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    Ruckus
    Ruckus
    Ruckus
    Ebook65 pages31 minutes

    Ruckus

    By Laurie Elmquist and David Parkins

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Reece's new dog, Ruckus, tears through life like a Tyrannosaurus rex. He bites everything that moves and drives Reece's mom nuts. The puppy was Dad's idea, to make things easier for Reece after his parents' separation, but Ruckus is not easy at all and Mom is getting fed up. When her diamond earrings go missing, it sends the family into a tailspin. What happens when a dog swallows something precious? Reece is about to find out. But they can't give up on this little Jack Russell terror, can they? He's family, after all.

    We first met Reece and his family in the Orca Echoes title Where's Burgess? by Laurie Elmquist.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateSep 3, 2019
    ISBN9781459817975
    Ruckus
    Author

    Laurie Elmquist

    Laurie Elmquist is the author of several books for young readers including Where's Burgess? which was short-listed for both the Chocolate Lily Award and the Silver Birch Award. She holds an MA in Literature and creative writing from the University of Windsor in Ontario and has been published in several magazines and anthologies. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

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      Book preview

      Ruckus - Laurie Elmquist

      Acknowledgments

      Chapter One

      He was a round white lump with black spots and a tail that thumped my face. The first week we got him, Mom wanted to give him back. His mouth was always open, and he had razor-sharp teeth.

      But we just got him, I told her.

      I think he’s defective, she said. He bites everything. All the time. He bites me. He bites you. Everywhere he goes, he causes a ruckus.

      The name stuck. Ruckus.

      We didn’t get rid of him that first week, because even Mom had to admit that he was only a puppy and he’d probably grow out of the biting. Now he’s older, and he doesn’t bite quite as much, although Mom still has to stand in the bathtub when she pulls on her tights. And he still snaps at them like an alligator. But that’s what Jack Russells are all about. They were bred to chase rats. Or anything that moves like a rat.

      I pick him up and put him in his pen. It’s in the corner of the kitchen because he likes to be part of the action.

      Mom is getting the house ready for a work meeting with her team. Hazel and I groan. We don’t like it when they take over the house. But Mom says it’s important for them to get together to strategize.

      Recycling is the final frontier. That’s what Dad used to say. He says Mom is on a mission to boldly go where no one has gone before, to put a worm composter in every house. She’s even trying to get people to grow veggies on their boulevards. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

      Dad lives in Vancouver now, in a condo. He says he doesn’t have a worm composter. He’s not home enough. He has to be away fighting forest fires a lot. Mom and Dad are separated. Hazel says that he used to tease Mom. It was one of their problems. I just wish they’d figure it out and get back together.

      Mom slaps another sticky note on the kitchen cupboard.

      "Why does that one say PARKING LOT?" I ask.

      That’s where we park our ideas, she says.

      I have an idea, says Hazel.

      Write it on a note, says Mom.

      TATTOO, writes Hazel, adding a pink sticky note.

      You’re thirteen. Too young for a tattoo, says Mom. It’s not even legal to get one before you’re eighteen.

      What about a henna tattoo? she asks. There’s a girl at my school who does them.

      Mom goes to the cupboard and moves the pink sticky note to another

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