A Little Child Shall Lead Them: She Persisted: Ruby Bridges by Kekla Magoon

Little Ruby Bridges was a farm-to-city girl. As a preschooler, she played and helped pick and prepare the food the family grew. But her parents knew she was bright and needed to go to school, so they moved from the farm to New Orleans, and Ruby had a happy year in the Kindergarten class at Lockett Elementary School Kindergarten, which was all black children as the laws of Louisiana required.

But in 1954 the Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled that all public schools must be integrated.

That summer all black children were required to take a scholastic test:

The test was very hard, on purpose. The white people who designed the test to be so hard that none of the black children would pass.

But Ruby Bridges scored very high, one of only four black children who passed the test, and she was assigned to begin first grade at William Franz Elementary School. But although the school was only a short walk from her house, it had been an all-white school and parents and non-parents were very angry. On the first day, crowds of them surrounded the school, with weapons and signs demanding that the school not be integrated--ever. For her safety, Ruby had to be driven by Federal Marshalls to the school and escorted inside and all the way to her classroom--where she found herself the only student of her teacher, Mrs. Henry.

"I was going to integrate William Frantz Public School and I was going to be alone," she wrote later.

At that moment Ruby was not afraid. She was only sad that she could not be with her friends any more. At six years old she had no idea what a huge moment in history she was about to be part of.

Almost all adults and some children are familiar with the Norman Rockwell painting of little Ruby, in her little white dress, with white socks and shoes, and beribboned braids, surrounded by protective federal marshals as an angry crowd screamed and tossed ripe tomatoes at her. But Ruby Bridges bravely walked into a new world, inside to a now integrated William Frantz School. That painting, which now hangs outside the Oval Office in the White House, is an iconic symbol of the courage and determination of those brave souls who eventually overcame school segregation.

Coretta Scott King award-winning author Kekla Magoon tells the essence of the story of Ruby Bridges in language accessible for young readers in a short chapter book, describing how the six-year-old felt during that very unusual first-grade year--how Ruby sometimes hid her sandwich, hoping to get to go to the lunchroom with the other first graders and how Mrs. Henry stopped lunching with other teachers so that Ruby would not be lonely eating alone in their classroom.

Illustrated by Gillian Flint, She Persisted: Ruby Bridges (Philomel Books, 2021) is one of the books about persistent girls and women in the series She Persisted.

Beginning Black History Month with what the children know best, the schoolroom, this is a perfect read-aloud to begin February observances and activities. "A context-offering complement to Bridges’ own books for children." says Kirkus Reviews.

The Zebra Box Mystery! Meet the Crew at the Zoo (Mystery on Zoo Lane Series #1) by Patricia Reilly Giff

The plane roared to a stop. Luke's throat burned. He told himself he was too old to cry.

"You'll love this place, Luke," said Dad. "With the new Zoo!"

Luke tried to nod. If only they were back with Abuelo, his grandfather, at the zoo in Florida.

Dad is so proud of his new job as a zoo physician in New York City that Luke doesn't want to let him know how unhappy he is with their move. His little sister Benita seems excited, but Luke's heart drops when they drive up in front of a row of rather shabby houses with the zoo right behind them. Their old house was nicer, and since Abuela was also a zoo doctor and Luke had a lot of good friends back in Florida, Luke can't see anything better here for him.

The next morning Dad rushes him out to the zoo, telling him a new black spider monkey was going to be born soon, and Luke trails along to the Baby Zoo House. On the way in, Luke notices a door that says STAY OUT. He starts to ask about the door, just as his dad calls him to see the baby spider monkey. On the way out he meets a lady cleaning the ponds who tells him about how anteaters use their long snouts for snorkels and tells her to call her Nana-Next-Door. On the way back home Luke spots a boy sweeping the walkway. Both of them see a striped box partly under a bush and reach for it at the same time.

They rolled in the path.

"Hey!" cried Luke. The boy yelled "hey," too! Were the kids terrible here?

WRONG!

"Sorry!" The boy let go of the box.

