Ava and Pip

by Carol Weston

  Anyway, the main reason I got up is that I have been thinking a lot about everything, backward and forward, and I have two things to say:

  1.My family is seriously nutty. Maybe even extra-chunky-peanut-butter nutty. But they’re mine, and I’m not going to trade them in. Not P-I-P. Not M-O-M. Not D-A-D. We’re the Wrens, after all. And you know what they say about birds of a feather. (They stick together!)

  2.I want to write a book someday. A book that kids my age can read and reread and even rereread. That is my goal, and I’m putting it in ink right here right now: when I grow up, I want to be an author and write a book—a short one. I’ve been thinking that it could be about a good kid who does a bad thing and sometimes feels invisible, but who helps her sister find her voice and ends up finding her own. H-U-H. Maybe it could be a diary…

  HERE, IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE, ARE THE PALINDROMES IN THIS BOOK:

  AVA

  MOM

  DAD

  PIP

  HANNAH

  ELLE

  WOW

  ANNA

  BOB

  HUH

  EVE

  MADAM I’M ADAM

  MA HAS A HAM

  SIS

  POP

  PUP

  LION IN OIL

  NAN

  VIV

  SENILE FELINES

  SAGAS

  STAR RATS

  XOX

  YAY

  ATTA

  MMM

  STEP ON NO PETS

  A MAN A PLAN A CANAL, PANAMA

  KAYAK

  RACE CAR

  PEEP

  RADAR

  DUD

  FUN ENUF

  ’TIS IT

  NOW I WON

  TOP SPOT

  REDDER

  A TOYOTA’S A TOYOTA

  NO MELON NO LEMON

  AHA

  EVIL OLIVE

  YO, BANANA BOY

  LONELY TYLENOL

  SOS

  REPAPER

  M&M

  PEP

  NOON

  SEES

  EYE

  GIG

  SOLOS

  TOOT

  LEVEL

  BOOB

  BIB

  PULL UP

  HOHOHOH

  AHHA

  WONTON NOT NOW

  POOP

  REFER

  DEED

  NOT A TON

  DON’T NOD

  AKA

  #AMM IT I’M MAD

  DESSERTS I STRESSED

  MUM

  YO SOY

  DO GEESE SEE GOD?

  GAG

  TATTARRATTAT

  WAS IT A CAT I SAW?

  SUE US

  KOOK

  OTTO

  XOXOX

  AND HERE ARE 15 BONUS PALINDROMES:

  DOG DOO? GOOD GOD!

  NEVER ODD OR EVEN

  A NUT FOR A JAR OF TUNA

  LIVE NOT ON EVIL

  MY GYM

  PARTY BOOBY TRAP

  REWARD DRAWER

  SPACE CAPS

  HE DID, EH?

  BORROW OR ROB

  LLAMA MALL

  MADAM, IN EDEN I’M ADAM

  NOT A BANANA BATON

  ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA

  and

  IN WORDS, ALAS, DROWN I…

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I'd like to give a heartfelt shout-out to my early readers including kids, teachers, librarians, pros, friends, and family: Emme, Lizzi, and Rob Ackerman, Marybeth and Cynthia Weston, Denver Butson and Maybelle Keyser-Butson, Geraldine Rijs, Sandy and Stephanie Jenkins, Mary Lemons, Sue Hipkens, Carrie Silberman, Elise Howard, Sam Forman, Maureen Davison, Kelsey Allan, Nora Sheridan, Suzy Weiss, Anna Umansky, Olivia Framke, Cathy Roos, Lucie Aidinoff, Kathy and Ally Lathen, Anna Abrahams, Char and Clay Ezell, Laura Peterson, Elena Mechlin, Sinclair Target, Hannah Eisner, Karolina Ksiazek, Sydney Gabourel, and Max Lerman. Hurray for Trinity School in N.Y.C., Maret School in D.C., the Squam Lake family, Ragdale Foundation, and the New York Society Library where I’m lucky enough to be a judge of the annual Young Writers Awards. I’m hugely grateful to Susan Ginsburg and Stacy Testa of Writers House, and profoundly pleased that Steve Geck deemed Ava Jabberwocky-worthy, and that Victoria Jamieson, Jillian Bergsma, Derry Wilkens, and Cat Clyne all helped turn simple words into a beautiful book.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Carol Weston lives in Manhattan. Her first book, Girltalk: All the Stuff Your Sister Never Told You, was published in a dozen languages. Her next eleven books include The Diary of Melanie Martin and three other Melanie Martin novels. Carol studied French and Spanish comparative literature at Yale, graduating summa cum laude. She has an M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury. Since 1994, she has been the “Dear Carol” advice columnist at Girls’ Life Magazine. Carol and her husband, playwright Rob Ackerman, have two daughters (Lizzi and Emme) and one cat (Mike). Carol kept diaries as a girl, and her parents were writer-editors. She has taught writing at Middlebury College and created a YouTube video in English and Spanish called “Get Your Kids to Read.” What will Ava do next? Find out more at CarolWeston.com.

  THE SUMMER EXPERIMENT

  Cathie Pelletier

  Are there Aliens in Allagash?

  Roberta is convinced she and her best friend Marilee can win the State Science Fair if only they can find an amazing project to showcase. And they’ve got the whole summer to work on it. But in order to win they’ll need to defeat their chief competitor, “The 4Hs of the Apocalypse”: Henry Horton Harris Helmsby.

  When mysterious lights begin to appear over her hometown, Roberta has a brilliant idea: finding aliens in Allagash and proving they exist would win her first place for sure. 4Hs could never top that…or could he?

  THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET

  Nancy J. Cavanaugh

  It’s the first day of school for all the kids in the neighborhood. But not for me. I’m homeschooled. That means nothing new. No new book bag, no new clothes, and no friends—old or new. The best I’ve got is this notebook. I’m supposed to use it for my writing assignments, but my dad never checks. Here’s what I’m really going to use it for:

  Ratchet’s Top Secret Plan: turn my old, recycled, freakish, friendless, motherless life into something shiny and new.

  This is Ratchet’s journal and in its pages are Ratchet’s writings, her poems, and her drawings. Together, they tell Ratchet’s story about her quest to make a friend, save a park, and find her own definition of normal.

  THE CUPCAKE CLUB: PEACE, LOVE, AND CUPCAKES

  Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk

  Meet Kylie Carson.

  She’s a fourth grader with a big problem. How will she make friends at her new school? Should she tell her classmates she loves monster movies? Forget it. Play the part of a turnip in the school play? Disaster! Then Kylie comes up with a delicious idea: What if she starts a cupcake club?

  Soon Kylie’s club is spinning out tasty treats with the help of her fellow bakers and new friends. But when the school bully tries to sabotage the girls’ big cupcake party, will it be the end of the Cupcake Club?