скачать книгу бесплатно
National Geographic Kids Chapters: Animal Superstars: And More True Stories of Amazing Animal Talents
Aline Alexander Newman
National Kids Geographic
Copyright © 2013 National Geographic Society
All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.
Published by the National Geographic Society
John M. Fahey, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Timothy T. Kelly, President
Declan Moore, Executive Vice President; President, Publishing and Digital Media
Melina Gerosa Bellows, Executive Vice President; Chief Creative Officer, Books, Kids, and Family
Prepared by the Book Division
Hector Sierra, Senior Vice President and General Manager
Nancy Laties Feresten, Senior Vice President, Kids Publishing and Media
Jonathan Halling, Design Director, Books and Children’s Publishing
Jay Sumner, Director of Photography, Children’s Publishing
Jennifer Emmett, Vice President, Editorial Director, Children’s Books
Eva Absher-Schantz, Design Director, Kids Publishing and Media
Carl Mehler, Director of Maps
R. Gary Colbert, Production Director
Jennifer A. Thornton, Director of Managing Editorial
Staff for This Book
Becky Baines, Project Editor
Lisa Jewell, Illustrations Editor
Eva Absher-Schantz, Art Director
Ruthie Thompson, Designer
Grace Hill, Associate Managing Editor
Joan Gossett, Production Editor
Marfé Ferguson Delano, Release Editor
Lewis R. Bassford, Production Manager
Susan Borke, Legal and Business Affairs
Kate Olesin, Assistant Editor
Kathryn Robbins, Associate Designer
Hillary Moloney, Illustrations Assistant
Manufacturing and Quality Management
Phillip L. Schlosser, Senior Vice President
Chris Brown, Vice President, NG Book Manufacturing
George Bounelis, Vice President, Production Services
Nicole Elliott, Manager
Rachel Faulise, Manager
Robert L. Barr, Manager
The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society’s mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 400 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 10,000 scientific research, conservation, and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy.
For more information, please visit
www.nationalgeographic.com (http://www.nationalgeographic.com),
call 1-800-NGS LINE (647-5463),
or write to the following address:
National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-4688 U.S.A.
Visit us online at
www.nationalgeographic.com/books (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/books)
For librarians and teachers:
www.ngchildrensbooks.org (http://www.ngchildrensbooks.org)
More for kids from National Geographic: kids.nationalgeographic.com (http://kids.nationalgeographic.com)
For rights or permissions inquiries,
please contact National Geographic Books
Subsidiary Rights: ngbookrights@ngs.org (mailto:ngbookrights@ngs.org)
eISBN: 978-1-4263-1093-5
v3.1
Version: 2017-07-10
Table of CONTENTS
Cover (#u95257ce8-fc9d-5040-a92d-6dfb5d753dbe)
Title Page (#u5e632575-5def-55f1-93d8-96f609f2155a)
Copyright (#u91525065-11dc-598b-ba13-83cf9d88a180)
OPEE: The Motocross Biker Pup (#ub85ac280-b36f-52c0-90f1-f51c4a57b9ee)
Chapter 1: Easy Rider (#ue968e0a1-9416-5e68-8ce4-2b454990dcce)
Chapter 2: Upping the Stakes (#u143d8d06-d116-51d1-aa7a-ad2e6358018b)
Chapter 3: Race to Fame (#litres_trial_promo)
SIDEWINDER: Groundhog Weather Wonder (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Staying Alive (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Groundhog Day! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: A Star Is Born (#litres_trial_promo)
TUNA: Kitty Rock Star (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Born to Purr-form (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Lights, Camera, Action! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: Show Time! (#litres_trial_promo)
DON’T MISS! (#litres_trial_promo)
More Information (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
Credits (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)
OPEE:
THE MOTOCROSS BIKER PUP
Opee and Mike Schelin go airborne! They both love to ride Mike’s dirt bike. (illustration credit p01 (#litres_trial_promo))
Chapter 1
EASY RIDER
Ready to ride, Opee pants with excitement. His helmet has a camera on top. (illustration credit 1.1 (#litres_trial_promo))
April 2006, San Diego, California
Opee the Australian (sounds like AH-STRALE-YAN) shepherd cocks his head and listens. Has Mike entered the garage? The devoted dog jumps to his feet and runs toward the sound. Barking excitedly, he leaps onto the gas tank of Mike Schelin’s dirt bike. Opee’s pink tongue hangs out. His front paws rest on the handlebars.
Mike grins. He slips a helmet and goggles on the happy dog’s head. He hops on the bike behind Opee and kicks the starter with his heel. Off they go across the California desert.
Mike is a professional motocross (sounds like MOE-TOE-CROSS) racer. And so is Opee! Motocross is a form of cross-country motorcycle racing. Racers ride special motocross bikes, also called dirt bikes. They race on rugged tracks that are closed to normal traffic.
Mike and Opee’s story started when Mike Schelin was 35 years old. Things had not been going well for him lately and he was unhappy. Cheer up! he told himself. But he didn’t know how. So he sat down with a pad and pencil.
He made a list of all the things that made him feel good.
Later Mike read what he wrote. Hmm, he thought, dogs are first on my list. I need a job that lets me bring a dog to work.
Soon Mike quit his job selling computers and moved to San Diego, California. He met a man there who let Mike live in an old house for free. In return, Mike agreed to fix up the place. But something was missing. Mike needed a dog to keep him company.
He called a woman who had an Australian shepherd puppy for sale. They agreed to meet on a country road where 75 mailboxes stood in a row.
Mike spotted the mailboxes first. Then he saw a mother dog and puppy playing in the grass. The puppy had soft, floppy ears. His furry coat had patches of black, brown, and gray with white around his neck. His eyes were different colors. One was blue and the other was brown. Mike scooped him up, and slurp! The little furball stuck out his tongue and licked Mike’s face. Mike paid the woman and drove home with the puppy.
Mike didn’t think of the dog as a pet. He thought of him more as a friend, or even a brother. He named the pup Opee, his own nickname as a child.
The next day, Mike woke up to whining. “Are you hungry, fella?” Mike asked. He poured some kibble into a plastic bowl and fixed himself a cup of coffee.
The house was a mess. A table saw stood in the middle of the living room. Rows of bare wooden studs rose like jail bars at one end of the room. Piles of sweet-smelling sawdust littered the floor.
Mike grabbed a hammer and started to work. Opee followed behind, leaving paw prints in the dust. Later he curled up in Mike’s toolbox to sleep.
One day, Mike and Opee drove to the hardware store for supplies. When they got there, Mike set the puppy on a flatbed cart. “Stay,” he said. Opee did. Mike was surprised by how well he obeyed. “He just seemed to get it,” Mike said.