"Are you the new kid?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I'm the old kid. I've always lived here. Let's see what's in the box!"

Inside is a little green collar, Luke's favorite color, and a dollar bill with a note saying it was for lunch the first week. Just as the boys are puzzling over the contents of the stripped box, a girl named Tori comes by. It's not hers, she says. Mitchell tells Luke it may belong to a kid named Alex.

"He never stops talking," he warns Luke.

And Luke soon runs into Alex, who claims the box might be his. But when Alex can't describe what was in his box, Luke keeps walking, leaving Alex going on and on about how hard his whole name is to spell! Mitchell was right about Alex, Luke thinks.

Later that day Luke meets another kid, Omar, working with his dad in the Blue Zoo Stand. Omar points out the waste basket with lots of blue striped food boxes in it and says he is missing one of the boxes, too, but he has no idea what he put in it. A blue cookie? A pen? That solves the question of where the unusual box came from, but Luke feels no closer to solve the mystery of what is in the box. Still, he has managed to meet all the kids in the row of houses beside the zoo, except Tori's brother Ken. But Ken tells him he found his box, and Tori notices some faint writing on one side of the mystery box.

"SEE DAD!" it says.

And Dad takes him back to the Baby Zoo House and opens the door with the STAY OUT sign, and now Luke knows who the small collar is for!

All's well that ends with new puppies for Luke and for Benita. It's mystery solved, in two-time Newbery Award-winning author Patricia Reilly Giff's first book in her new beginner novels series, Meet the Crew at the Zoo (Mysteries on Zoo Lane) (Holiday House, 2020). The author of the top-selling Kids of the Polk Street School mysteries, Giff's return to the early chapter book genre will be well received, and with engaging illustrations by Abby Carter, a group of diverse characters, and a setting just right for intriguing mystery adventures, this one will be welcomed by young readers transitioning from picture books to chapter books.

Spooky Spoof! Mother Ghost by Rachel Kolar

WEE WILLIE WEREWOLF RUNS THROUGH THE TOWN
AND WITH A HOWL HE CRIES,
"ARE ALL THE MONSTERS IN THEIR BEDS?
THE SUN'S ABOUT TO RISE!"

Poor Mother Goose! Her venerable rhymes and tales are so familiar, making them fair game for parody, and Rachel Kolar's enticing Mother Ghost: Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters (Sleeping Bear Press, 2018) has a holiday blast spoofing those famous verses with a Halloween twist.

Artist Roland Garrigue's rococo style and black and purple palette make the most of the Halloween tropes--bare, leafless trees provide perches for ghosties, and a zombie-esque Mary Quite Contrary sits on a tombstone eating worms--and that spider for dessert.

Old Mother Hubbard goes to her cupboard for a dog bone, only to have a skeleton claim it for one of his own. A spooky bat is the stand-in for the homey Mrs. Goose, and instead of a little lamb, her Mary has a pet ghost, white as a cloud, who follows her everywhere wearing his shroud. And as for that other nursery rhyme Mary....

MARY, MARY, TALL AND SCARY,
HOW DOES YOUR GRAVEYARD GROW?
WITH BURIED BONES AND CARVED GRAY STONES,
AND LITTLE GHOSTS ALL IN A ROW!

All of Kolar's nursery characters are decked out as familiar Halloween characters as the diddle-diddle cat fiddles for a ghoul, while Little Boy Drac blows his horn in this seasonal spoof of an old favorite collection that most kids will find rhyming, irresistible chuckle-bait. A first choice for children's holiday library collections and a sure-fire funny read-aloud.

Everyone's a Comedian! My Teacher Is An Idiom by Jamie Gilson

MIND YOUR MANNERS!

The banner in the lunchroom was new. And red. You couldn't miss it.

A bunch of third graders painted it. They got caught spitting watermelon seeds and cherry pits. The watermelon seeds won.

