Notebook for Fantastical Observations by Holly Black, Tony DiTerlizzi Read Free Book Online

I almost didn’t see the bear.
    I bet you think that that’s when I screamed. Well, I didn’t.
    Actually, I held completely, totally still. I think that’s why he didn’t notice me. He was a big bear with dull, brownish fur and a nose that gleamed wetly in the moonlight. He stood up on his hind legs and sniffed the air. For a terrible moment, I thought he was going to smell me. He thudded back onto all four paws, however, and walked a few more paces. Butthen he did something surprising—he changed.
    Horns sprouted from his brow, his body thinned, and for a single moment, I thought I saw his eyes become slitted and gold like a cat’s. Then its legs got much longer, the bear claws morphing into black hooves. In one more blink of my eyes, I was looking at a stag. I must have made some small sound, because the deer-thing turned its liquid eyes toward me.
    That’s when I screamed. You would have too. If I hadn’t shrieked my head off, it wouldn’t have run away and the scoutmaster wouldn’t have checked on all of us. If it wasn’t for me, the rest of the Order of the Arrow candidates could have been picked off, one by one. I think I should have gotten the biggest badge of all.
    —Steven R.
    ANALYSIS: Ogres are shape-changers, so it is sometimes difficult to tell when you have seen one. In this case, however, it was the shape-changing that gave the ogre away for what it was.
    —H. B. & T. D.

This creature can morph into something completely different:

Here’s what else I know about it:
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True tests of bravery:

    List of things I’d pack for a night in the woods:
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    List of practical responses:

Creature trading cards:



Friend trading cards:

“The Black Dog of the Night. . . .
An ass or perhaps merely a sprite.”
    FROM B OOK 3: L UCINDA’S S ECRET

PHOOKAS
    I used to get beat up a lot at school.
    On the playground, I got hassled when the lunch monitors were looking the other way—but it wasn’t too bad because no one wanted to get in