by Nancy Krulik
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright Page
On Thin Ice
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Going Downhill
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
About the Author
About the Illustrators
For Wendy Hashmall—NK
For Makiko, our mighty and
magical pen pal—J&W
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Text copyright © 2007 by Nancy Krulik. Illustrations copyright © 2007 by
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On Thin Ice
Chapter 1
“I got this medal for best short ice-skating routine,” Emma Stavros told the group of fourth-grade girls who were gathered around her on the Cherrydale Elementary School playground.
Katie Carew stared at the big gold medal Emma S. was wearing around her neck. “Isn’t that heavy?” she asked.
Emma S. nodded. “Yeah. But I love wearing it. I was up against some pretty tough competition. One girl was even a sixth-grader. But she couldn’t land her axel the way I could. It’s a jump. You start on the outside of your left foot and . . .”
Katie didn’t get to hear the rest of Emma S.’s explanation, because her best friend, Suzanne Lock, pulled her away from the crowd.
“Can you believe Emma S.?” Suzanne asked Katie. “She brags so much. I mean, I’ve been in lots of runway shows in my modeling class, but you don’t see me walking around with a medal around my neck.”
Katie had a feeling that if Suzanne had a gold medal, she would definitely be wearing it. But she didn’t say that. Suzanne would just deny it, anyway.
“I don’t see what the big deal is about ice-skating, anyway,” Suzanne went on. “It’s just sliding around the ice. Anyone can do it.”
Katie shook her head. “Not the way Emma S. can. I’ve seen her. She’s amazing.”
“Modeling is much harder,” Suzanne told Katie. “I doubt Emma S. could walk down a runway in high heels without falling. No one in this grade—besides me—could ever be a model.”
Katie shrugged. “No one in this grade besides Emma S. could win a gold medal in a skating competition, either. People have different talents.”
Suzanne sighed. “Yeah, well, she doesn’t have to brag so much about it.”
Katie choked back a laugh. That was pretty funny coming from Suzanne. After all, if they gave medals for bragging, Suzanne would be the world champion!
“And guess what!” Katie heard Emma S. say. “You guys aren’t going to believe this.”
Katie turned her attention away from Suzanne and moved closer so she could hear what Emma S. was saying.
“Kerry Gaffigan is coming to town this Sunday!” Emma S. squealed. “She’s going to put on a special show at the Cherrydale Arena!”
That was exciting! Kerry Gaffigan was a very famous skater. Even Katie—who knew almost nothing about ice-skating—had heard of her.
Kerry had grown up in Cherrydale. She had learned to skate at the same rink where Emma S. skated now. Kerry was so talented, she’d even skated in the Olympics!
“Kerry Gaffigan!” Mandy Banks exclaimed. “Wow!”
“I know,” Emma S. said. “She’s totally my hero. And I’m going to get to meet her.”
“Yeah, right,” Suzanne said, rolling her eyes. “How are you going to meet an Olympic skater?”
“Anyone can—if you have a ticket to the show,” Emma S. told her. “She’s signing autographs before her performance.”
“Oh, so it’s not like you’re the only one who’s going to meet her,” Suzanne said. “You’ll probably have to wait in line for hours.”
Emma S. shrugged. “I don’t care, as long as I get her autograph.”
“Oh, I want to go, too,” Miriam said. “Do you think there are tickets left?”
Emma S. nodded. “Sure. The kids who skate at the rink got first dibs, but the rest of you can get tickets after school.”
“Oh, wow!” Emma Weber exclaimed. She turned to Katie. “We’re going to meet a real live Olympic athlete.”
“I’m definitely going. Do you want a ticket for the show?” Katie asked Suzanne.
Suzanne sighed. “If I don’t have anything better to do, I might,” she said. “Of course, I might have to go to New York or Paris for a modeling show that day.”
“Wow,” Emma W. said. “I didn’t know you were modeling professionally now.”
Suzanne frowned slightly. “Well, I’m not, exactly. But you never know. Maybe someone will come to my modeling class this afternoon and discover me.”
Katie sighed. That was a really big maybe!
“Now all we’re going to hear about is this stupid skating show,” Suzanne groaned. “I wish Emma S. had just kept her mouth shut.”
“No you don’t!” Katie shouted loudly at her. “You don’t wish that at all!”
Suzanne stared at Katie with surprise. “I didn’t say anything so bad,” she said.
Katie could see that Suzanne thought she was nuts for getting so upset. But Suzanne had said something bad—really bad.
