On a perfectly perfect summer day, best friends Otis and Rae decide to go camping—for the first time ever! Otis is content to set up his tent right away and spend the night eating PB&B (peanut butter and banana) sandwiches. But Rae wants to tell stories, scary stories, stories about GRUMBLING SPLUNKS! No need for Otis to worry. There’s no such thing as a grumbling splunk! Is there?
The fastest man in the West meets his match in this deliciously clever original tall tale. With his extra-long legs, Jackrabbit McCabe can outrun anything on the American frontier: horses, trains, and even twisters. So of course, everyone in the town of Windy Flats always counts on his speed when a message has to get out fast. Then something new comes to town: the telegraph, which can send Morse code messages with the speed of electricity. At first, no one believes the newfangled contraption can deliver a message quicker than Jackrabbit. . . . But in a race between man and machine, who will be left in the dust? An author's note includes information about the invention of the telegraph, a Morse code key, and a riddle written in Morse code for kids to transcribe. "A strikingly accomplished debut.... A terrific tall tale about the costs and opportunities of technology." —Publishers Weekly, Starred "Good, quick-moving fun. Kids may marvel that communication existed before the telephone and Internet." —Kirkus Reviews
