Mae and June and the Wonder Wheel Read online

  Contents

  * * *

  Title Page

  Contents

  Copyright

  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

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Middle Grade Mania!

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Copyright © 2017 by Charise Mericle Harper

  Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Ashley Spires

  All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to [email protected] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

  www.hmhco.com

  Cover design by Kayleigh McCann

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

  Names: Harper, Charise Mericle, author. | Spires, Ashley, 1978–author.

  Title: The Wonder wheel : Mae and June / written by Charise Mericle Harper ; illustrated by Ashley Spires.

  Other titles: Mae and June

  Description: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. | Summary: June is happy to get a new neighbor, Mae, and soon the two of them are best friends and having adventures determined by the Wonder Wheel that they spin each morning.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015033389 | ISBN 9780544630635 (hardback)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Best friends—Fiction. | Play—Fiction. |

  Imagination—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Humorous Stories. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Friendship. | JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Chapter Books. | JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / Pets. | JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.H231323 Wo 2017 | DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015033389

  eISBN 978-0-544-86811-3

  v1.0117

  Sammy is my best friend. He has four legs, really soft ears, and a tail that can wag slow, medium, and super fast. Sometimes it moves so fast it makes his whole bottom shake. When this happens you have to be careful, because a shaking bottom can knock a glass of juice right off a table, but that’s not his fault. Tails are hard to control. I like everything about Sammy, but my favorite thing is that he’s fun to talk to. I’m lucky. I have the only ears in the whole world that can hear Sammy talk.

  Sammy and I have a mission—​our first ever. We’re looking for a new friend. My sister, Isabella, used to play with us, but now that she’s thirteen, she says, Teenagers don’t play baby games. It’s too bad. She’s missing out on a lot of fun.

  Sammy and I are practicing the three Fs. We bounce on my bed and shout them out loud.

  “FUN! FRIENDLY! FULL OF AD­VEN­TURE!”

  They are important, because our new friend must ABSOLUTELY and DEFINITELY be all three.

  After five times in a row, Sammy jumps down and runs to the door. “Last one to the kitchen is a rotten egg!”

  I’m always the rotten egg, but I don’t care. It’s not fair racing. Sammy has more legs than me.

  When I get to the kitchen, Sammy smiles and holds up his foot. “Power Paws win!”

  I stomp my feet like I’m mad, but I’m only acting. “June Feet lose!”

  “UGH!” complains Isabella. “Do you always have to pretend-talk to the dog? It’s embarrassing.” She waves her hand. “Go play outside.”

  “PLAY!” shouts Sammy, and he runs to the back door.

  As soon as we’re outside, I show him my pocket.

  “Chocolate chip cookies!” His tail wags extra fast.

  I pull one out, break off the chocolate chips, and pop them into my mouth. Chocolate can poison a dog, so I have to eat them. I only give Sammy the cookie part.

  “CHOCOLATE!” cries Sammy, and he drops to the ground and plays dead.

  I fall down next to him, and then we roll and howl like zombies.

  We have new neighbors. A girl, a teenage boy, a mom, a dad, and a cat are all moving into the house across the street.

  Mom wants me to go over and meet the new girl, but I say, “No thank you. I’ll wait for the lemon cake.”

  Next Saturday she’s going to make two of them: one to keep, and one to give to the new neighbors. That’s a smart way to make people like you. Bring them something delicious.

  The only person not happy with the plan is Isabella. “Why do I have to go? I’ll die of embarrassment!”

  Dad is not worried about her dying. “Five minutes of friendly chatting is not going to kill you.”

  “But I don’t talk to boys!” screams Isabella, and then she stomps off.

  Sammy and I go up to my room. Staying away from Isabella is a good idea.

  My window is perfect for spying on the house across the street. The new girl’s outside, hopping on one foot.

  “Maybe she can be our new friend,” says Sammy.

  I’m thinking that too. I say the three Fs out loud. “Fun. Friendly. Full of Adventure.”

  “Do you think she has them?” asks Sammy.

