Nutty Study Buddies Read online

  The Dead Sea Squirrels Series

  Squirreled Away

  Boy Meets Squirrels

  Nutty Study Buddies

  Squirrelnapped!

  Coming Soon:

  Tree-mendous Trouble

  Whirly Squirrelies

  Visit Tyndale’s website for kids at www.tyndale.com/kids.

  Visit the author’s website at www.mikenawrocki.com.

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  The Dead Sea Squirrels is a registered trademark of Michael L. Nawrocki.

  Nutty Study Buddies

  Copyright © 2019 by Mike Nawrocki. All rights reserved.

  Illustrations by Luke Séguin-Magee. Copyright © Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

  Designed by Libby Dykstra

  Edited by Sarah Rubio

  Published in association with the literary agency of Brentwood Studios, 1550 McEwen, Suite 300 PNB 17, Franklin, TN 37067.

  Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  Nutty Study Buddies is a work of fiction. Where real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales appear, they are used fictitiously. All other elements of the novel are drawn from the author’s imagination.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Nawrocki, Michael, author.

  Title: Nutty study buddies / Mike Nawrocki.

  Description: Carol Stream, Illinois : Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., [2019] | Series: The Dead Sea squirrels | Summary: Michael learns that—like the Thessalonians in the Bible—he will prosper if he works hard when Pearl the 2,000-year-old squirrel helps him study for his math test.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018037976 | ISBN 9781496435064 (sc)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Perseverance (Ethics)—Fiction. | Squirrels—Fiction. | Christian life—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.N185 Nu 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018037976

  ISBN 978-1-4964-3508-8 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4964-3507-1 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4964-3509-5 (Apple)

  Build: 2019-09-03 16:39:16 EPUB 3.0

  To my daughter, Alejandra (AKA Goose Juice)—

  For all the hours we spent working through math homework. I miss the hours with you, but not the math.

  Love, Dad

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Character Profiles

  Dr. Gomez’s Historical Handbook

  About the Author

  CHAPTER 1

  “Merle! Wake up, Merle!”

  Merle Squirrel heard his wife, Pearl, calling him softly. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by Pearl, Michael, Justin, and Sadie.

  “What happened? Where am I?” Merle asked groggily. The last thing he remembered was being in the lunchroom of Walnut Creek Elementary School munching on a chicken nugget.

  “We’re back home, Merle,” Michael said.

  “I think my news was a little too much for you.” Sadie smiled at him. Sadie had discovered that the squirrels had witnessed the Sermon on the Mount firstpaw (which is like firsthand, except for squirrels), which meant that they must have been suspended in time in a cave by the Dead Sea for nearly 2,000 years. Merle and Pearl knew the world was much different now than the one they remembered, but knowing just how much time had passed had overwhelmed Merle.

  “I didn’t know squirrels could faint,” Justin said. “I’ve seen goats do it.” Justin stiffened his limbs and fell sideways onto the bed.

  “You’d faint too if you realized you were 2,000 years old,” Merle answered. “It’s not natural. Squirrels usually go for a few decades, tops.”

  “We’ve got Methuselah beat by a long shot!” Pearl said proudly. “But we were asleep for most of it, so I’m not sure it counts for the record.”

  “This is huge, guys,” Sadie said. “Michael, we need to tell your dad. He’ll know what to do.”

  “No way!” Michael said. “I would get so busted. I just got done being grounded for getting lost in the cave. I don’t know what Dad would do if he found out I smuggled back talking artifacts!”

  “I resent being called an artifact.” Merle sniffed. “Makes me feel old.”

  “You are old, dear.” Pearl patted his paw.

  “What if they have to go back to the Dead Sea?” Michael said.

  “I don’t wanna go back there!” Merle protested. “It’s too hot!”

  “We’re not even from there. We were just on ‘vacation,’” Pearl said, making air quotes with her paws.

  “I like it here, where there are trees and nuts and chicken nuggets,” Merle said. “Don’t make us go back!”

  “Nobody’s making anybody go back.” Michael crossed his arms. “You can hide out in my backpack. No one needs to know.”

  “Michael,” Sadie said, “they can’t hide in your backpack forever.”

  “No offense to your backpack,” Pearl agreed, “but it is a little snug.”

  “Well, Jane will be at school tomorrow, so maybe you guys can hang out in my room,” Michael suggested. Michael’s little sister, Jane, attended preschool three days a week. While she was at school, the family cat, Mr. Nemesis, stayed closed up in her room.

  “Good idea,” Merle said. “While you’re at school tomorrow, we’ll stay here and come up with a plan for where to settle down.”

  “Squirrel witness protection! It’s like a spy movie!” Justin said. “I like it!”

  “Well, we should get going, Justin,” Sadie said. “We all have a math test to study for.”

  “Don’t remind me!” Michael groaned as Sadie and Justin headed out.

  CHAPTER 2

  Math came much easier for Justin and Sadie than it did for Michael. For some reason, Michael had to study twice as hard to end up with the same grade.

