READY-TO-READ Story by Cynthia Rylant Pictures by Sucie Stevenson W RS OF THE THEODOR SEUSS GEISEL AWARDHenry and Mudge have had many adventures together and you can read them all! Look for these great ste Henry and Mudge Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble Henry and Mudge in the Green Time Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon Henry and Mudge in the Sparkle Days Henry and Mudge and the Forever Sea Henry and Mudge Get the Cold Shivers Henry and Mudge and the Happy Cat Henry and Mudge and the Bedtime Thumps Henry and Mudge Take the Big Test Henry and Mudge and the Long Weekend Henry and Mudge and the Wild Wind Henry and Mudge and the Careful Cousin Henry and Mudge and the Best Day of All Henry and Mudge in the Family Trees Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night Henry and Mudge and Annie's Good Move Henry and Mudge and the Snowman Plan Perfect Pet Henry and Mudge and the Tall Tree House Henry and Mudge and Anni Henry and Mudge and Mrs, Hopper's House Henry and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase Henry and Mudge and the Punny Lunch Henry and Mudge and a Very Merry Christmas Henry and Mudge IN THE Family Trees The Fifteenth Book of Their Adventures Story by Cynthia Rylant Pictures by Sugie Stevenson ALADDIN PAPERBACKSFor Connor Mancini—CR For Dave, Kellie, and my pal, Pinewoods Gold Shield Diesel—SS ‘THE HENRY AND MUDGE BOOKS First Aladdin Paperbacks Edition September 1998 Text copyright © 1997 by Cynthia Rylant Illustrations copyright © 1997 by Sucie Stevenson Aladdin Paperbacks An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. READY-TO-READ is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Also available in a Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers hardcover edition. The text for this book was set in 18-point Goudy. The illustrations were rendered in pen-and-ink and watercolor. Manufactured in the United States of America 16 18 20 19 17 15 The Library of Congress has cataloged the Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers hardcover edition as follows: Rylant, Cynthia. nd Mudge in the family trees : the fifteenth book of their adventures / story by Cynthia Rylant ; pictures by Sugie Stevenson. p. cm.—(The Henry and Mudge books) (Ready-to-read) “Level 2"—Cover. Summary: Henry and his big dog Mudge attend a family reunion. ISBN-13: 978-0-689-81179-1 (he.) ISBN-10: 0-689-81179-9 (he.) {1 Family reunions—F I. ies: Rylant, Cynthia, Henry and Mudge books. PZ7.R982Hkk1 1997 [E]—de20 96-1964 ISBN-13: 978-0-689-82317-6 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-689-82317-7 (pbk.) 1009 LAK ion. 2. Dogs—Fiction.] I. Stevenson, Sucie, ill. II. Title. Ill. Series. Contents The Invitation Sloppy Kisses The Best Family 13 27| AV) | In SI aU b x The Invitation One day Henry and Henry’s big dog, Mudge, and Henry’s parents were sitting on the porch when a letter came.The envelope said INVITATION. Henry loved invitations. Mudge loved them, too, because they usually meant cake. “Hurry, Dad, open it!” said Henry. Henry’s father opened the envelope. “Tt’s a family reunion!” said Henry’s father. “At Cousin Annie’s house.”“Yay!” shouted Henry. He liked Cousin Annie a lot. Mudge wagged. He liked Annie, too. She always wiped his nose with hankies. “You'll meet a lot of new relatives, Henry,” said Henry’s mother. “Great!” said Henry.“And you'll hear “And you'll get a a lot of good stories,” million sloppy kisses,” she said. said Henry’s father. “Great!” said Henry. Leh 1H Me | ie os Henry looked at Mudge. “Uh-oh,” Henry said.Lr beefy On the day of the reunion WwW Henry’s family Sloppy Kisses drove to Annie’s house, Ul 6d. i/ aN lhRON a tennis ball for Mudge, and a paper towel Henry brought a new Frisbee for himself. for Annie, For sloppy kisses.In the yard, on the porch, all through the house. When they got to Annie’s house, And a few were even people were everywhere. in the trees!Henry suddenly felt nervous. So many relatives! What would they say? Would they be nice? Would they be friendly? Would they understand dog drool? Henry and Mudge got out of the car. Henry felt very shy.Zs “L eit Eg uw Cx / ae ww Se GLE oy CL ae ic Suddenly Annie saw him GS C U from up in a tree. C G y g “Hi, Henry!” Annie called. ia “Hi, Mudge!” CAE VO A 4B Q “MUDGE?” a relative on a swing said.“MUDGE?” a relative on the porch said. “MUDGE?” said somebody in the house. “Hey everybody!” shouted Aunt Sally from another tree. “It’s MUDGE!”ff Mi WA \j y] | And a million relatives WU \y / came running with \ f XQ \ Vy a million sloppy kisses— and all of them for Mudge! better than Mudge. ms, > es if” Z wet No one loved a sloppy kiss on Henry smiled proudly. He was made Mudge wagged and wagged and wagged. for family reunions!The Best Family Henry’s relatives were fun. They danced. They sang. They laughed big belly laughs.And so many cousins! WW \ Cousin Jeff, Cousin Joe, / Cousin Steph, Cousin Kate, But Annie was still and on and on and on. the best cousin.Aunt Sally gave Mudge a cracker each time he caught the Frisbee. She and Henry and Mudge played Frisbee with some aunts and uncles and grandpas and grandmas.When they got tired, Henry and Annie and Mudge went to Annie’s room. Annie showed Henry her collections of lace hankies and china teacups. Not very exciting, thought Henry.Then Annie showed him her submarine game. “Wow!” said Henry. He and Annie played submarines while Mudge slept on the canopy bed. yp Annie thought Mudge looked cute on her pink frilly bed.After Mudge’s nap, they all went back to the reunion. They played more games Then, at the end of the day, and had more fun it was time and climbed more trees. to say good-bye.Henry shook a million hands and got a million hugs. And everyone said, “What a fine dog you have, Henry!” Henry was proud. Cousins and aunts and uncles and grandpas and grandmas were great to have.But Mudge would always be the best family of all. “T live in Oregon with my son, Nate, and our two dogs and one large cat. I have always loved pets. Raised in the country in West Virginia, I was surrounded by hound dogs and barn cats. “When I grew up and found myself raising a boy and dogs, Iwas inspired to write the Henry and Mudge stories. I know all about cold shivers, big tests, happy cats, and wild winds. And especially big drooly, lovable dogs.” —Cynthia Rylant2 READY-TO-READ Henry and his 180-pound dog Mudge are best friends forever. And in this, the fifteenth | ( book of their adventures, they are going to their first family reunion. Ready-to-Read books offer children a world of possibilities at four different reading levels: Independently * More-complex stories * Varied sentence structure * Paragraphs and short chapters i z $ Visit Henry and Mudge at www.henryandmudge.com SS -& US $3.99 / $4.50 CAN A Ready-to-Read Book/Classic Story ian Reese ALADDIN PAPERBACKS 2 | | | | 50399 Simon & Schuster g Ce es iii wen srre www.SimonSaysKids.com 9li780689!1823 176