by Nancy Krulik
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
For Sarah and Emily—NK
For our wonderful friends at the
Central Park Zoo—J&W
GROSSET & DUNLAP
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Text copyright © 2006 by Nancy Krulik. Illustrations copyright © 2006 by
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Chapter 1
“This is the prettiest lightning bug ever!” Katie Carew exclaimed. She looked down at the papier-mâché insect she and her friend Emma Weber had built and smiled proudly.
“I think so, too,” Emma agreed. She sprinkled some glitter on one of the bug’s wings.
“Wait until everybody sees our finishing touch,” Katie added with a grin. She held up a small pocket flashlight and tucked it into a little hole in the back of the bug. “Now our lightning bug can really glow!” Katie made the light flicker on and off. It looked just like a real lightning bug.
“We’re sure to win a prize at the science fair!” Emma declared.
But Katie wasn’t as confident. As she looked around their classroom she could see that other kids in class 4A were buzzing with as much excitement about their projects as she and Emma were.
The fourth-graders had been studying insects in class. Now they had paired up to do a project for the school science fair on Friday. Each pair was building a bug and creating a fact poster.
“Mr. Guthrie sure went buggy decorating the classroom,” Emma laughed, glancing up at all the paper dragonflies, bees, and mosquitoes their teacher had hung from the ceiling.
“I know,” Katie agreed, looking down at her feet. Mr. Guthrie had taped paper ants and cockroaches to the floor. “Good thing I’m not scared of bugs.”
In fact, no one in Katie’s class was scared of bugs. They’d been studying them for so long that the kids were kind of used to them. Recently they had decorated their beanbag chairs with wings, antennae, and six cardboard tube legs. During science week they could sit in beanbugs at school.
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could bring real insects to the science fair?” Kevin Camilleri asked his partner, George Brennan.
“That would be so cool!” George agreed.
Katie rolled her eyes. That probably wouldn’t be too cool, especially since George and Kevin were studying cockroaches. Even though Katie wasn’t afraid of insects, she didn’t necessarily want an army of cockroaches roaming their classroom.
“Maybe we should put some leftover food around our cockroach to show what they eat,” Kevin suggested. “We could get some stale bread or moldy chocolate cake or something.”
“I don’t think that’s such a great idea, dude,” Mr. Guthrie interrupted. “It might bring some real insects to our classroom.”
“That’s exactly what we were hoping for!” Kevin exclaimed.
“Let’s just stick to pipe cleaners and clay,” Mr. G. said with a laugh.
Katie looked over at Kevin and George’s project. The boys had built their huge brown bug from clay. They’d used black pipe cleaners for its six legs and antennae.
“If this were a real cockroach, it would be a giant!” George said. “The king of the cockroaches.”
“I wish this thing would come alive just like Frankenstein’s monster,” Kevin agreed. “Then George and I would definitely win the blue ribbon at the science fair!”
Katie gulped. Kevin had just made a wish.
That was so not good!
Chapter 2
Katie was an expert on wishes. She knew that they sometimes came true . . . and not the way you expected them to. In fact, the way some wishes came true could be really awful!
Katie learned that lesson the hard way. It happened 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 part of the day came when Katie let out a loud burp—right in front of the whole class. It had been so embarrassing!
That night, Katie made a wish that she could 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 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 blew, it turned Katie into Speedy, her third-grade class’s pet hamster. Katie spent the whole morning going round and round on a hamster wheel and chewing on Speedy’s wooden chew sticks. They didn’t taste very good at all.
But the chew sticks didn’t taste nearly as bad as the food in the school cafeteria used to taste. Katie had seen—and smelled—that up close the time the magic wind turned her into Lucille the lunch lady. That time, Katie started a food fight in the cafeteria, but it was Lucille who got fired. Luckily, Katie was able to think of a way to help Lucille get her job back—and to get healthier, tastier food in the cafeteria.
No, Katie definitely didn’t trust wishes anymore. Especially a wish like the one Kevin had just made. After all, who would want a giant king cockroach roaming the halls of Cherrydale Elementary School?
“Okay, all you busy bees,” Mr. G. called out, shaking Katie from her thoughts. “Everyone take a seat. I have something really interesting to tell you.”