  “This stinks!” Michael complained as he sat at his desk, staring down at his math book. “I just don’t get this. Why don’t I get this?!”

  “Let’s have a look.” Pearl hopped up onto Michael’s desk. Pearl, a first-century rodent, was not schooled in formal mathematics. But she’d had to deal with limited resources her whole life, so she had a natural talent for counting and calculating. She peered at Michael’s math book. “Hmm . . . this looks interesting. I think I might be able to figure this out.”

  KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! Someone rapped on Michael’s door. Merle and Pearl looked at him in panic.

  “Hide!” he whispered. The two squirrels scurried under Michael’s bed as he called out, “Come in!”

  “Hey, buddy!” Dr. Gomez, Michael’s dad, opened the door. “What are you up to?”

  Michael looked down at his math book. “Math,” he said gloomily. “I have a test in a couple days.”

  “Not your favorite subject, huh?” Dr. G
omez asked.

  “Not by a long shot. It’s easy for Justin and Sadie. It’s totally not fair.”

  “Well, some things come easier for some people. That just means you have to work a little harder.”

  “Like I said, totally not fair.” Michael scowled.

  “Tell you what,” Dr. Gomez said, taking out his wallet. “Here’s a little motivation.” He pulled out a $10 bill. “If you can get at least a B on your test, this is for you. I’ll stick it to the fridge.”

  “Make sure it’s high enough so Jane can’t snag it,” Michael said.

  Dr. Gomez smiled. “You’re a smart kid. If you work hard, I’m sure you can get a good grade.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  Dr. Gomez ruffled Michael’s hair. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. Let me know if you need any help!” He left the room, calling over his shoulder, “If you need inspiration, check out the fridge!”

  Pearl and Merle came out of hiding. “Well, you heard the man!” Pearl said, hopping back up onto Michael’s desk.

  “Ten dollars is a lot of money,” Michael said. “Let’s do this!”

  But Michael’s enthusiasm for studying didn’t last longer than 10 minutes.

  “Arrrgh!!!” Michael covered his face with his hands. “I don’t get it!”

  “Let me see if I can help you figure it out,” Pearl said.

  Michael slammed his math book shut. “I need a break. I’ll do this tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Pearl scurried along the thick branch of the walnut tree outside of Michael’s room, carrying a sack of walnuts. She jumped down onto the windowsill and called out, “Merle! Breakfast!” Walnuts were plentiful at that time of year, so it hadn’t taken her long to find enough nuts for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She climbed into the room and looked around for Merle. “Hello?” she called out.

  “Ahhhhh! Good morning!” Merle sighed cheerfully as he exited Michael’s bathroom, wiping his wet whiskers with the back of his paw. “It’s incredible! No matter how much I drink, it keeps filling itself back up! I tell you, Pearl, it’s like the loaves and the fishes!” A few days earlier, Merle had discovered an inexhaustible source of water in Michael’s bathroom. Merle had been so excited that Michael hadn’t had the heart to tell him what a toilet is supposed to be used for.

  The bedroom door burst open, and Michael ran in. “Hey, guys, gotta go! Justin’s here!” He scurried for his backpack. For Justin, being on time to school meant getting there 30 minutes early. Being late totally freaked Justin out, which totally stressed Michael out. The result was two fifth graders who were always on time, which was a positive as far as their parents and teachers were concerned. “Have a great day, and figure out a good plan!” Michael called as he rushed out the door. Pearl noticed that his math book was still on the desk, but before she could remind him to take it, he shouted, “Make sure you keep the door closed in case Mr. Nemesis gets out! Bye!” And with that, he shut the door.

  “You forgot your math book!” Pearl called, but Michael was gone.

  CHAPTER 4

  “How’s he going to study for his test without his book?” Pearl worried.

  “Too late now.” Merle hopped up on the desk and tried to lift the book. “There’s no way we can bring this to his school—it’s way too heavy!”

  Suddenly, Pearl had an idea. “What if I work on figuring out how to help Michael with his test while you work on a plan for where we’re going to live?” she asked Merle.

  Merle knew that his job was going to be much more adventurous. “Sounds good to me! You explore the book, and I’ll explore the trees!” he responded. As Pearl cracked open Math Is Your Friend: 5th Grade Edition, Merle scurried up a branch of the walnut tree outside Michael’s bedroom.

  When it comes to house hunting, the first thing a squirrel will look for is a nice hole in a tree, preferably somewhere up high. “High and dry!” as Merle liked to say. Squirrels aren’t hole makers, just hole finders. The two best bets are a knot that has fallen out or a decomposed area between branches. If a squirrel has no luck finding space inside a tree, they will resort to making space on the tree in the form of a nest. However, nests are rarely as dry and cozy as a knothole. “If it’s not a knot—not!” Merle also liked to say.

