The Bubble Gum Blob

Andres Miedoso, Victor Rivas

• Publisher: Little Simon
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781665914055
• eBook ISBN: 9781665914079

A little stick of gum leads to a lot of bubble trouble in this fifteenth creepy adventure in the Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol series!

The candy at Kersville Elementary School is usually sweet. But when a brand-new type of bubble gum gets passed around, Desmond and Andres find themselves in a very sticky situation. Because the bubble gum blob bites back!

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol chapter books are perfect for emerging readers.

CHAPTER ONE TALL CANDY TALES

Do you ever wonder why most grown-ups give kids such a hard time about eating candy? They have so many candy rules!

No junk food on school nights.

No sweets before breakfast.

No candy before bed.

Hmmm. I bet parents wait until we’re asleep so they can stuff their faces with all the candy they want!

Not only that. Why do parents always tell us stories to scare us from eating too much candy?

Did you ever hear the story about the girl who ate so much taffy that her mouth got stuck together?

And what about the boy who ate so much sour candy that his whole body puckered until he disappeared? Poof!

Or the one about the kid who ate so many fizzy lava rocks that she erupted like a volcano?

Grown-ups never stop! They will tell you, don’t bite into jawbreakers, don’t run with lollipops in your mouth, don’t eat chocolate in swimming pools…. Well, those rules actually make sense now that I think about it.

I’ve even heard a story about a girl whose mom was a dentist. And this girl’s mom told her that eating candy was fine, but she had to brush her teeth as soon as she was done… because of the tiny people who lived in her mouth.

Her mom said the tiny people loved candy too. So, if any candy was left behind, they’d eat the candy… and her teeth! They wouldn’t stop until every sweet tooth was gone!

I have to be honest: That story still makes me shudder. Plus, it reminds me to brush my teeth twice every day. Ugh.

My parents are cool about candy. They don’t mind if I eat it… just as long as I give some to them. They call it “the Sweet Treat Tax.” I have to give them a little piece of whatever I eat. Twenty percent to be exact. That’s like a huge bite out of every candy bar!

But I don’t mind—usually.

Halloween is different. Twenty percent of my candy haul is a lot of candy. And my parents are scientists, and they’ll actually figure out exactly how much to take.

The Sweet Treat Tax is the worst!

But there is one type of candy my parents can’t stand: bubble gum.

Mom doesn’t like the spit-covered bubbles. And the chewing sound drives Dad bonkers!

There is a rule in our house: no bubble gum allowed.

That’s why I’ve never had bubble gum in my whole entire life… until I moved to Kersville, of course.

As a matter of fact, that’s me, Andres Miedoso. I’m the one who’s caught in that giant pile of pink, sticky stuff.

That’s my best friend, Desmond Cole, swimming in that same pink, sticky stuff like a pro.

I bet you’re wondering what that pink, sticky stuff is, right?

It’s a bubble gum blob.

And I bet you’re wondering how we got ourselves into this situation.

Well, that’s a long story. But we shouldn’t start with the bubble gum blob. We should start with Marquis Chase, or as he’s better known at Kersville Elementary, the Candy Kid.

CHAPTER TWO THE CANDY KID

I know what you’re thinking. And no, Marquis wasn...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Chapter One: Tall Candy Tales
• Chapter Two: The Candy Kid
• Chapter Three: Sweet Tooth, Sour Truth
• Chapter Four: Not-So-Yum Gum
• Chapter Five: You Don’t Chew Me
• Chapter Six: I CHEWS YOU
• Chapter Seven: Sticky Stuck
• Chapter Eight: The Ghost Plan
• Chapter Nine: ABC
• Chapter Ten: Bubble Burst
• About the Author and Illustrator
• Copyright