The kids all scrambled into their beanbags. Katie looked up excitedly. She couldn’t wait to hear what cool thing Mr. G. had come up with for them to do.
“You all know, it’s science week at school.
And this year, in addition to your science fair projects, each grade is going to do a special group project. The fourth grade project is—drum roll, please—”
The kids smacked their hands against their legs like drums.
“We’re going to clean up the field behind the school,” Mr. G. finished.
The kids all stopped drumming and stared at him.
“That doesn’t sound like fun,” George said.
“I hate cleaning up,” Kadeem Carter added. “Just ask my mother.”
“What does cleaning the field have to do with science?” Mandy Banks asked.
“It’s environmental science,” Mr. G. explained. “We’re helping to protect the squirrels, chipmunks, birds, and mice who live in the field.”
Katie would do just about anything to help animals. But even she wasn’t too happy about having to spend time picking up garbage.
“This really stinks,” Andrew groaned.
“It doesn’t stink as bad as that garbage is going to,” Kevin told him.
“Can’t we do something more fun?” George asked their teacher.
Mr. G. smiled. “I’m sure you can find a way to make this fun, George,” he said. “You always do.”
Katie shook her head. Mr. G. probably shouldn’t have said that. Giving George permission to have fun in school could be pretty dangerous.
Chapter 3
“Jessica and I are definitely going to win a blue ribbon for our ladybug project,” Suzanne Lock boasted as she and Katie carried their cafeteria trays over to a table at lunchtime.
Katie frowned. Suzanne was her best friend, but sometimes Katie couldn’t stand how stuck-up she acted.
“There are a lot of really good science projects out there,” Katie reminded her. “Emma W. and I spent all day Saturday in the Cherrydale library researching lightning bugs.”
“Jessica and I haven’t started our research yet,” Suzanne told Katie. “But we did go to the mall to buy matching dresses with black and red polka dots. We’re going to wear them at the science fair. We’ll look like ladybugs!”
Katie had a feeling that the science fair judges would be more interested in facts than fashion. But she didn’t tell Suzanne that. Instead, she turned her attention to her other best friend, Jeremy Fox.
“Did Ms. Sweet tell your class about the fourth-grade project?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” Jeremy groaned. “A whole afternoon of picking up candy wrappers, paper cups, and soda cans. Ugh.”
“I saw an old, used baby diaper in that field once,” Manny Gonzalez said. “It stunk!”
“Gross. Not while I’m eating,” George groaned.
Katie rolled her eyes. Nothing anyone had said was more disgusting than what George was doing right then with his food. He had been busy mushing together hot dog pieces, mustard, chocolate pudding, and ketchup.
“Picking up garbage sounds like a really boring project,” Suzanne said. “I wish we could do something more interesting.”
George looked at her. “We could make it more interesting,” he suggested.
“How?” Suzanne asked him.
“We could make it a contest,” George told her. “The class that picks up the most trash wins.”
“Wins what?” Suzanne wondered.
George looked down at the mess of food on his plate. “The losing class has to buy the winning class pizza for lunch,” George told her.
“George, that could get expensive,” Emma W. reminded him.
“Not for us,” George assured her. “Class 4A will win. We win at everything.”
“You do not,” Jeremy and Suzanne said in unison.
“Class 4B won last week’s soccer game,” Becky Stern reminded everyone. “Thanks to you, Jeremy,” she added with a smile.
Jeremy blushed.
“So is it a bet?” George asked the kids in 4B.
“You’re on,” Suzanne answered for the class.
George smiled and shook Suzanne’s hand.
“Can we stop talking about garbage?” Miriam Chan asked. “It’s bad enough we have to look at bugs all day in class. I’m tired of thinking about gross things.”
“Just be glad you’re not Selena Sanchez,” Suzanne told her. “She’s using mice in her science project. I’d rather make a bug out of papier-mâché than work with real live mice.”
“Ooh,” Miriam groaned. “I hate mice. They have creepy eyes and those long, stringy tails.”
“I saw Selena bringing them into the science room today. She had them in a little wire cage.” Suzanne shuddered. “They were disgusting.”
Katie gasped. “Selena is using live animals in her project?”
“I guess so,” Suzanne told her. “Why else would she have brought a cage full of live mice to school? They aren’t exactly fashion accessories.”
