1 A Whale of a Problem

Chapter 1 A WHALE OF A PROBLEM "YOWZERS!" yelled Andrew as he floated under the shadowy green water. His eyes bugged out. Something that looked like a blue-gray submarine was swimming toward him and his cousin Judy. Its mouth was as big as a garage! Swarms of pink shrimp creatures swirled around them. The monster mouth swooped closer. "Cheese Louise!" yelled Judy. "It's coming right at us!" Her eyes were wide behind the face mask of her Bubble Duds underwater suit. meep… "Blue whale!" came a squeaky voice from a pocket of Andrew's Bubble Duds. It was Andrew's little silver robot friend, Thudd.

meep… "Blue whale big, big, big!" said Thudd. "Big as six brontosaurs! Big as twenty-five elephants! Long as three school buses!" Oooooooaaaaaaaaaaauuu! came a huge sound through the special headphones in the helmet of Andrew's Bubble Duds. The Bubble Duds headphones picked up every sound, even some that humans couldn't usually hear. Andrew could feel the sound, too. It shook him from his head to his toes. Judy dove under the Water Bug. The Water Bug was an underwater vehicle made from an old Volkswagen Beetle. "Andrew!" yelled Judy. "Get back into the Water Bug right now. That whale is going to eat us!" meep… "Drewd and Oody too big for blue whale to eat," said Thudd. "Blue whale eat tiny shrimpy stuff." Thudd pointed to the little pink creatures all around them. "Called krill," said Thudd.

Andrew dove under the Water Bug. He tried to find the button to get them back inside. But the gigantic mouth and its blubbery lips were just inches away! "Noooo!" yelled Judy. "Holy moly!" yelled Andrew. "Noooop!" squeaked Thudd. The mouth swooshed up a swimming pool- sized gulp of water—and Andrew, Judy Thudd, and the Water Bug with it! Just like that, they were inside the biggest mouth in the world. The rushing water tumbled and tossed them toward the darkness at the back. Andrew whammed into something bouncy as a trampoline.

meep… "Whale tongue!" said Thudd. "Wowzers!" said Andrew. "It looks like a big gray sofa pillow, but it's longer than my living room!" meep… "Blue whale tongue weigh more than hippopotamus!" said Thudd. Andrew clung to the side of the tongue and looked around. Judy had disappeared! And he couldn't see the Water Bug anywhere. He tried to pull himself toward the front of the mouth, but water kept pouring in and pushing him back. "Judy!" he yelled. "Up here, Bug-Brain!" came Judy's voice.