Note: The following is an excerpt from my upcoming children's book Secret Agent Disco Dancer: You Don't Know Jack. This is an early preview and may contain typographical or grammatical errors that haven't been corrected yet.

Chapter 1: Monster“Today is a special, special day,” Miranda reminded herself and nodded ever so slightly. She looked down at her Spiderman lunchbox, a gift from her father who had purchased something he liked rather than what was appropriate for a young frogling her age for her first day of kindergarten. “Oh, daddy...” She shook her head and set the lunchbox on the seat beside her. He was always doing crazy things like that, and where the heck was he? He promised that he'd escort her to the bus, this morning of all mornings, but as usual, he called in and told momma that he had to work late again, and cried into the phone before hanging up.

“Really, again? That's like the third time this week.” Her smile turned into a frown. Silly grown ups and their silly jobs. “If I had my way...” She looked around the bus. “I'd get rid of jobs once and for all!” A sly smile returned to her face.

“Eek!” A girl screamed as she got onto the bus.

“What is it, dear?” The bus driver who had introduced herself as Beatris a few minutes before looked at the frightened girl.

“There's a monster on the bus!” She pointed to Miranda.

“Hey, I'm not a monster! I'm just a wee, little frogling.” Miranda nodded, agreeing with something her father had said the last time he joined the family for bedtime stories.

"It's Swamp Thing!" said another girl as the children ran off the bus.

"Swamp Thing? What does that even mean?" Miranda tilted her head to one side and stared out the window. What was wrong with those crazy kids? Hadn't they ever seen a frog before? Surely she was larger than they'd seen—about the size of a toddler and a good foot shorter than the smallest six-year-old human.

Clearly she wasn't a monster in any sense of the word. That belonged to the creature hiding in the back that she noticed the moment she stepped on the bus. Though he managed to conceal himself well that morning, he certainly couldn't sneak one past her. (Besides, she had brothers...)

Still, he wasn't much of a monster.

“Right, Jack?” Miranda peered over her shoulder.