Lost in the Blizzard: Volume 5 - Rilegato

Grace Gilmore is a city girl, but she has always been fascinated by farm life. Growing up, she spent many summers riding horses, chasing chickens, and swimming in the creek at her great-grandparents’ farm in the hollows of Kentucky. When she isn’t writing books, she can be found playing the piano, baking cookies, or wrangling various pets. Grace lives with her family in Ithaca, New York.

Petra Brown lives at the foot of Mount Snowdon near the little Ffestiniog railway, in the beautiful country of North Wales, United Kingdom. When she was a child, she used to love to look through books and draw the pictures herself. Now she finds that illustrating children’s books is immensely satisfying. You can visit her at PetraB.co.uk.

Lost in The Bliz Zard

A WALK IN THE FOREST

Logan Pryce paused on the wooded path and picked up a spindly branch.

“Nah, too skinny,” he said to his dog, Skeeter.

Skeeter grabbed the branch with his teeth and gave a low, ferocious growl. He thought Logan was playing tug-of-war with him.

Logan’s brother, Drew, turned around. “What do you need a stick for, anyway?”

“It’s for my new fix-it project,” replied Logan.

“Wow, what are you fixing up?”

“It’s a highly guarded secret. All shall be revealed soon!”

Drew rolled his eyes. Being a big brother, he rolled his eyes a lot.



Logan’s new fix-it project was a sled! But he didn’t want Drew to know because it was going to be a surprise for the whole family. Logan had found the broken old sled in the barn, and he had been tinkering with it in his Fix-It Shop. He needed some parts, like a few sturdy branches and a length of strong rope. Winter was still a ways away, though, so he had plenty of time.



The two brothers continued down the path. Just a few weeks ago, the trees in the forest had been flush with gold and orange leaves. Now they were bare and brown. A chill had settled in the air. Logan could feel it even through his wool cap, peacoat, and knickers.



Drew paused in front of a huge fallen tree. Something had knocked it down—maybe one of the big thunderstorms that had swept through Maple Ridge recently?



“This is a rock elm. These make for mighty good firewood. I wish I’d brought a saw,” said Drew. Keeping the wood box full was one of his regular chores. Without wood for the stove, the Pryce family wouldn’t be able to cook, take baths, do the laundry, or heat the house.

Logan glanced over his shoulder. Behind them on the path, he could see the sun setting in the sky. “We should go,” he told Drew.



Drew crouched down to inspect the fallen tree. “What are you afraid of, Logan? Getting lost in the dark, scary forest?” he joked.

“No!”

“We can stay a bit longer. I know these woods like the back of my hand. I could get us home in the pitch-black night with no lamp. Blindfolded, even.”

That was another thing eleven-year-old brothers did a lot: exaggerate. It was a fit word for Drew, who liked to brag and boast about things he couldn’t actually do.

“You can stay if you’d like. Skeeter and I are leaving now,” Logan said with a shrug.

Drew sighed and stood up. “Oh, fine. I’d better come with you. I wouldn’t want you to lose your way.”

This time, it was Logan who rolled his eyes.