Just Grace Gets Crafty Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Just Grace Gets Crafty

  Read More from the Just Grace Series

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2014 by Charise Mericle Harper

  All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

  www.hmhco.com

  The illustrations are pen-and-ink drawings digitally colored in Photoshop.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Harper, Charise Mericle.

  Just Grace gets crafty / by Charise Mericle Harper,

  p. cm.

  Summary: “There’s a new crossing guard in town named Marie who needs a bit of help making friends, a fun substitute teacher for Miss Lois, and most exciting, Grace and Mimi are going to have their own table at a craft fair.”—Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-544-08023-2

  [1. Best friends—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Handicraft—Fiction.]

  I. Title.

  PZ7.H231323Juq 2014

  [Fic]—dc23

  2013038995

  eISBN 978-0-544-28994-9

  v1.0714

  For my Just Grace fans: I didn’t think I could write more than one of these books, and now I’ve written twelve. Never give up—you might surprise yourself too.

  ABOUT ME IN 205 WORDS

  (not including comics)

  1. My name is Grace, but my teacher, Miss Lois, calls me Just Grace. It all happened because there are three other Graces in my class. Miss Lois said, “Four Graces is too confusing,” and then she made each of us use the first letter of our last name as part of our new Grace name. Grace Landowski was not happy with her new name, Grace L., but when a teacher says something, you pretty much have to go along with it. When it was my turn for a new name, I said, “Since no one else is using just Grace, can I be called just Grace?” Miss Lois wasn’t paying very good attention, because she wrote down Just Grace instead of only the Grace part, and then I was stuck with it.

  2. My best friend, Mimi, lives right next door to me.

  3. I have a dog named Mr. Scruffers, but she is a girl dog. When you adopt a dog, you sometimes have to keep the name they come with. This is what happened to me.

  4. I have a teeny-tiny superpower. No one can see it, because it is a feeling power.

  5. I like to draw, and sometimes I even make comics.

  THINGS THAT ARE EXCITING

  Not everyone is excited about the same things. People are excited about all kinds of different things, and sometimes you will be surprised at what they can be excited about.

  But the biggest surprise of all is when you surprise your very own self. That’s what happened to me when Mom said, “Guess what? There’s going to be a new crossing guard down on Blaine Avenue.” “Is it for us?” I asked. Mom nodded, and then a second later I jumped up and high-fived the air. Normally I wouldn’t be excited about a crossing guard, but this was a special crossing guard, a crossing guard that Mimi and I were going to use every single day—two times. It was almost like a present. The crossing guard meant we wouldn’t have to walk an extra two blocks to get to school. To someone else that might not seem like a very big change, but to us it was huge!

  I couldn’t wait to tell Mimi the news. “Will the crossing guard be there tomorrow?” I asked. Mom shook her head. “But he’ll be here soon—the day after tomorrow, Wednesday.” I wanted to run over to Mimi’s house right away to tell her, but Mom said it was dinnertime. Once Mom says it’s time to eat, there’s no going anywhere. You have to sit at the table, no exceptions—even for Dad. He tried to get away once, and it didn’t work.

  Mom is kind of bossy when it comes to meals. The only family member who doesn’t have to sit at the table is Mr. Scruffers, my dog. When we first got her, I had the idea to take a picture of her sitting at the table like she was eating with us. I was lucky that I snapped the photo before Mom came into the room, because her feelings about my idea were not the same as mine. She does not like dogs sitting at the table, especially if she sees them trying to lick the plates. Mr. Scruffers is smart—as soon as Mom shouted out her name, she jumped off the chair and ran to hide in the living room.

  During dinner Mr. Scruffers usually sits under the table, by our feet, while we eat, but after Mom yelled at her, she stayed in the living room hiding for the whole meal. I think Mom had guilty feelings about that, because she saved a little piece of her hamburger on her plate, and when we were all done eating, she gave it to Mr. Scruffers as a treat. Normally Mr. Scruffers doesn’t get treats from the table—at least, treats Mom knows about.

  THE SURPRISE AT DINNER

  I wasn’t hungry for dinner because I was thinking too much about the crossing guard, and how surprised Mimi was going to be when she found out the news. Sometimes when you are really excited about something, the excitement can fill your whole stomach up like a giant balloon and then there’s no room left over for food. That’s what was happening to me. This was not good, because Mom is also bossy about finishing your dinner. Right now I was wishing for one of two things, but the bad part was that they were both impossible. Even though my brain knew that, I kept on wishing for them—a superpower or a magic wand.

  I tried to make a plan in case my wish didn’t come true, but it’s not easy to make a plan when you have only a few minutes of thinking time before you have to use it.

  But suddenly my problem was solved, because right in front of me was Mom’s special chicken—the kind that is my favorite, with the homemade crispy coating. Instantly the excitement bubble popped and my stomach was hungry. It was the second surprise of the night. If I kept getting surprised by the things I was doing, pretty soon I’d be like a stranger in my own body.

