Fly Frenzy
Authors: Ali Sparkes
Books in the
S.W.I.T.C.H. series
#1 Spider Stampede
#2 Fly Frenzy
#3 Grasshopper Glitch
#4 Ant Attack
#5 Crane Fly Crash
#6 Beetle Blast
Text © Ali Sparkes 2011
Illustrations © Ross Collins 2011
“SWITCH: Fly Frenzy” was originally published in English in 2011. This edition is published by an arrangement with Oxford University Press.
Copyright © 2013 by Darby Creek
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansâelectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwiseâwithout the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.
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Main body text set in ITC Goudy Sans Std. 14/19.
Typeface provided by Monotype Typography.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sparkes, Ali.
Fly frenzy / by Ali Sparkes ; illustrated by Ross Collins.
p. cm. â (S.W.I.T.C.H. ; #02)
Summary: Mad scientist Petty Potts asks her neighbors, twins Josh and Danny, to help with her experiments and when her SWITCH spray turns them into flies, they are able to investigate the sabotage of their mother's garden.
ISBN 978-0-7613-9200-2 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)
[1. FliesâFiction. 2. BrothersâFiction. 3. TwinsâFiction. 4. Science fiction.] I. Collins, Ross, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.S73712Fly 2013
[Fic]âdc23
2012026632
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 â SB â 12/31/12
eISBN: 978-1-4677-1122-7 (pdf)
eISBN: 978-1-4677-3106-5 (ePub)
eISBN: 978-1-4677-3107-2 (mobi)
For Gregory
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“Buzz off, you revolting little pest!” Jenny thwacked Danny on the head with her rolled-up magazine.
Josh tried not to giggle. His sister had been reading peacefully for five minutes. She was unaware that Danny was crouched on the back of the sofa behind her. He was rubbing the backs of his hands together, sticking out his tongue, and rolling his eyes madly. A half-eaten cookie in her hand, Jenny hadn't even noticed Josh standing in the doorway. He was taking pictures with his little digital camera.
It was only when Danny started buzzing that things turned ugly.
“Go and play outside, you creepy little horrors!” yelled Jenny. She was fourteen, so she thought she could boss them around. She whacked Danny again. He fell off the sofa and rolled across the living room floor, laughing and buzzing.
Josh tucked his camera into his pocket. He strolled out toward the front yard with his twin brother. “Of course, if you
really
wanted to be a fly, you should have spit stomach acid on her cookie. Then walked all over it until it was mush.
Then
eaten it.”
Danny biffed the back of Josh's neat, blond head as they went down the hallway. “And Mom says
I'm
the disgusting one!”
“It's just nature,” shrugged Josh. He biffed Danny back on his spiky, blond head. “Flies are amazing. I can show you one under my microscope if you like.”
“Yuck! I
don't
like!” shuddered Danny. It was one thing pretending to be an insect to annoy Jenny. He hated the real thing.
“You ate one quite happily a couple of weeks ago,” Josh reminded him.
Danny stopped dead on the front doorstep. “I thought we agreed never to talk about that again!”
“Well, yeah, butâ”
“NEVER!” said Danny.
Outside, Mom was by the front hedge. She was talking to Mrs. Sharpe from down the street. Mom's garden looked fantastic. It was carefully trimmed and mowed. It was full of flowers, bushes, and little trees, all overflowing with colorful blossoms. The hedge, though, was her real pride and joy. For years she had trimmed and trained it into three little bird shapes along the top. It was a special skill called “topiary,” she had explained to Josh and Danny. She called them her “hedge birds.”