  We watch, but it’s hard to tell if she has the three Fs just by looking.

  When she runs up and down the moving truck ramp I say, “That looks like fun.”

  Sammy shakes his head. “Or a bee could be chasing her.”

  When she waves goodbye to the moving truck people, I say, “That looks friendly.”

  Sammy shakes his head again. “Maybe the bee came back.”

  When she digs a hole in the ground, Sammy gets super excited. “I bet she’s hunting for dinosaur bones.”

  I’m excited too. “Digging looks adventurous!”

  But then her dad comes out and plants a mini flagpole. The flag looks nice, but a flower flag is not the kind of flag that is full of adventure.

  “Rumble tummy,” moans Sammy.

  I know what he means. I’m hungry too. We go to the kitchen, but before we get there, I make him promise that after lunch we’ll watch some more.

  Spying is not always fun. Sammy and I are looking out the window, but all we see is a house. No one’s outside. Nothing is happening.

  Sammy’s not usually a complainer, but today he’s an expert at it. “What if she never comes out? She’s been inside forever! Are we going to do this all day?” He puts his head down on the window ledge and sighs super loud.

  His complaining is reminding me of someone else. Someone named April.

  April sits across the table from me at school. She acts like she’s queen of the world, but really she’s queen of two other things—​complaining and talking about herself. Listening to her all day is torture, but Mrs. Warble, my teacher, won’t let me change seats.

  When I asked, she shook her head and said, “Imagine the rainbow. It needs every color to be beautiful.”

  I know all the rainbow colors by heart. It’s easy, if you remember ROY G BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). If people were colors, April would be indigo! Indigo is bossy. Indigo could cover up every other color and not let them even peek through a little bit. I
imagine a new rainbow without indigo. Mrs. Warble is wrong. ROY G BV would still be beautiful.

  “LOOK!” Sammy puts his paws up on the window. “She’s back!”

  I look up. The new girl is on her front porch. She checks her shoelaces, pushes the doorbell, and then takes off running.

  “A JOGGER!” shouts Sammy. His tail wags.

  Sammy loves running, but instead of jogging on the sidewalk, the girl runs across the lawn, jumps over some bushes, and disappears behind the house. A few seconds later, she comes running back from around the other side. She’s running around her whole house. But why? It’s a good question, and I wish I knew the answer. At the front door, the girl pushes the doorbell and goes inside.

  Sammy nudges my hand. “That counts as fun!” But then a second later he shakes his head. “Or it could have been the bee chasing her again.”

  Sammy and I are taking a break from spying. We’re playing On-the-Ground Disco Dancing. It’s like regular dancing, only you do it lying down. Sammy and I have a great new routine. We can dance and point in all different directions at the same time. The music is about to start.

  Sammy is the leader. “Paw up!”

  I don’t have a paw, so I hold up my hand.

  He counts down. “Five, four, three, two . . .” And then the doorbell rings.

  The music starts, but suddenly I’m all alone. Sammy’s gone, barking and racing for the front door. I jump up and chase after him. I catch up just as Mom opens the door.

  She points to Sammy. “DO SOMETHING WITH HIM!”

  I lean down next to Sammy’s ear. “Great barking, but can you keep the rest inside?”

  It’s not easy to stop doing something you love, but Sammy tries. He closes his mouth and puts his head down. His barks still want to come out, but he keeps his teeth so tight together that only a little growl escapes. I scratch behind his ears. That helps him keep calm.

  Mom is talking to Mr. Robertson from next door. When he leaves, there’s a giant box on the porch. Mom points to the name on top—​June Fairway. That’s ME!

  Isabella’s full of questions. “What is it? Who’s it for? Who sent it?”

  I know two of the answers. “It’s a present to me from Mr. Robertson.”

  Isabella doesn’t believe me. “Mr. Robertson from next door gave you a present?”

  Mom laughs and shakes her head. “No, it’s not from Mr. Robertson. We were out yesterday when the box was delivered. Mr. Robertson was just saving it for us.”

