs. Cupcake is my teacher this year. Her real name is Mrs. Koepke, but we call her Mrs. Cupcake. I heard she’s okay, so that part is fine. And Mr. Smart is still our principal. I always thought that was a funny name for a principal, but I guess he can’t help it. Mr. Smart is pretty cool, and there were rumors that he was leaving, so I’m glad he didn’t.

I also found out that most of my friends are still in my class. We only have one class for each grade in our school. So I have known most of the kids since kindergarten. Except Tegan, who moved here from another country when we were in first grade. And a girl named Yvonne moved away to the east coast this summer. But other than that, Mark and Mary Jane and Alex and Angela and the others are all here.

On day two we were supposed to learn all about Saturn and other planets. But instead of making us open our books, Mrs. Cupcake told us that she had some exciting news. Mark punched me in the back. It’s a habit he has, one I try to avoid whenever I can.

Hey, Josh, maybe she’ll talk until recess! he whispered. I grinned at him.

I have something very important to tell you!! Mrs. Cupcake beamed. I noticed that whenever Mrs. Cupcake gets excited, she beams—not unlike my baby sister, Angie, when she’s done something on her potty.

Well, started Mrs. Cupcake, sitting on the edge of Jesse’s desk, as you probably know, it is a custom that this class goes on a special field trip.

Oh yes! This was going to be good. This was what I was waiting to hear. Of course we all knew about the annual field trip!

Each year, Mrs. Cupcake continued, our Parent Advisory Council sponsors the trip and our teachers volunteer their time so that the class can go. This year we are heading to Drumheller!

My mom is