Chapter 1

NANCY KRULIK Quit BuggiN me! Ben Balistreri "Very funny series... —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Chapter 1 "I wanna play! I wanna play!" Dribble shouted excitedly. The ground shook beneath the big green dragon as he jumped up and down. He pointed toward the group of kids who had gathered in the middle of the town square. "I bet I can break that pi.ata with one swing!" he boasted. "I don't think those kids need any help," Dribble's best friend, a knight-in-training named Lucas, said. "That last kid got really close to hitting it." But Dribble didn't hear Lucas. He was already halfway down the road, bouncing toward the square, shouting, "I wanna play! I wanna play!"

"I wish he would stop jumping." Princess Pulverizer groaned, tossing her long braid over her shoulder. "All this shaking is giving me a bellyache." "That could also be from the four grilled cheddar cheese on rye sandwiches you had for breakfast," Lucas pointed out. Princess Pulverizer shrugged. "Dribble makes delicious grilled cheese. I couldn't help myself." The earth shook beneath her feet. "Whoa!" she exclaimed. "That was a big one," Lucas agreed. "Come on," Princess Pulverizer urged him. "We better catch up to Dribble before he breaks something. And I don't mean the pi.ata." "AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Princess Pulverizer and Lucas reached the town square in time to see all the children

running off to hide—leaving Dribble alone by the pi.ata. "I just wanted to play with them," Dribble said sadly, looking around the empty square. "It's probably time for their lunch," Lucas said, trying to spare his feelings. Dribble shook his head. "That's not it. They're scared of me because I'm a dragon. Which is ridiculous. I wouldn't hurt anyone. Do I look scary to you?"

Dribble smiled broadly and bared his big teeth. Then he fluttered his eyelashes over his big, bulging eyes. Princess Pulverizer gulped. Dribble didn't just look scary. He looked a little crazy, too. "I wonder where we are," she said, trying to change the subject. "I've never been to this kingdom before."

The princess began to walk around the square, searching for a sign that might give her a clue as to her whereabouts. As she passed by a big bale of hay, she heard whispering. "Do you think that big green thing is the Yabko-kokomo Beast?" one voice said. "I don't know," someone else whispered back. "But we better stay here till he leaves, just in case. We don't want to be the next kids from Yabko-kokomo to be captured and dragged off into the forest." Princess Pulverizer hurried back to where Lucas and Dribble were standing. "We're in a place called Yabko-kokomo," she told them. "How did you find that out?" Lucas asked her. He looked around. "I don't see any signs or anything." "I have my ways," Princess Pulverizer replied mysteriously. "I also learned why the kids all ran away, Dribble. And it's not because you're a dragon."