But manners are far from Richie's mind. He's still at the lunch table, trying to eat without his missing front teeth (thanks to Patrick's gummy candy octopus), when Patrick, who fancies himself a future stand-up comic, sits down. Patrick is usually bad news, and this time he has to show off his latest gag, the Mosquito, sucking Richie's warmish red Jello through a straw and letting it dribble out of his mouth like Dracula. At his urging, Richie reluctantly agrees to give it a try and sucks so hard the Jello goes up his nose, just as the vice-principal, Mr. E., heads over to investigate, and the resulting sneeze spatters all over Mr. E's Sumac School t-shirt.

How does Patrick come up with these goofball schemes? Why does Richie always fall for Patrick's gags? Now they are both in trouble. Mr. E. hauls them to his office, taking the new girl, Sophie from France, along as an eyewitness.

"Sophie," he said. "Tell me, what did these boys do?"

Richie cringes. Now the whole humiliating story of how Patrick got him in trouble once again is going to come out. But Sophie hesitates. And then she decides not to tattle. She shakes her head.

"I am making white cabbage." she said.

Richie and Patrick look confused. But Mr. E. explains that Sophie is using an idiom, which in French means she's drawing a blank on just what happened.

Richie gives Sophie a relieved smile. But Mr. E. still has just the punishment to fit the crime. Richie and Patrick will have to make a speech on good manners to the second- and third-grade assembly on Friday. Richie starts obsessing over the speech, but Patrick sees it as yet another chance to perfect his stand-up comedy routine. And worst of all, his joke-loving father is going to help with the speech. Richie cringes again. This is going to be VERY embarrassing.

And Richie is right. Patrick's dad manages to "crack up" the program, in more ways than one!

Veteran author Jamie Gilson's latest in her Table Two series, My Teacher Is an Idiom (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2015) introduces a little wordplay with French and English idioms along with a lesson in lunchroom etiquette for the kids in Mrs. Zookey's second grade, while Paul Meisel's black and white drawings add to the slapstick primary-grade humor. Will Patrick ever learn to put a lid on his pranks? Will Richie ever learn not to get sucked into them? Hopefully, not in this cheery beginning chapter series from a real pro in kid comedy.

Jamie Gilson is also the author of classic comic elementary grade novels such as Thirteen Ways To Sink A Sub by Gilson, Jamie (2014) Paperback and Bug in a Rug Paperback 2003 ]

Unexpected Understudy: Nancy Clancy, Star of Stage and Screen by Jane O'Connor

NANCY KEPT LICKING HER LIPS. THE INSIDE OF HER MOUTH FELT AS DRY AS DUST. HER TUMMY WAS DOING FLIP FLOPS, AND SHE WAS PERSPIRING LIKE CRAZY.

PERSPIRING SOUNDED MORE GROWN-UP--AND LESS GROSS--THAN SWEATING.

"WHAT ARE YOU SO WORKED UP ABOUT?" GRACE ASKED NANCY. "YOU WON'T BE ONE OF THE STARS."

It's time for the annual grade-level program. Nancy has been practicing her guitar playing, and she's determined that this year she won't be lost in the chorus, despite show-off Grace's rude remarks.

Her audition goes well, and when the call-back comes that night, Nancy is in seventh heaven. Her tap-dancing best friend Bree also passes the audition, and the two friends throw themselves eagerly into practicing for their musical program about the states, "The Nifty Fifty." The script has Bree tapping to "East Side, West Side" in the salute to New York, and Nancy is accompanying and singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas," with Robert, "the boy from Paris," to salute his home state. Her little sister JoJo, whose favorite TV show is Cowgirl Sal, is thrilled, and to Nancy's disgust, she is soon belting out the lyrics every time Nancy tries to rehearse her part.

But keeping the whole family from getting into the act when she practices is not Nancy's only problem. Grace, who is (naturally) the lead singer on "Oklahoma," continues her put downs at school, and Bree and Nancy quarrel when Nancy complains that Bree is no fun because she's always practicing her routine. But rehearsals after school with Robert and his lasso seem to be going well, and Nancy is sure that they will go over big when "The Nifty Fifty" premiers for their parents.

