Spring has sprung in River Heights! Nancy’s class is hatching chickens to celebrate. Some of Nancy’s classmates are excited, especially Tommy Maron. Tommy has even named all the eggs! But other classmates are less thrilled about the arrival of the little birds. Catherine Spangler is peeved because the chicks are due to arrive on HER birthday—the nerve!
But when the chicks vanish from the classroom, everyone is upset. Who would steal helpless chick eggs? Nancy knows she has a real egg of a mystery to crack this time!
TEST YOUR DETECTIVE SKILLS WITH THESE OTHER CLUE CREW CASES!
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
Simon & Schuster, New York
A Ready-for-Chapters Book
Cover designed by Lisa Vega
Cover illustration copyright © 2008
by Macky Pamintuan
Ages 6-9
kids.simonandschuster.com
0308
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Text copyright © 2008 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Macky Pamintuan
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
NANCY DREW, ALADDIN PAPERBACKS, and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Designed by Lisa Vega
The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal.
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition March 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1-4424-5917-5 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number 2007935935
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-5522-1
ISBN-10: 1-4169-5522-4
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
CHAPTER TWO: XS and OS
CHAPTER THREE: A SMELLY CLUE
CHAPTER FOUR: WHERE ARE THE CHICKS?
CHAPTER FIVE: A SHOCKING CONFESSION
CHAPTER SIX: ANOTHER DETECTIVE
CHAPTER SEVEN: A MYSTERIOUS BOX
CHAPTER EIGHT: A NEW SUSPECT
CHAPTER NINE: LOST AND FOUND
CHAPTER TEN: A CHICK REUNION
Day 21, Mrs. Ramirez wrote on the blackboard.
She turned to the class with a big smile on her face. “Can anyone tell me what that means?”
Nancy Drew raised her hand. Mrs. Ramirez started to call on her.
But a boy named Antonio Elefano interrupted. “Uh, isn’t it kind of obvious? Day Twenty-one is the day after Day Twenty.” He cracked up.
Tommy Maron gaped at Antonio. “You shouldn’t joke about Day Twenty-one,” he said. “Day Twenty-one is the most important day ever. It’s the baby chicks’ due date!”
“And it’s today,” a girl named Gaby Small piped up. “The baby chicks will finally be born!” A bunch of students clapped and cheered.
Nancy clapped and cheered too. So did her best friends, George Fayne and Bess Marvin, who sat nearby. George and Bess were cousins, although they didn’t look anything alike. They didn’t act alike either. George loved sports. Bess was crazy about fashion.
For the past three weeks Nancy’s class had been taking care of twelve chick eggs as part of a science project. The eggs lived inside a box called an incubator. The incubator was made of plywood and had a gooseneck lamp attached to the top of it to warm the eggs.
“Incubate” was a fancy word for helping the chick eggs to grow until they hatched. Normally the eggs would be incubated by the mother hen, who would sit on them and keep them warm until the chicks were ready to come out of their shells. The incubator was kind of a substitute for the mother hen. In fact, Nancy and her classmates had drawn a picture of a mother hen with the word “Mom” and taped it to the side of the incubator.
“Let’s all gather around the incubator and see how the eggs are doing today,” Mrs. Ramirez suggested. “We’re going to go row by row. And remember, don’t jiggle the incubator. In fact, please don’t touch it at all.”
Nancy was in the first row. She stood up along with the other students in her row and walked over to the incubator. She had to resist the urge to run. She was really eager to see the chick eggs!
Nancy found a good spot by the incubator and peeked inside. The twelve eggs were basking in the warm, golden glow of the lamp.
Each egg was marked with an X on one end and an O on the other. This was part of turning the eggs, which the students had done three times a day from Day 1 through Day 18. The Xs and Os had helped them keep track of which eggs had been turned. Turning was something that the mother hen would have done herself if she had been incubating the eggs. It kept growing chicks from getting stuck to the insides of the eggs.
Just then, Nancy noticed something. “Mrs. Ramirez?” she said breathlessly. “Some of the eggs have tiny little cracks!”
“Oh, no, are they broken?” Bess cried out.
“No, Bess. I think it means the chicks are about to hatch,” George pointed out.
Mrs. Ramirez peered inside the incubator. “George is right. Class, we finally get to see the chicks being born. Isn’t that exciting?”
“Should we break the eggs so the chicks, uh, come out faster?” suggested Antonio.
“Absolutely not,” Mrs. Ramirez said quickly. “No one is allowed to touch the eggs. The chicks need to break through the shells themselves.”
Gaby raced up to the front of the crowd that had gathered around the incubator. She squeezed through Nancy, George, and Bess, jostling for a good view. “It will probably take a few hours for all the chicks to be born,” she said to no one in particular. “Maybe all day. I know, because I’m an expert on farm animals.”
“Hey, Gaby, I can’t see,” a girl named Maya complained.
Tommy raised his hand. “Oh, Mrs. Ramirez? I brought in a birthday cake for the chicks. It’s in my locker. Do you think this is a good time to sing ‘Happy Birthday’?”