  WHAT HAPPENED AFTER DINNER

  I raced straight over to Mimi’s house. I knocked on the door and then stuck my hand through the mail slot and waved it around. Suddenly someone grabbed my hand and started pulling. “AAHHHHH!” I screamed, and I tried to pull it back out, but I was trapped. And then I heard laughing. It was Mimi’s little brother, Robert. I pulled and screamed at him to let go, but he wouldn’t. I yelled for Mimi—“MIMI, HELP! HELP!”—but nothing happened. She couldn’t hear me. The only thing to do was to try to ring the doorbell, so someone would hear it and come and save me.

  WHO SAVED ME

  Robert was lucky that it was Mimi who came to the door. She got mad at him, but not as mad as his mom or dad would have been. Even though she was really nice to me and apologized, I think she thought it was kind of funny. When you have a best friend, you can sometimes tell what they are thinking even if they don’t say anything.

  Mimi told me to come in, but I couldn’t wait until we were inside—I told her the news, right then. That’s why we ended up sitting on her doorstep—we couldn’t wait to talk about it. It was a nice place to sit, and for a second I thought about how it was kind of strange that we’d never sat there before. When something is new and different, it’s hard not to notice it. But I didn’t have any time to think about it, not after what happened next.

  WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

  Sammy Stringer walked by and saw us sitting on Mimi’s front step.

  SAMMY STRINGER DESCRIBED IN THIRTY WORDS

  Likes strange things.

  Is friends with my next-door neighbor Mrs. Luther.

  Is best friends with Max.

  Is friends with me and Mimi.

  Is scared of cats.

  Is very unus
ual.

  As soon as Sammy saw us he waved, and then he checked the yard to make sure that Crinkles, Mrs. Luther’s cat, wasn’t around. Sammy is not a fan of Crinkles. If he were a superhero, cats would be the way to totally defeat him. Just thinking about that made me smile. It was good Sammy couldn’t see my thoughts. To him, it just looked like I was happy to see him.

  I’m not always super happy to see Sammy Stringer. It’s not that I don’t like him—it’s just that talking to him is not always easy. He doesn’t think the same way other people do, so understanding him takes up more energy. It’s like he could be part alien or something. Not the scary-creature part of being an alien, but the being-from-a-different-planet part.

  WHY I WAS HAPPY TO SEE SAMMY STRINGER

  I couldn’t wait to tell him about the crossing guard. Having exciting new news is fun, but the best part about news is getting to tell other people about it. I didn’t say anything until Sammy was standing right in front of us, and then I told him about the crossing guard.

  THE BIG SURPRISE FOR ME

  Sammy already knew all about it, but that wasn’t the biggest surprise. The biggest surprise was that Sammy had news for us! “Did you hear about Miss Summers?” asked Sammy. “She’s coming for a week.” Both Mimi and I shook our heads. What was Sammy talking about? This is how things work with Sammy—everything he says is confusing. “She’s supposed to be really nice,” he said. Mimi and I looked at each other and shrugged, and then Mimi asked the question that needed to be asked. “Who is Miss Summers?” Sammy looked at us like he’d never heard such a crazy question. He shook his head. “She’s the substitute teacher while Miss Lois is away.” Miss Lois had never mentioned one word about going away. Mimi and I both spoke at the same time.

  Sammy nodded and smiled.

  WHAT SAMMY TOLD US IN THIRTY WORDS

  Miss Lois is going away for a teacher convention.

  She will be gone for a week.

  Miss Summers is going to be our substitute teacher.

  Mrs. Luther told him everything.

  Mimi and I had lots of questions, but Sammy didn’t have any of the answers.

  Suddenly Sammy pointed to something behind us and said, “There’s a hand over there.” Before I could say anything, my brain made a picture of what he had said. It was not a nice picture to think about.

  It was a relief to turn around and see that the hand belonged to someone—Robert. He was sticking his hand out the mail slot and waving it around. It was the exact same thing that I’d done—only he was inside and I had been outside. “You should grab it,” whispered Mimi. “Hang on to it like he did to you. Teach him a lesson.” I shook my head. I had a better idea. I looked around the yard for something to use, and then saw a small garden shovel. I ran over, grabbed it, and scooped up some dirt.

  WHO CAN SCREAM LOUDER THAN ANY OTHER CREATURE ON EARTH?

  Robert!

  WHO USUALLY GETS IN TROUBLE IF ROBERT YELLS?

  Mimi.

  WHO GOT IN TROUBLE THIS TIME?

  Me!

  Mimi’s mom is not the kind of mom who likes dirt all over the floor, and that’s exactly what happened when Robert pulled his hand back through the mail slot. That, and lots of screaming. I apologized, but what helped more was when I said I’d clean it up. Parents like that kind of thing. It’s called being responsible for your actions. Normally cleaning up dirt wouldn’t be fun, but Mimi’s mom has one of those cool robot vacuum cleaners, so this was different. Even Sammy stayed around, because it’s not every day that you get to play with a robot—even if it’s a cleaning robot.