Usually, Katie would have told Suzanne not to be so nasty. But right now she was too upset to worry about anything her best friend did or said. She shot out of her chair and headed toward the other side of the cafeteria.
“Katie, where are you going?” Miriam called after her.
Katie pointed to a table in the far corner of the cafeteria, where some older kids were sitting and eating their lunches. “I’m going to talk to Selena,” she explained.
All of the fourth-graders gasped.
“But Katie, that’s the sixth-grade table!” Jeremy exclaimed.
“Sixth-graders never talk to fourth-graders,” Suzanne added. “They’re going to laugh at you if you go over there.”
Katie knew that was probably true. The sixth-graders were the oldest kids in the school. They had all their classes on the top floor of the school—where there was no one else but sixth-graders. They always sat together in one corner of the cafeteria. Katie had even once heard them say that all the kids in the school except for them were babies.
But Katie didn’t care if the big kids called her a baby. She was going over to that table, and she was going to talk to Selena, no matter what.
She had to. The mice needed her!
Chapter 4
“What do you want?” Mickey, one of the sixth-graders, shouted at Katie as she approached their table.
Katie gulped. Of course she had seen all the sixth-graders up close in the schoolyard. But it was kind of scary walking up to them all together like this. The sixth-graders were so big. If they got really mad at her, they could squash her like a bug—a fourth-grade bug.
“Selena,” Katie said finally in a shaky voice. “Are you really using mice for your science fair project?”
A tall, thin girl with big brown eyes and stick-straight black hair glanced over in Katie’s direction. “You’re Katie, right?” she asked her.
Katie nodded, surprised. She had no idea that any of the sixth-graders actually knew her name.
“How did you hear about my science project?” Selena asked her.
“My friend Suzanne saw you bringing mice to school in a cage,” Katie explained. “We just figured you were using them for your project.”
“Ooh, the little kids are getting so smart,” a short, freckle-faced boy joked. “Did you guys figure that out all by yourselves?”
“Good one, Zack,” Mickey chuckled.
Katie frowned. The boys were being really mean.
“I am using mice,” Selena told Katie.
“That’s not very nice,” Katie replied, trying hard to be brave.
“I’m not hurting them,” Selena assured Katie. “I’m just giving them a test.”
“A test?” Katie asked, confused.
Selena nodded. “Each of the mice has a maze to run through. At the end of one maze is a bottle of sugar water. At the end of the next maze there’s a piece of cheese. And at the end of the last maze, there’s some mouse food. I want to know if the mice will move faster if they know there’s a certain kind of food at the end of the maze. They’ll get treats. I’m being nice to them.”
“I don’t think you’re being nice,” Katie disagreed. “You’re
making the mice be part of your experiment. You didn’t give them a choice. What if they don’t like running through mazes?”
Mickey started to laugh. “What’s she supposed to do? Ask the mice if they want to be part of her science project?” He turned to Zack. “Hey, little mouse. Do you want to run for the cheese?”
“Squeak, squeak!” Zack answered, trying to sound like a mouse.
The boys started to laugh.
Katie could feel her cheeks burning red. She hated it when people made fun of her.
“Isn’t there a different project you and your partner could do?” Katie insisted. “Something without animals?”
“I’m not working with a partner,” Selena said, suddenly sounding kind of annoyed.
“Because no one else thinks mice should be used in a science project?” Katie asked.
“No,” Selena replied. “Because I wanted to do my project on my own. Look, Katie, my science project isn’t any of your business.”
“Why don’t you go back to your fourth-grade table,” Mickey added. He folded up his brown paper lunch bag and shot it into a nearby trash can. “Score!” he exclaimed.
“Let’s go outside and shoot some real hoops,” Zack suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” Selena agreed. She stood and walked away with Zack and Mickey. The other sixth-graders at the table soon followed, leaving Katie standing there all alone.
“This isn’t over,” Katie muttered to herself as she watched them go. “Selena has to learn to be nice to mice!”
Chapter 5
“I’ve got all of our note cards in my backpack,” Emma W. said as she and Katie walked out of school later that afternoon. “We’re going to make a great poster.”
“I know,” Katie said. “But first I—”
Katie never got to finish her sentence. She stopped talking to focus on what was going on outside the school. Jeremy, Becky, Manny, Miriam, and Jessica were exercising right on the front steps.