  The good news about most of the trees near Michael’s house was that they had plenty of knotholes. The bad news, as Merle found time after time, was that they were all occupied.

  “AHHHHH!” screamed one squirrel.

  “Sorry, miss!” Merle apologized.

  “Who are you?!” demanded another.

  “Beg your pardon, sir,” Merle said.

  “Get off my limb!” ordered a third.

  After a number of other awkward moments, and having grown tired and embarrassed of surprising other rodents in their homes, Merle headed back to Michael’s bedroom. “Sorry, Pearl, there’s no room in the inns,” he reported.

  “I figured as much,” Pearl mumbled as she studied an explanation of long division. “Where there’s a lot of nuts, there’s bound to be a lot of squirrels.”

  “Those trees are definitely full of nuts,” Merle agreed. No sooner had the words left his mouth than he noticed something interesting on the floor of Michael’s room. “What’s that?” he asked.

  Pearl looked down and spotted what you or I would call an air vent. However, neither Merle nor Pearl had ever seen one. She shrugged and continued with her reading.

  “It looks like a little jail in the ground.” Merle approached the vent, noting the little metal bars that stretched across it. “I wonder what they keep in it?”

  Not being a ground squirrel, Merle would normally have had no interest in exploring a damp, dirty hole in the ground as a potential home, especially one housing a potential prisoner. But this particular hole was dry and relatively clean. He grabbed the grate and easily lifted it off the floor. “If it is a jail, it’s not a very good one,” Merle remarked. “Pearl, I’m gonna check this out.”

  “That’s nice, dear,” Pearl answered softly, concentrating on her reading.

  CHAPTER 5

  “Time for math!” Ms. McKay called out. “Take out your books!”

  Michael reached into his backpack and felt around for his math book. Then he unzipped the pack and looked inside. “Oh no!” he said.

  “Is there something wrong, Michael?” Ms. McKay asked.

  “Umm . . . no, ma’am,” Michael answered, looking up from his pack. Ms. McKay turned to write on the smart board, and Michael leaned over to Justin. “I forgot my book. Can I look at yours?” he whispered.

  “Sure.” Justin slid his book to the edge of his desk.

  Less than 10 minutes into the lesson, Michael got tired of listening to Ms. McKay while leaning over to read Justin’s book, so he did what many kids who are pretending to pay attention in class do—he doodled. By 30 minutes into the lesson, he’d sketched a masterpiece of plastic pipery: an intricate tangle of tubes running all over his bedroom, like the Taj Mahal for hamsters.

  “Check this out,” Michael whispered proudly to Justin, sliding his drawing over to his friend. “Merle and Pearl would love to live in something like this.”

  Justin was confused. “Michael, you do know that we have a test tomorrow? You’ve got to know this stuff!”

  “I know, I know,” Michael said. “I’ll study when I get home.”

  CHAPTER 6

  “Hello!” Merle called out into the pitch-black aluminum tunnel, his voice echoing off the metallic walls. He felt a sudden twinge of panic as he remembered being lost in the cave near the Dead Sea. Some memories, even ones that are 2,000 years old, don’t fade easily. “What am I doing down here?!” he said to himself. He turned around and shouted, “Pearl, can you hear me?!”

  “Right here,” Pearl’s slightly annoyed voice answered faintly. She was much more interested in her book than she was in what Merle was up to, but just hearing her voice helped to reassure him that he was not lost.

  Suddenly
, a very fast and very cold wall of air hit Merle head-on. “Whoa!” he yelled. “It’s dark, cold, and windy, Pearl! This may not be the home we’re looking for!” The rapid movement of the air carried Merle’s voice clearly to Pearl, but she chose not to answer. But even if she had, her voice would not have carried back upstream. Though he didn’t realize it, Merle was experiencing modern air-conditioning. “It’s like winter down here!” he yelled. But just as he was about to give up and turn back toward Michael’s room, he spotted a faint light up ahead. “What’s that?” He pressed on through the frigid headwind.

  After making his way forward a few more yards, Merle found himself looking up through another set of metal bars into a room above. With a little effort, he was able to push the grate up and out into the room. Definitely not a jail, he concluded, popping his head up into the room.

  Merle found himself in a new world, one very different from Michael’s room. This was a very pink world with lots of pillows. So, so many pillows. Merle crawled up out of the vent onto the floor, looking at walls lined with princess posters and a bookshelf full of dolls. “It’s so . . . fluffy,” he said out loud as he made his way into the center of the room. “Not exactly my style, but very comfortable.” Merle was beginning to feel proud of himself for having discovered this amazing, fluffy world under the ground. He wondered if this was what he was missing out on by not being a ground squirrel. “Pearl is going to love this!” he said as he turned to see a big, white, fluffy bed in the corner. But his joy quickly turned to terror when he saw that on top of that big, white, fluffy bed sat a big, white, fluffy cat.

  “Meow?” said Mr. Nemesis. In cat language that means, “What do we have here?” or “My, don’t you look delicious.”