  SAMMY’S IDEA

  Sammy staying turned out to be good, because he had the great idea to make the dirt into a path. That way we could make the vacuum go wherever we wanted. We made lots of different paths, and even had to get more dirt.

  Sammy said it was too bad that it wasn’t nighttime, because taping glow sticks on the vacuum would have looked super cool. I could tell that he was hoping that Mimi would say something like Great idea, come back tonight and we’ll do it, but she didn’t. Instead she said, “It’s a good thing my mom’s upstairs with Robert. She has lots of rules about the vacuum.” It was longer than a no, but it meant the same thing.

  After a while, even a super-cool robot vacuum can get kind of boring, so Sammy left and Mimi and I put it away. I was about to invite Mimi over to my house, but then my mom called and said it was close to bedtime. Sometimes when you are having fun, you can forget that it is a school night.

  That night before bed, Mimi and I flashed our lights on and off for each other. Mimi’s bedroom is right across from my bedroom, so we can see each other doing it. We do it almost every single night, and I don’t know about Mimi, but I don’t always think of the same three words when I flash my lights. Tonight I made up something new.

  WHO WOKE UP EXTRA EARLY

  ME! The Miss Summers mystery made me want to get to school right away. This was not a usual thing. Even if you like something, it does not always mean you want to do it five days in a row. That’s how I feel about school. I like it, but four days would be better. Mimi must have felt the same as me about Miss Summers, because she got to my house extra early. We walk to school together every day—it’s our tradition. Mom let us go ten minutes early because I told her we were going to walk slow since it was our last time walking this route. Tomorrow the new crossing guard would be working and we’d go a different way. Last things are not like first things. Everyone remembers first things, but unless you pay extra attention, last things happen without you even noticing them until they are gone, and then it’s too late.

  All the way to school, Mimi and I paid special attention to everything. We wanted to remember this walk forever. “Let’s do this on the way home too,” said Mimi. “That way we can have a coming and going memory.” I nodded. It was a good idea.

  WHAT WE FOUND OUT ABOUT MISS SUMMERS WHEN WE GOT TO SCHOOL

  Nothing. No one knew anything about Miss Lois going away. If I didn’t know that Sammy always told the truth, I would have been suspicious of his story. There are some kids that like to make stuff up, but Sammy isn’t like that. If he says something is true, then it probably is true. I hoped that the Miss Summers thing wasn’t supposed to be a secret, because by the time the bell rang to go inside, everyone knew about it. It made us all excited to get to class. What would she look like? Was she old like Miss Lois, or was she young? Did she shout and yell? Was she going to make us do our regular work? Were we going to study desert homes like Miss Lois said? If we’d wanted to, we could have probably come up with a million questions. But the question I most wanted the answer to was this one:

  WHAT YOU CAN SOMETIMES TELL ABOUT SOMEONE JUST BY LOOKING AT THEM

  This is not always true, but it was true for me that day. The moment I saw Miss Summers, I knew I was going to like her. She was young, she had brown hair, and, best of all, she had a friendly smile. Not all smiles are friendly, so that part was important.

  SMILES THAT ARE NOT GOOD

  The first thing Miss Summers said was that she was going to be our substitute teacher while Miss Lois was at a teachers’ convention. Even though we all knew that, we were mostly polite and pretended like we didn’t. There were two exceptions—Owen 1 and Robert Walters, but that was no surprise. They both like to make trouble.

  A regular substitute teacher would have probably ignored them, but Miss Summers was not a regular teacher. She made Robert Walters and Owen 1 stand up at the front, and then while they stood there, she dragged their desks so that they were right next to hers—one on each side. I thought she might be angry, but instead of seeming mad she was super happy. It was not what any of us was expecting—especially not Owen 1 or Robert Walters.

  WHAT WAS SURPRISING AND GOOD

  Miss Summers said that instead of working on learning about the desert, we were going to be doing a creative writing project. At first, I was worried about that. When Miss Lois got back she was going to be angry. I could alr
eady imagine it.

  I felt a lot better after Miss Summers said, “I talked this over with Miss Lois, and she said that the desert project is one of her favorites. So we decided to leave that until she gets back. That way she can do it with you.”

  Not everyone in the class was excited about creative writing, but I was. I love making up stories almost as much as I like drawing. That’s probably why I like making comics—you get to do both.

  All of my comics are kind of about the same thing—a person having a superpower. I probably like writing them that way because of my own power. It’s nothing amazing or exciting, and most people can’t even see I have it, but it’s there. It’s an invisible power and those kinds of powers are harder to notice. My power is a secret. Mimi is the only one who knows about it, and she promised, Cross my heart and hope to die, never to tell anyone.