Nancy, George, and Bess grinned at one another. Tommy had been the chicks’ greatest fan since the beginning of the project. In the past few weeks, he had written chick poems and chick songs. He had created a “Welcome, Chicks!” poster, which was hanging on the wall next to the incubator. He had even named each of the chicks himself. Mrs. Ramirez had said that the class would have to vote on the names, though.
Tommy’s number-one passion was definitely chicks!
“It’s a really special birthday cake,” Tommy continued. “I baked it myself. It’s shaped like a baby chick, and it’s got yellow icing on it. The letters are in orange icing, except that my little sister smeared the B on purpose so it kind of says Happy Irthday.” He frowned.
“A birthday cake?” Mrs. Ramirez looked surprised. “Well, that’s very nice of you, Tommy. Why don’t we wait until after lunch?”
“Sure, Mrs. Ramirez,” Tommy replied.
“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of!” someone said loudly. “Who cares about a bunch of stupid chickens, anyway?”
Nancy gasped. So did George and Bess. Who could be saying such mean things about the baby chicks?
Then Nancy spotted Catherine Spangler standing near the back of the crowd. Catherine had her hands on her hips. Her cheeks were flushed a bright, angry red. Mrs. Ramirez saw Catherine too. “Excuse me, Catherine, but that’s not how we talk in this class,” she said sternl
y.
“But it’s not fair,” said Catherine, pouting.
“What’s not fair?” Mrs. Ramirez asked her.
“It’s not fair that everyone’s making such a big fat deal about the chicks’ birthday, when really it’s someone else’s birthday and no one seems to remember that,” Catherine complained.
Mrs. Ramirez’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s right. It’s your birthday today, Catherine, isn’t it?”
Catherine didn’t say anything.
“Well, I’m very glad you reminded us,” Mrs. Ramirez told Catherine. “Next time, it would be best if you let us know directly, and without using words like ‘dumb’ and ‘stupid.’” She turned to the class. “Class, we’ve all been so focused on the chicks’ birthday. But it’s Catherine’s birthday too. Why don’t we gather around and sing ‘Happy—’”
“Hey, there’s a beak!” Gaby shouted. “The first chick is coming out of its shell!”
“Cool!” someone said.
“Let me see, let me see!” said someone else.
A bunch of kids swarmed eagerly around the incubator. “Nobody touch anything!” Mrs. Ramirez called out.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten about singing “Happy Birthday.” “Hey, let’s sing,” said Nancy, but her voice was drowned out by the excited chatter.
Nancy gave up and peered into the incubator along with everyone else. Gaby was right; a tiny beak had emerged from one of the eggs.
A few minutes later, more pieces of the shell broke away, and a tiny yellow head popped out. And then, finally, the whole shell broke away, and the chick himself popped out, peeping and chirping. Nancy knew that it was a “he” because he was yellow. Mrs. Ramirez had explained that with this particular kind of chicken, all the boys would be yellow, and all the girls would be brown.
“It’s Chirping Charlie!” Tommy announced.
“He’s so cute!” George said to Nancy and Bess.
“He’s the exact same color as my dress,” said Bess, twirling. “We match!”
Nancy was about to say something when she noticed Catherine standing by herself, away from the crowd. She looked upset. In all the excitement over the chick, the class had forgotten about Catherine’s birthday—again.
George, Bess, and I should make Catherine a super-cool birthday card during recess, Nancy told herself.
“And so by the end of the day, all twelve chicks were born!” Nancy announced to her father and Hannah Gruen at dinnertime. “Five boys and seven girls. It was really awesome!”
It was make-your-own-taco night at the Drew house. Nancy loved make-your-own-taco night. As always, Hannah had laid out platters of warm corn taco shells as well as lots of ingredients to put inside them.
Hannah had been the Drews’ housekeeper for the past five years, ever since Nancy’s mother died. She was way more than a housekeeper, though. She was almost like a mother to Nancy.
Mr. Drew smiled at his daughter. “That’s wonderful, honey,” he said. “When I was in elementary school, we did a chick project too.”
“Did your class name the chicks yet?” Hannah asked Nancy.
Nancy reached for a taco shell and put it on her plate. She was going to construct the fattest, yummiest taco ever. “Well, sort of,” she replied. “There’s this boy named Tommy who’s kind of obsessed with the chicks. He named them before they were even born. The names are Pippy Pipsqueak, Flufferina, Tinybelle, Coco Puff, Miss Mini, Fifi Feathers, Goldy Greg, Chirping Charlie, Loud Louis, Shy Sherman, Hopping Herman, and Fred. Since there are five boys and seven girls, one of the girls ended up being named Fred.” She giggled. “Tommy made a ‘Welcome, Chicks!’ poster, and he wrote a bunch of poems and songs for the chicks too.”
Hannah pointed to Nancy’s hands. “Speaking of drawing … you look like you’ve been doing a little drawing yourself,” she said with a knowing grin. Nancy’s hands were covered with red, yellow, and purple marker stains.
Nancy blushed. “I washed my hands before dinner, Hannah. Honest! It’s just that George, Bess, and I had to make a birthday card for this girl named Catherine during recess, and the markers were super messy.”