IT WAS ALMOST SHOWTIME! THE SCENERY--A GIANT MAP OF THE US IN RED, SILVER, AND BLUE GLITTER--WAS STAPLED ACROSS THE BACK OF THE STAGE. EVERYONE WAS IN COSTUME.

Bree's relentless practice pays off. Her performance is perfect and she comes offstage happy. Time seems to fly by as each state's players do their numbers to applause. Suddenly, it seems, Master of Ceremonies Lionel is in front of the curtain, telling his Texas jokes, and it's almost time for Robert and Nancy to go on. Nancy tilts her cowboy hat at a rakish angle and sits down by the fake campfire with her guitar. The curtains open as cowpoke Robert strolls onstage and starts twirling his lariat. It's time for Nancy to begin "Deep in the Heart of Texas."

SACRE BLEU! THE PLACE WAS PACKED. EVERYBODY WAS LOOKING AT HER. NANCY OPENED HER MOUTH.

HER MIND WENT BLANK. WHAT WERE THE WORDS TO THE SONG? WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE SONG?

NANCY OPENED HER MOUTH AGAIN. THIS TIME SHE HEARD SOMETHING--THE OPENING LINE OF THE SONG.

"THE STARS AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIGHT--"

IT WAS JOJO!

When the star chokes, the understudy must go on, and from the front row Jojo, conveniently costumed as Cowgirl Sal, joins Robert and Nancy onstage, belting it out with brio. Suddenly Nancy's fingers move to form the chords, and her voice returns, and the impromptu trio's "Deep in the Heart of Texas" brings down the house.

Finally the curtain comes down and "The Nifty Fifty" is at last history, or so Nancy hopes. But, of course, there are a lot of parents in the audience filming the show, and the next day Nancy gets a phone call from none other than Grace, telling her that her episode of flop-sweat stage fright has gone viral on YouTube. Sacre bleu, indeed!

"YOU MEAN ALL OVER AMERICA PEOPLE ARE WATCHING ME MAKE A FOOL OF MYSELF? THIS IS THE WORST NEWS EVER!"

THERE SHE WAS... WITH HER MOUTH OPENING AND CLOSING LIKE A GOLDFISH, HER EYES STARING INTO SPACE.

Will Nancy Clancy ever live down her deer-in-the headlights moment? In Jane O'Connor's latest beginning chapter Nancy book, Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Star of Stage and Screen (Harper, 2015), Nancy bucks up long enough to make an appearance with her little sister on the local television news, and when Jojo is the one with stage fright before the TV cameras, it is Nancy's turn to do the talking for both of them. Media-savvy young readers will go for the story of Nancy's gone-viral lapse that could absolutely happen to them these days, too. This timely book makes a great read aloud for stage shy kids at this time of year when lots of willing and not-so-willing thespians are taking the boards in school-end productions.

Somehow mega-star author O'Connor and artist Robin Preiss Glaser hit all their marks again in another smash hit for young readers.

Reluctant Heroine: High Time for Heroes (Magic Tree House #51) by Mary Pope Osborne

Jack sat in a sunny spot on the front porch, studying a book of magic tricks. He was planning a magic show.

"Hey," Annie tapped on his screen door. "Let's do something."

"I'm already doing something," said Jack. He took another sip of lemonade and added more tricks to his list.

Annie gasped. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That whooshing sound," said Annie. "Like the tree house just whooshed into the woods!"

It's midsummer, and Annie has ants in her pants, craving action. As usual, Jack is in the middle of a project and has reluctantly followed Annie's false alarms into the Frog Creek woods several times this week, but this time the Magic Tree House is really waiting for them there, with another Merlin mission to follow:

Dear Jack and Annie,

I hope you enjoyed your time with the Houdinis. I ask you now to find the third secret of greatness from a woman named Florence Nightingale.

---M.

Annie is psyched! She's already done a project on Florence Nightingale for school. "I feel like I know her! I can't wait!" she says.

