CHAPTER 1  IT’S RAINING! IT’S POURING!   

 

  “Rain is going to fall! Rainfall is coming!” a flock of seagulls cried. “Squawk, squawk!”

  Isla Verde looked up from her library book. Seagulls flew in circles above the calm ocean water.

  To everyone else on the beach, the squawks sounded just like any other bird calls. But Isla had a secret.

  She could speak to animals, and they could speak right back!

  Ever since she could remember, she’d made friends with all sorts of critters. Isla knew turtles, friendly snakes, birds, and even tiny tree frogs.

    

   

 

“Hmmm,” Isla hummed. “It doesn’t look like it’s going to rain. The sky is clear.”

  “Rain?” Tora Rosa groaned. “It can’t rain! My dolls’ sandcastle will get all droopy.”

  Isla looked at the impressive sandcastle Tora had built. It was decorated with shells, seaweed, and a few dolls.

  Fitz, Isla’s gecko best friend, looked up from his sunny spot.

    “Now that’s a sturdy castle,” he said. “Nothing is knocking it down! Unless it rains, of course.”

  Isla giggled.

  Tora was Isla’s good friend and neighbor. When she first moved to the island of Sol, Tora hadn’t really liked hanging out with animals. But as long as Isla let Tora know what the animals were saying, it really wasn’t too bad.

       Three small hermit crabs crawled by with their claws in the air. “Hey, Isla! Did you hear the seagulls? We’re going to have a rain shower!”

  Isla shrugged. “I believe them. Birds are pretty good at telling us when the weather is about to change. But the sky just seems so blue.”

  “Maybe they’re wrong this time,” Tora said as she added small shells on top of her castle towers.

  “Maybe,” said Isla.

    She went back to reading her book. But just as she reached a new chapter, Isla felt a drop on her nose.

  Drip. Drip. Drip.

  Dripdripdripdrip!

  In a blink of an eye, it began sprinkling.

  “Or the seagulls were totally telling the truth,” Isla admitted.

  Tora tried to cover her sandcastle. “Oh, no! My castle! Fitz, can you help?”

  “I’m on it!” shouted Fitz as he scrambled into Tora’s heart-shaped beach bag.

    “Hey, that’s not helping,” said Tora.

  “Of course it is,” said Isla. “He’s protecting your snacks… just not from him.”

    Tora peeked into her bag and saw Fitz munching on some banana slices.

  “I guess it’s better to eat them before they get wet,” she said.

  “See? She gets me!” cheered Fitz with his mouth full.

  Isla giggled and then made a new plan.

  “Let’s go back to my house,” she said. “We can enjoy the rain from inside with a nice slice of papaya cake.”

  Tora nodded. “Oooh, I love staying dry and papaya. Let’s go!”