“Who’s Catherine?” Mr. Drew asked. “I don’t think I’ve met her.”
Nancy explained who Catherine was. She also told her father and Hannah how upset Catherine had been about her birthday. “So we made her this card and gave it to her after recess,” she finished. “I think it cheered her up.”
“That was very nice of you girls,” Hannah remarked.
“Absolutely,” Mr. Drew agreed.
Mr. Drew then told a story about the chick project he and his classmates had done in third grade. While he talked, Nancy piled ingredients into her taco shell. First, shredded cheese. Then beans. Then chopped-up lettuce and tomatoes. Then sour cream. Then guacamole. Then salsa, which Hannah made herself with little pineapple bits in it, to make it sweet as well as spicy.
Nancy noticed that Hannah had put out chicken pieces, too. She started to reach for it, then stopped. Today of all days, she wasn’t in the mood to eat chicken!
The next morning Nancy walked into class a few minutes early so she could check out the chicks. Other students were already there, including George and Bess. Mrs. Ramirez had moved the chicks into something called a “brooding pen.” It was a very big cardboard box with a warming lamp attached to it. The bottom of the pen was lined with straw and sawdust. A sign on the side said DO NOT TOUCH THE CHICKS!
“How are the chicks?” Nancy called out to her friends as she walked over to the pen.
“They’re even cuter than they were yesterday!” George replied.
Bess pointed to her outfit. “And see? Today I’m wearing brown, in honor of the girl chicks.”
Nancy smiled and peered inside the pen. George was right. The chicks were even cuter than they were on Wednesday. Six of them were nestled together in a big, fluffy ball, napping. Another three were pecking at some of their special chick food, which Mrs. Ramirez had bought at the pet store. And the last three were drinking water out of their little bowl. There was lots of peeping and chirping.
Just then, Nancy noticed that something was wrong.
On the wall next to the incubator was Tommy’s “Welcome, Chicks!” poster.
Someone had marked big Xs and Os across the poster. It was ruined!
Nancy pointed to the chick poster. “Look!”
“That’s awful!” exclaimed Bess.
“Who would do a mean thing like that?” George piped up.
More kids came into the classroom. So did Mrs. Ramirez. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
Nancy indicated the poster. “We all found it like this,” she explained.
“Hey, who destroyed my super-duper chick poster?”
Nancy turned around. Tommy was standing there. He looked really upset.
“I worked for hours and hours and hours on that poster,” Tommy cried out. “It was my masterpiece!”
“I’m so sorry, Tommy,” Mrs. Ramirez said, putting her hand on his shoulder. Then she faced the rest of the class. “All right. I want to know right now who is responsible for this.”
No one said a word.
Mrs. Ramirez sighed. “Fine. I intend to get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, I want everyone to sit down in their seats and write a one-page essay about respect. Everyone but Tommy, that is.”
“You mean, like an essay about how much I respect chocolate chip cookies?” Antonio joked.
“No, Antonio. Like an essay about respecting other people’s property,” Mrs. Ramirez corrected him.
Nancy and her classmates worked on the essay for the next twenty minutes. Afterward, Mrs. Ramirez asked everyone to observe the chicks and write an entry about them in their chick journals. The students had been keeping the chick journals for the past three weeks, since the beginning of the chick project.
Nancy finished her journal entry quickly. Then she did something else—quietly, so she wouldn’t disturb others who were still
working. She checked out the area around the brooding pen and around Tommy’s poster. It was possible that whoever messed up the poster had left a clue about his or her identity.
George and Bess joined Nancy. “What are you doing?” George whispered to her.
“I’m looking for clues,” Nancy whispered back.
Bess grinned knowingly at her cousin. “See? I told you!”
“Have you found anything yet?” George asked Nancy.
Nancy pointed to the poster. “Well, whoever messed up the poster used a blue-green marker,” she noted.
Bess squinted at the poster. “It looks more like aquamarine to me.”
“No way. It’s turquoise!” George disagreed.
“It’s definitely aquamarine,” Bess insisted. “I know, because I have a skirt the exact same color. The salesperson at the mall said it was aquamarine. So there!” She made a face at George.
Nancy moved very close to the poster—and sniffed. “Hey, do you guys smell something?” she said suddenly.
George and Bess sniffed the poster too. “It smells kind of sweet,” George said finally.
“It’s candy,” suggested Bess.
“I think it might be bubblegum,” Nancy said.
George nodded. “Nancy, you’re right. It’s bubblegum!”
“So whoever messed up Tommy’s poster used a blue-green or aquamarine or turquoise-colored, bubblegum-scented marker,” Nancy concluded. “This is our first clue!”
“Our first clue.” George smiled. “I guess this means that the Clue Crew is on the case.”
The Clue Crew was Nancy, George, and Bess’s special club. They collected clues and solved mysteries. In the past they had tracked down a missing ice-cream recipe, a missing City Girls doll, a missing superstar Hollywood cat, and more.
Now they were on the case to find out who had ruined Tommy’s “Welcome, Chicks!” poster.
“Okay, I have an idea,” George announced during art class. They were working on a special chick art project. Each of Nancy’s classmates had brought in their favorite art supplies from home.