And only Katie knew why.
Chapter 2
It all started one horrible day back in third grade. Katie had lost the football game for her team. Then she’d splashed mud all over her favorite jeans. But the worst pa
rt of the day came when Katie let out a loud burp—right in front of the whole class. Talk about embarrassing!
That night, Katie wished to be anyone but herself. There must have been a shooting star overhead when she made the wish, because the very next day the magic wind came.
The magic wind was like a really powerful tornado that blew only around Katie. It was so strong, it could blow her right out of her body . . . and into someone else’s!
The first time the magic wind appeared, it turned Katie into Speedy, the hamster in her third-grade class. Katie spent the whole morning going round and round on a hamster wheel and chewing on Speedy’s wooden chew sticks. And that wasn’t even the worst part. Things got really bad when she escaped from Speedy’s cage and ran into the boys’ locker room. That was when Katie landed inside George Brennan’s stinky sneaker! Pee-yew! Katie sure was glad when the magic wind came back and switcherooed her into herself again!
After that, the magic wind came back again and again. Sometimes it changed Katie into other kids. One time it turned her into Suzanne. Another time it turned her into Suzanne’s baby sister!
And when the magic wind switcherooed her into their school principal, Mr. Kane, there was chaos at the school. By the end of the day, kids were running wild in the halls, and all the electricity had gone out in the building.
The magic wind followed Katie everywhere—even to Europe! In Spain, the magic wind turned Katie into a flamenco dancer in a Spanish restaurant. Katie was not a very good dancer. She’d fallen off the stage, landed in some man’s lap, and sent rice and lobster claws flying all over the place! Ay, caramba!
The magic wind was the reason Katie hated wishes so much. They only brought trouble. But she couldn’t explain that to Suzanne. She wouldn’t believe her, anyway. Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either, if it didn’t keep happening to her.
“I know you didn’t say anything so bad,” Katie told Suzanne finally. “It’s just that when you say things like that, you sound kind of jealous. And I know that’s not true,” she added quickly.
“I’m never jealous,” Suzanne said. “Other people are jealous of me.”
“Of course they are,” Katie said, trying really hard not to laugh. Suzanne never changed. Suzanne was always Suzanne.
Except, of course, for that time when Katie had been Suzanne.
Chapter 3
Today was Katie’s favorite school day. That was because Wednesday was class 4A’s library day. Each week the kids got to pick out a new library book to take home.
“Do you have any more books by Nellie Farrow?” Katie asked Ms. Folio, the school librarian.
“I knew you were going to ask me that, Katie,” Ms. Folio said. “The new one just came in. I put it away for you.”
Katie grinned. It was amazing. There were so many kids at Cherrydale Elementary School, and Ms. Folio was able to remember what every kid loved to read.
“Emma W., here’s a book about a big sister with a little brother who is a real trouble-maker,” Ms. Folio said, handing her a fat chapter book.
Emma W. smiled. “I can relate to that,” she said.
Katie knew exactly what Emma W. meant. Emma W. had three little brothers—and an older sister!
“This book is full of really funny library jokes,” Ms. Folio told Kadeem, handing him a paperback book.
“Hey, that’s not fair! I want a joke book, too,” George shouted out.
Katie sighed. She’d been expecting that. George and Kadeem were always having joke-telling contests against one another.
“Don’t get upset,” Ms. Folio told George. “I have a really special book for you. It’s a biography of Harry Houdini, the greatest magician who ever lived.”
“But I don’t know anything about magic,”
George said with a shrug.
“You will after you read the book,” Ms. Folio told him.
“Hey, you guys, this joke is sooo funny,” Kadeem said, looking up from the joke book. “Why was the Tyrannosaurus rex afraid to go to the library?”
“Why?” Andy Epstein asked him.
“Because his book was six million years overdue!” Kadeem said with a laugh.
The other kids laughed, too.
“Oh yeah?” George butted in. “Well, how can you tell if an elephant checked out a library book before you did?”
“How?” Kevin asked him.
“When you open the cover, peanut shells fall out!” George exclaimed.
Everyone laughed again.
“See? I don’t need a joke book to make me funny,” George told Kadeem.
But Kadeem wasn’t scared off. He turned the page of his book and grinned. “Here’s a good one,” he told the kids. “What goes on a librarian’s fishing hook?”
“A bookworm!” George shouted out before Kadeem could say the punch line. “That’s an old one.”