But the magic tree house takes them, not to England where Florence lived, or the Crimea, where Nightingale became famous as the "Lady of the Lamp," nursing the wounded in the war, but to the dusty, fly- and mosquito-ridden banks of the Nile near Thebes in Egypt in 1850. Jack and Annie meet up with the Bracebridges, an English couple traveling with Miss Nightingale who agree to introduce them. This mission seems a cinch to Annie, who figures she'll just ask the founder of nursing her secret of greatness, the magic ring of truth will glow when Florence shares her secret, and they'll be done.

But Miss Nightingale is nothing like the Florence of Annie's school project. She seems curiously detached and reticent and quickly denies that she is either famous or gifted in nursing. Her current interest seems to be in anthropological research in Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Travel in Egypt is a quite acceptable dalliance for a young unmarried woman of the time, but Florence admits that although she is interested in nursing, her parents would never allow her to pursue a professional life of any sort. Annie speaks up to disagree, but the Bracebridges and Florence point out that her duty is to do as her parents require her.

Annie is confused, but Jack points out that they have no choice but to follow Florence into the Valley of the Kings and try to talk to her some more. Annie rents two donkeys from Ali, the son of Mustafa the guide, and Jack packs up his leather pouch with Merlin's provisions--Egypt Travellers' Handbook, the vial with the magic mist, and hands Annie the ring of truth to wear, and they are off into the desert.

But along the way the two are sidetracked when they try to rescue a baby baboon from a pack of jackals. The baboon escapes up a cliff, but can't get back down.

"We have to go get her!" said Annie.

"We can't climb up there!" said Jack.  "Only the best rock climbers in the world could get up there."

"We can do that!" said Annie. "The mist. We can use the magic mist and make a wish to be great rock climbers."

As it did before, the magic mist of Avalon grants a great talent, enabling Jack and Annie to scale the cliff like experts and retrieve the little baboon. But they can't resist sitting down to rest and take in the amazing view of the Nile and the pyramids in the distance, and when they are half-way down the cliff, the hour of magical talent that the mist offers runs out. and Jack and Annie fall to the bottom. Annie has a badly sprained ankle, and Jack's shoulder and arm are too painful to move. The two time travelers find themselves longing for the quiet safety of the Frog Creek woods. But help appears in the form of Florence Nightingale, who gets them back to the Bracebridges' boat and treats their injuries, and in the course of the night, comes to a decision about her future that will change her life and the future of medicine.

"How to say it..." said Florence. "... I truly believe, deep in my heart, that one's life must have meaning and purpose."

Jack and Annie hardly need to look at the glowing ring of truth to know that they have their third secret of greatness for Merlin, in Mary Pope Osborne's latest, Magic Tree House #51: High Time for Heroes (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) (Random House, 2014). The two return home to add meaning and purpose to humility and hard work in their list of secrets of greatness and to wait for the fourth and final Merlin mission. Osborne's engrossing mixture of history and time-travel adventure continues to enthrall beginning chapter readers, and as always, lends itself easily to several core curriculum strands, including character education, for classroom use.

The nonfiction companion book for this novel is Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #28: Heroes for All Times: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #51: High Time for Heroes (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) (Random House, 2014), providing insight into the lives of a variety of heroes who changed history, from John Muir to Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman to Gandhi.

Frosted Friendship: Just Grace and the Trouble with Cupcakes by Charise Mericle Harper

OUR FAIR IDEAS AND WHO THOUGHT OF THEM

1. SUPERPOWERS (There could be games about different superpowers.) ME

2. CANDY (Every game could have something to do with a different candy.) MIMI

Candy was the best idea on the list. Best and favorite are not the same thing. My idea was still my favorite, but I knew candy was the idea our whole class was going to go crazy for.

THE PROMISE

I looked at Mimi and said, "If everyone likes your idea best, I'm not going to try to make my idea be the winner." Mimi smiled and said, "I won't say another word about my idea either."

"Pinky swear?" I said.  "Pinky swear," said Mimi, and we made it official.

