Free Monkey Trouble by Charles Tang

Chapter 1
At the Zoo
    “H enry, I will be back to pick you all up at exactly three o’clock,” Grandfather Alden told his fourteen-year-old grandson as he dropped his four grandchildren off at the zoo. Henry was the oldest of the Alden children, and he always looked out for his younger siblings.
    Henry checked his watch. “Perfect,” he said. “We’ll meet you here, right after the tour is over.”
    “I’m so glad we signed up for the spring break two-day zoo tour. It’s going to take both days to see all the new animals,” said twelve-year-old Jessie. As Jessie spoke, she pulled her straight brown hair into a ponytail. “The article I read online said there were twenty different kinds of babies born at the zoo this spring. Giraffes, zebras, penguins, monkeys—”
    “Ohhh!” interrupted Jessie’s sister, Violet. “Baby monkeys are so cute! I can’t wait to see them.” The ten-year-old rushed forward and gave Grandfather a big, tight hug. “Thank you so very much for bringing us today.”
    Jessie, Violet, Henry, and Benny Alden lived with their grandfather. After their parents died, they ran away and hid in a railroad boxcar. They’d heard that James Alden was mean, and even though they’d never met him, they were afraid to live with him. But when Grandfather finally found them, it turned out that he wasn’t mean at all. As a matter of fact, he was a kind and generous man.
    When the Aldens moved in with Grandfather, he let them bring along the dog they found on their adventures—a wire-haired terrier named Watch. Now the boxcar was a clubhouse in their backyard.
    Grandfather handed Violet her lunch bag. Violet put the sack into a colorful patchwork tote bag that she’d decorated with puff paints.
    Jessie took her own lunch and went to the car’s trunk to put on her backpack. She liked to write about things she saw, so she had tucked a new notebook into the side pocket. “I can’t wait to get started,” she said.
    “Me neither,” said Benny. At six years old, Benny was the youngest of the Alden children.
    Henry took his own lunch sack from Grandfather, then pulled Benny’s pack out of the trunk with a grunt. “Wow, Benny,” he said. “This is very heavy for a six-year-old! What do you have in here? Rocks?”
    Benny smiled and licked his lips hungrily. “Better than rocks.” He put out his arms so Henry could heave the pack onto his small shoulders. “I have snacks! Lots and lots of snacks.”
    Violet, Jessie, and Henry all laughed. They knew that Benny’s stomach was a bottomless pit.
    Grandfather held up Benny’s brown lunch sack. “I guess you don’t need this, then.”
    “Oh, but I do!” Benny said, taking the bag. “Lunch is the most delicious meal of the day.” Benny paused. “I mean, besides breakfast and dinner.”
    Everyone laughed again.
    Benny asked Henry to put the lunch bag in the outside pocket of his backpack.
    “I’m ready!” he declared. Then he pointed at the entrance to the zoo. “Let’s go!”
    Grandfather waved goodbye as the children went on their way. With Benny in the lead, Jessie, Violet, and Henry followed him to the ticket line. After Jessie paid, they went straight to a small red barn. There was a sign hanging in front: Greenfield Zoo Education Center, it read. Benny opened the door to the barn, and they all went inside.
    There were no animals in this barn. Instead, there were twenty metal folding chairs set up in a circle, a chalkboard, and lots of posters of animals on the walls.
    “I’m so excited,” Benny gushed. “Kids from all over Greenfield will be at this zoo tour. I can’t wait to make new friends.”
    “I hope there will be some kids we already know from school,” Violet added. “That would be nice, too.”
    After putting their lunches in a cooler and their bags and backpacks in cubbies, the Alden children hurried to sit down. The tour was about to begin.
    Jessie waved across the circle to a few kids she knew from school.
    “Hi