“Okay, dudes,” Mr. G., Katie’s teacher, said, stepping between the boys. “Let’s put this joke-off off until later. There are still a few people who don’t have books yet, and we don’t have much library time left.”
“Speaking of which,” Ms. Folio said, handing Emma S. a thick book. “Here’s a biography of Kerry Gaffigan for you to read, Emma. I hear she’s coming to town this weekend.”
Emma S. nodded. “On Sunday. And I’m going to meet her. This book is absolutely perfect for me. Now I won’t just be Kerry’s biggest fan, I’ll be the world’s greatest expert on her, too.”
Katie sighed. She was glad Suzanne wasn’t around to hear that.
Chapter 4
“Does anyone have a nickel?” George asked the crowd of kids who had gathered around him on the school playground the next day at recess.
“I have one,” Jeremy Fox said. He handed his nickel to George.
Jeremy was Katie’s other best friend. “Careful, Jeremy,” she warned. “George is learning magic. He might make your nickel disappear.”
“No I won’t,” George insisted. “In fact, I’m going to make this nickel grow into a quarter.”
“That’s impossible, George,” Suzanne told him.
“The Great Georgini can do anything!” George exclaimed.
“This I’ve gotta see,” Suzanne scoffed.
George took Jeremy’s nickel and placed it in a small, red, rectangular plastic box. He shut the box and waved his hand over it. “Abracadabra!” he said in his best magician’s voice.
The kids all watched as George opened the box once again. “Ta-da!” George shouted.
Katie’s eyes opened wide as she looked in the open box. Sure enough, the nickel had become a quarter. “Wow! That is so cool, Great Georgini!” she exclaimed.
“Thank you, Katie Kazoo,” George said with a bow.
Katie grinned. She loved the way-cool nickname George had given her back in third grade.
“You should try that with dollar bills,” Mandy told George. “You could be a millionaire.”
“It only works with nickels and quarters,” George explained.
“Speaking of nickels,” Jeremy reminded him. “Can I have mine back?”
“Yeah, sure,” George said. He closed the little box, waved his hand over it, and said, “Abracadabra!” When he opened the box again, the nickel was back in place.
“Can you teach me how to do that?” Andy asked him.
The Great Georgini shook his head. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”
“Then how did you learn the trick?” Suzanne asked him.
“They’re illusions, not tricks,” George corrected her. “That’s what Harry Houdini called them. My parents bought me a magic kit at the mall yesterday. The secret was in the instruction book.”
“You sure learned it well,” Katie told him.
“You guys want to see another illusion?” George asked.
But before anyone could answer, Emma S. came running over. She had a big envelope in her hand. “I have invitations for everyone,” she said as she began handing out ice-skate-shaped pieces of paper.
“Invitations to what?” Emma W. asked.
“My ice-skating party,” Emma S. explained. “It’s on Saturday at the Cherrydale Rink. My parents are throwing me a party for getting the gold medal. They said I can invite the whole grade. It’s going to be great. We can skate for a whole hour. Then we’re going to have hot cocoa and cookies!”
“This is perfect!” Miriam squealed. “We can watch you skate on Saturday and Kerry Gaffigan skate on Sunday. My mom picked up my ticket yesterday afternoon.”
“So did mine!” Katie exclaimed.
“Mine too,” Emma W. chimed in.
Emma S. nodded. “It will be a super skating weekend!”
The kids seemed really psyched about that. All except Suzanne. She didn’t seem to think the idea of a skating weekend was super at all.
“She’s just having this party so she can show off,” Suzanne whispered to Katie.
Katie shrugged. “Maybe she can show us how to do some easy tricks,” she suggested.
“Why would I want to learn that?” Suzanne said. “I hate skating. The ice is cold, and it hurts.”
“Ice hurts?” Katie asked, confused.
“When you fall on it, it does,” Suzanne said. “Not that I fall when I skate or anything. I’m too graceful for that. Models are always graceful.”
“Of course,” Katie said, trying not to laugh. “I fall a lot, though. I’m hoping Emma S. will give me a few tips.”
“If it means she can show off, she will,” Suzanne said.
“So are you going to the party?” Katie asked. From the way Suzanne was acting, it sure didn’t seem that way.
“Yeah, I’ll go,” Suzanne said reluctantly. She stood quietly for a minute. Then a strange little smile began to form on her lips. “Come to think of it, this party could turn out to be kind of fun.”
Katie frowned. She didn’t like the sound of that. Suzanne was definitely planning something. But what?