It's almost school vacation and Just Grace is happy.  Grandma is coming for a weekend visit, and it's almost time for the high point of third grade, when Miss Lois' class gets to choose the theme of the school carnival. Grandma bustles in with the recipe for the "best cupcakes in the world" and she and Grace make up a huge batch.  Everyone, even Grace's best friend forever, Mimi, agrees that that they are the best cupcakes ever. Grace is sad when Grandma has to jet off for her tour of Paris, but she consoles herself with a secret breakfast cupcake and thoughts of planning the Fair with Mimi.

As  predicted, the class goes crazy over the idea of a candy-themed fair.  Mimi is smiling happily. But with cupcakes in her lunchbox and cupcakes on her brain, Grace can't believe what she does when Miss Lois calls on her.

Suddenly I thought of a new idea. It was something better than my superpowers idea.  It was something people loved maybe even more than candy. Without thinking about it, I put my hand in the air and shouted out what I was thinking.

"WHAT ABOUT CUPCAKES?"

Immediately Grace realizes what she has done. She's broken her promise to her best friend. Mimi will never trust her again.  Of course, the class joyfully jumps on the cupcake bandwagon, everyone, that is, except Mimi, who looks sadly down at her desk.

Grace is devastated at what she's done.  Mimi won't answer her calls, or walk to school with her, and Grace finds herself assigned to the planning group headed by Owen 1, her un-favorite boy in the whole class.   Now the wonderful school fair is ruined for her and she's stuck trying to think up a cupcake-themed carnival game with three people who aren't even her friends, while Mimi is laughing and and having fun with another group.

Grace has only one hope.  She carefully writes a letter of apology to Mimi and puts  it in a pretty box along with the last two of Grandma's World's Best Cupcakes.  She takes it over to Mimi's house, puts it by the front door, rings the doorbell, and runs away.  Now she has to wait and see if Mimi understands how sorry she is for breaking her promise.  But at school the next day, Mimi is still ignoring her. Can the school fair and the whole summer vacation ruined by three thoughtless words?

In her forthcoming latest in her best-selling Just Grace series, Just Grace and the Trouble with Cupcakes (The Just Grace Series) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013) shows the importance of trust in a friendship and how easily it can be lost.  The breach of a close friendship is one of the rites of passage in the elementary years, and with her usual light comic touch and black-and-white cartoon drawings to tell the story, Charise Mericle Harper takes her early elementary readers along with her as Grace and Mimi work their way through this broken-promise-premise in her fifth beginning chapter novel. Harper handles the growing pains of third graders with the deft fictional touch that puts her series right up there with Beverly Cleary's pesky Ramona Quimby, Paula Danziger's redoubtable Amber Brown, and Megan McDonald's changeable Judy Moody.

One for the Team: Mason Dixon--Basketball Disasters by Claudia Mills

Mason took the first spoonful of his Cheerios and milk.

"Um, Mom and Dad?" Mason said. He tried to keep his tone light and casual. "I was thinking that I might go out for basketball this year."

His mother found her voice first. "But, Mason...."

But, Mason?

"You've always said you're not a sports person!"

If there was anything that was irritating, it was hearing quotes from your previous self.

Mason Dixon is a Cheerios and milk, plain tee shirt and brown socks kind of guy. And he really has no burning desire to play basketball. But his best friend Brody needs a ride if he is going to play basketball, and Brody, who has hustle, easily talks Mason into enlisting his gung-ho parents in the idea. "Believe me, this is going to be great," Mason tells them, trying to copy Brody's enthusiastic tone.

Down at the Y, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that perennial class bully Dunk is not on his team. The bad news is that his mom volunteers his dad to be the coach when no one else offers to do it. Dad is now Coach Dan. Weird.

Mason's dad admits he know little about basketball and zilch about coaching it, but true to form, he cheerfully orders a book on how to coach online, and spends the weekend boning up on good coaching techniques. Mason knows that this is going to be a basketball disaster. After all, Dad has only read the first three chapters, now embarrassingly adorned with sticky notes, as they meet for the first practice. He tells the team seriously that they are going to learn to win with grace and lose with dignity.

