Duck Hunting Dreams

By Monica Roe and Johanna Tarkela

For twelve-year-old Hailey, the upcoming annual family duck hunt is a chance to prove that she’s finally ready to join her family in the duck blind. She's also hoping that Cocoa, the excitable young dog she chose last fall against her parents’ advice, has what it takes to make a great retriever. When hunt day arrives, Hailey is sure she and Cocoa have everything under control. But Cocoa’s inexperience spoils several good shots for the rest of the family, and the young dog risks being sent home from the hunt. And Hailey soon learns that willing things to go right doesn’t mean they will.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
• Release date: Jul 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781663912336

Monica Roe

Monica Roe is the author of Air, as well as Thaw, a Cybils Young Adult Fiction Finalist, and the short story “The Unhealthy Breakfast Club” in the anthology Rural Voices. She is a pediatric physical therapy provider for several remote Alaskan communities and a researcher/advocate for the social model of disability and inclusive rural health. Monica studies public health at the University of Alaska, focusing on disability-inclusive disaster preparedness. She and her family divide their time between Alaska and their apiary in South Carolina. Pay Monica's website a visit for more about her research, Alaska, beekeeping, and other published works.

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Wilderness Ridge: Duck Hunting Dreams by Monica Roe, Illustrated by Johanna Tarkela

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Chapter One: Don’t Jump the Gun

Chapter Two: A Bird Dog’s Heart

Chapter Three: The Hunt Begins!

Chapter Four: A Million Misses

Chapter Five: Danger!

Chapter Six: Attack!

Chapter Seven: Don’t Force It

Chapter Eight: Triumph!

Chapter Nine: Food and Family

About the Author

About the Illustrator

Glossary

Talk About It

Write About It

More About Duck Hunting

Explore More

Copyright

Back Cover

CHAPTER ONE

Don’t Jump the Gun

I gripped the smooth wood of my shotgun stock, ready. Pull!

Mom spun the launcher in a smooth arc. A snap of her wrist sent the round clay pigeon hurtling into the air.

I raised my shotgun, aimed, and fired. Boom!

The second I pulled the trigger, I knew I’d shot too soon. Argh! I cried as the clay target tumbled to the grass. "Another miss."

Cocoa, my chocolate Labrador retriever, barked inside the house. She never liked missing out on anything.

Mom slid another disc into the curved plastic launcher. You can do it, Hails, she said. Just take your time and don’t—

Don’t jump the gun, I finished for her. I know. Mom always said that about my habit of firing too soon.

I have to get this right, I insisted. "The hunt’s tomorrow!"

In less than twelve hours, my extended family would be arriving for our annual duck hunt. I had aunts, uncles, and cousins coming in from all over South Carolina.

I’d loved this day my whole life. But this year was extra special. I wouldn’t be going as a helper—I’d be going as a hunter.

You will, Mom assured me. Cut yourself some slack. Moving targets are hard.

It was true. Clay practice disks weren’t the same as a real duck, but they were still harder than hitting a target that didn’t move.

Remember, don’t aim where they are, Mom said. Aim where they’re headed.

I gripped my shotgun tighter and breathed deeply. Let’s try some more.

Mom launched twenty more targets. I hit exactly one of them.

Cocoa’s barking from