The Hunt for Red Octopus: A Hilarious Chapter Book for Kids: Saltwater Spy School, #2

By Apricot Banks and Maaja Wentz

Suffering sea monsters! Can Hubert brave the storm?

Meet Rainbow Reef's fabulous fish kids:  Aiden, the panicky pufferfish, Sparky the doggone friendly dogfish, Olga the eight-legged bully, her little sister Red, and Hubert, a tiny hermit crab and wannabe spy.

 

When Hubert and friends play hide-and-seek in the spooky Kelp Forest, Red Octopus gets lost. With a storm raging, can Hubert bring her home safely? Finding a tiny octopus in the ocean is trickier than detecting one grain of sand on the beach.

 

Fortunately, Hubert has a secret weapon. Read about it in The Hunt for Red Octopus.

 

Bonus: A treasure chest of games and jokes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Loon Lake
• Release date: Jul 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781777686437

Apricot Banks

Apricot Banks invents fun stories to inspire a love of reading. As Maaja Wentz, Apricot writes mysteries and magic. "Inside of a Dog" appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine which called it "very original." Maaja's novel for adults and teens, Feeding Frenzy: Curse of the Necromancer, won a Wattpad award. Maaja Wentz is a teacher-librarian from Toronto.

Book preview

The Hunt for Red Octopus

A Hilarious Chapter Book for Kids

Apricot Banks, Maaja Wentz

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Loon Lake

Saltwater Spy School

Marina Royale (#1)

The Hunt for Red Octopus (#2)

Gold Stinger (#3)

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For adults and teens...

Feeding Frenzy: Curse of the Necromancer by Maaja Wentz

Copyright © 2021 by Maaja Wentz writing as Apricot Banks.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For information contact:

www.maajawentz.com

Cover design by Maaja Wentz

ISBN: 978-1-7776864-3-7

ISBN: 978-1-7776864-1-3

ISBN: 978-1-7776864-2-0 

First Edition: July 2021

Contents

Dedication

1.Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Storm?

2.Ghosts

3.This is No Time Forest

4.What's Black and White Seeking Red All Over?

5.Shell We Get Going?

6.Doggone Dog Gone

7.Lost

8.The Spy Who Swam in from the Cold

9.You Octo be Glad to See Me

10.Games, Jokes, and Extras

11.Two Hiding Games

12.A Fin Full of Riddles

13.Fishy Fill-In

About the Author

For Thomas

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Storm?

During the last week of the summer holidays, Hubert the hermit crab walked along the sandy ocean floor looking for something good to eat. Because hermit crabs can't grow their own shells, they move into empty ones left behind by snails or whelks.

But Hubert was no ordinary hermit crab. Instead of a shell, he wore a broken mini soccer ball on his back. That made it easier to spy on humans, and it protected his body in style. A small crab in an endless ocean, he wanted to stand out and look cool.

In shallow water near the beach, waves kicked up little clouds of sand blocking his view. Stirring seaweed tickled his antennae. A long fish with pointy teeth shot toward him. On instinct, Hubert put up his claws to defend himself until he recognized the beast's face.

Sparky! Hubert grinned at his best friend, the dogfish.

Long and slim, a fin grew from Sparky's back, making him look like a shark. With a toothy grin, Sparky panted like a puppy, his long tongue hanging out. Each tail wag sent him swimming in circles as he greeted his friend. Hubert, come play hide-and-seek.

There's a storm.

It's not here yet.

Bad idea. Hubert's antennae twitched.

Come on. It will be lots of fun. You can hide first.

Wouldn't it be safer to play Sardines?

Hubert's favorite game was like hide-and-seek, except only one fish hid, and everyone else searched. When each seeker found