Mason is relieved to see that he is not potentially the worst player. A kid named Dylan has that position nailed. Dylan is so afraid of the ball that he dodges any passes that come his way and drifts around the court trying to stay as far away from the floor action as he can. Mason is pretty sure that the the "losing with dignity" part of Coach Dan's pep talk is the one that the Fighting Bulldogs are going to get plenty of chances to practice.

It's a big season for Mason Dixon in Claudia Mills' third book in this series, Mason Dixon: Basketball Disasters (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). Mason learns about being part of a team, one which features three girls, including his second-best friend, Nora, finally scores his first goal in a game, survives his first sports injury, and gets to make the pass which leads to his team's beating Dunk's team in the final game.

With gentle humor and great insight into her likeable middle graders, Mills takes her wry and reluctant main character Mason another step forward in this noteworthy series, perfectly pitched just one notch above beginning chapter book level, for its target readers. Kirkus Reviews concludes, "Altogether, this is an amusing if undemanding account of the typical fourth-grade problems the athletically ungifted face as they make their way through school."

Preceding books in this series are Mason Dixon: Pet Disasters and Mason Dixon: Fourth-Grade Disasters.

Brilliant! Moonlight on the Magic Flute by Mary Pope Osborne

"Now on your next mission, Merlin wants you to bring happiness to millions of people," said Kathleen."

"You must seek out a brilliant artist. Merlin wants you to put that artist on the right path" said Teddy, "to share his or her gift with the world."

When Annie spots Merlin's emissaries Kathleen and Teddy waiting for them at the edge of the Frog Creek woods, Jack and his sister know that they are about to take the Magic Tree House forth on another exciting "Merlin Mission." The two magical messengers tell Jack that the Wand of Dianthus, which they won in an earlier mission, will again serve them well.

"The Wand of Dianthus changes into a silver flute," instructs Teddy. "Just blow into the flute, and while one of you plays, the other must make up a song. Whatever you sing will come true."

Soon Jack and Annie find themselves elaborately bewigged, Jack dressed in knee breeches and Annie in an elaborate hoop-skirted ball gown, clutching an invitation from Her Imperial Majesty Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, for a gala performance and audience with the Queen herself in the Schoenbrun Palace. The date is October 13, 1762.

As they hitch a ride with a friendly coachman to the palace gate, a very small boy, attired in an elegant blue velvet suit and wearing a tiny sword, takes a liking to Jack and begs him to explore the palace grounds with him. Jack and Annie are polite to the talkative little boy, but feel they must hurry into the palace to to complete their mission.

Once inside, they join the line of guests waiting to be presented to the Empress. A helpful girl named Nannerle gives them instructions on how they must curtsy and bow to the Queen and her royal children and then back out of the chamber, always facing the imperial family. For Jack, however, things don't go well. His deep bow causes his unruly wig to fall off and in trying to retrieve it, he falls down, and his attempt to back out of the room gracefully ends with his smacking into the wall. Jack's embarrassment is increased by the giggles of the royal children, especially the annoying little boy in the blue suit who is sitting on the lap of the Empress herself. "Who is that fool?" giggles one of the princesses as Jack makes his red-faced escape.

As Jack tries to restore his dignity (and wig) and he and Annie begin to discuss how to locate the palace artists, they hear a familiar voice.

"Jack of Frog Creek!" came a high little voice. "I have been looking everywhere for you!"

"Hi," said Annie. "What's your name?"

"Wolfie!" cried the little boy with the sword.

Wolfie begs Jack and Annie to play with him in the palace gardens which beckon beyond the salon's doors, but they explain that they are on a mission to find a brilliant artist.

"Wait!" said Wolfie. I know someone who is very brilliant! ME!"

Fat chance, Jack thinks, and he and Annie try to slip away as Wolfie's big sister Nannerle shepherds him away to find their father.

