Agent Pitch Finalist #9 - Endangered

ENDANGERED
MG Fantasy Adventure
51,000

Query:

Maddie has a woolly spider monkey that no one else can see. After losing all her friends and getting assigned a therapist, she’s stopped trying to convince people it’s real.

Then Maddie meets worrywart Liam and his smart-aleck friend Hayden at sixth grade orientation, and is astonished that they have invisible animals, too. Liam has a tiger, Hayden has a sea turtle, and soon Maddie is introduced to an entire secret society of wildlife "Guardians", each with their own Spirit Animal. As the Guardians explain, Spirit Animals are the essences of endangered species. So when a sudden illness ravages her monkey, a horrified Maddie realizes it can only mean one thing: wild woolly spider monkeys are in serious trouble.

Catapulted into a rescue mission, Maddie and the boys travel from California to Brazil to discover what is threatening the monkeys and to put a stop to it. Faced with slash and burn deforestation, a corrupt police detective, and desperate poachers, it seems impossible that three kids and one sickly Spirit Animal could have any chance of success. But when failure means losing her beloved monkeys forever, Maddie knows that giving up just isn't an option.

First 150 Words:

Maddie lowered the baby monkey into her backpack. “Just stay still for me, please?” Maddie asked. The monkey’s tiny fingers pulled playfully on hers as she tried to coax him into the bag, which balanced cautiously on the damp wooden fence in front of the zoo’s Primate House. Maddie had one backpack strap looped over her arm to make sure it didn’t fall. “I’m excited to be back here again, too,” Maddie continued, “But if you get out—”

“Who’s she talking to, Grandma?” a little voice asked.

Maddie immediately stopped what she was doing. People can see you. Got to act normal, she told herself, though it was impossible to keep her hands from bobbing weirdly as the monkey scampered out of the bag and over them. Brazilly, no! Get back here! She bit down on her lower lip to stop herself from actually shouting after him.

Farther down the spider monkey viewing area, an old lady gave her a sideways glance.