"You know you have a big responsibility tonight," she says.

"No, No, No!" wails Wolfie. "I never get to PLAY!"

But as Jack and Annie begin to search the palace for resident artists, they hear a commotion and realize that Nannerle has lost her little brother. Coming to her aid, they reason that the little boy might have gone outside on his own to play, and the two venture out into the moonlit gardens to search for him. Strange animal sounds surround them, and when Jack encounters a huge bear, he realizes that mischievous Wolfie must have freed the wild animals from the Imperial Zoo. Pulling out the magic flute, Jack begins to play as Annie begins a song which mesmerizes the animals into following them through the dark woods. At last they find little Wolfie, frozen in fear before a wild leopard, but bravely brandishing his little sword. Annie continues to sing and leads the animals back into their enclosure, to Wolfie's delight. "Music is magic!" he laughs. "I love music!"

Back in the palace, Jack and Annie find their way to the Hall of Mirrors, where an important event seems to be about to take place. To their amazement they see little Wolfie approach the dais, bow to great applause from the crowd, and take his seat at the harpsichord, where he proceeds to play the song from Jack's magic flute beautifully.

Her Imperial Majesty stepped forward. "Thank you for your brilliant performance, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!" she said. "We have witnessed a great event here tonight. I know we will all remember it in the years to come when our young Wolfgang Mozart brings joy to all the world with his music!"

Mary Pope Osborne has not lost her touch in this new entry in her best-selling series, Magic Tree House #41: Moonlight on the Magic Flute (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)). Writing like a pro for her intended audience, Osborne continues to combine fantasy and historical information within kid-pleasing adventures perfect for beginning chapter readers. As her "More Facts about Mozart and His Time" addendum points out, the little Wolfgang did indeed climb into the welcoming lap of the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and wow the crowd with his virtuoso keyboard talent, and like Jack in the final chapter, kids Googling Wolfgang Mozart will be delighted to learn that

"Mozart's last great opera was called The Magic Flute."

Bugging the Bears: Horrible Harry Bugs the Three Bears by Suzy Kline

Horrible Harry Spooger, a kid who knows no minor passions, is on an entomology kick, and among his classmates, only his friend and lady love Song Lee shares his inexplicable enthusiasm for an embalmed earwig named Edward.

With his characteristic energy, Harry figures out a way to combine his entomological fervor with his group's project to create a skit based on a famous fairy tale. Harry offers to script a version of The Three Bears which he calls "Goldilocks and the Three Bugs." Plying his teammates with his grandma's famous dirt puddings (complete with gummy worms), Harry reassures the anxious Sid that earwigs will not crawl into his ears and raise their young in his brain and persuades the whole group to stage a full funeral for Edward the Earwig.

The performance of Harry's fractured fairy tale goes off famously, with the heroic earwig frightening the home-invading Goldilocks away while the three bears--and the rest of Miss Mackle's class--enjoy the show.

After everyone clapped again, Miss Mackle stood up. "Your fractured fairy tale was so much fun! What a surprise ending! Do you think your play had a lesson to be learned?"

"It sure did," Harry answered. "If you break into someone's house, beware! You could be bugged!"

"Bravo!" Miss Mackle said.

Suzy Kline's latest in this venerable series, Horrible Harry Bugs the Three Bears (Horrible Harry), is the twenty-sixth of these evergreen little novels, comically illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz, starring Horrible Harry, not including the four books featuring Harry's (girl) friend, Song Lee. With Accelerated Reader grade levels between 2.8 through 3.5 and featuring kids in second and third grade, these books are perfect for beginning chapter readers.

For readers who enjoy the school-based adventures of Horrible Harry, see also noted author Jamie Gilson's new Table Two series. For kids who love chess, her latest sequel, Chess! I Love It! I Love It! I Love It! even features an elementary school chess club as they enter their first city-wide tourney.

And don't overlook Andrew Clements' very funny early chapter books about Jake Drake, which chronicle Jake's living and learning his way through third grade.