  Isabella pokes it with her foot. “What’s inside?”

  Sammy jumps up. He has a great idea. “LET’S MAKE GUESSES!”

  While Mom and Isabella pull the box into the house, Sammy and I dance around the room and shout out guesses.

  “Cupcakes! Porcupines! Chocolate! Candy!”

  “Dinosaur bones! Squirrels! Bones! Squirrels!”

  “IT’S FROM GRANDMA PENNY!” Mom waves a piece of paper in the air.

  I stop dancing. A present from Grandma Penny is worth stopping for, because Grandma Penny is absolutely the best present giver in the whole world.

  Grandma Penny lives far away. That’s the sad part, but the not sad part is that when she does visit, it’s fun, fun, fun all the time.

  After her visits, Mom always says the same thing. “That Grandma Penny sure is a free spirit.”

  Then Dad says, “You can say that again.”

  So Mom laughs and says it again. Being a double free spirit is the biggest compliment a person can get. It means they are not even one percent boring.

  Mom pats the box. “I’ll get some scissors.”

  While she’s gone, Sammy and I talk about free spirits.

  “Am I one?” asks Sammy.

  I shake my head. Sometimes Sammy takes too many naps, and barking at squirrels is only fun for the first five minutes.

  Sammy shrugs. “That’s okay, two double free spirits is probably too much for one family.”

  I know he’s only teasing, because I am definitely a double free spirit.

  “Uh-oh!” Sammy points behind me.

  I spin around. Isabella is pulling a long piece of tape off the box. She’s opening MY PRESENT! I yell at her, but she doesn’t look up, so I yell again and jump in front of her.

  She looks surprised. “Oh, I thought you were talking to the dog.”

  I’m glad when Mom gets back. She cuts the tape with her scissors, and makes Isabella keep her hands to herself.

  Now Isabella’s grumpy. “I was only helping. A thank-you would be nice.”

  I ignore her, open the flaps, and look inside.

  Sammy nudges me. “What is it?”

  I’m not sure what to call it, so I describe it instead. “It’s round and pointy.”

  “PORCUPINE!” shouts Sammy. “Hold it up!”

  I shake my head. It’s not a porcupine, and it’s too heavy for me to lift up.

  I let Mom and Isabella pull the present out. There are two pieces; a big flat wheel with pegs all around the edge of it, and a stand with a long pole that sticks straight up in the air.

  Mom is smiling. “It’s a spinning wheel, like on Wheel of Fortune.”

  “The TV show?” asks Isabella.

  “Exactly,” says Mom. “Let’s put it together.”

  A spinning wheel put together is a lot more exciting than a spinning wheel in pieces. It looks perfect next to my dresser.

  Isabella throws a plastic bag full of chalk onto my bed. “It came with the wheel.”

  I look over. The front of the wheel is black like a chalkboard.

  Mom claps her hands. “It’s a perfect family chore wheel. There can be a space for doing the dishes, setting the table, folding the laundry . . .”

  “NO!” Isabella and I both shout at the same time. Everyone laughs. I’m glad Mom’s only joking. A chore wheel is a terrible present.

  Mom checks the wheel then gives me a thumbs-up. I grab the side and pull down. Suddenly it’s spinning. Tackity, tackity, tackity​—a rubber flipper at the top of the pole hits the pegs as they go by.

  Sammy’s tail is wagging. He smiles at the wheel. “It sounds like a hundred WOOD­PECKERS!” Woodpeckers are his favorite bird.

  “It’ll spin forever,” groans Isabella. Mom said she can have a turn when it stops. She plops down on my bed and studies her nails. Isabella’s the queen of nail polish. Today she has polka dots. Maybe she’s counting them.

  When the wheel stops, Isabella’s ready. She pulls down hard. Now it sounds like a thousand woodpeckers. Sammy and I spin in circles, then fall down laughing and dizzy. Isabella rolls her eyes. She’s good at spinning eyeballs.

  As soon as the wheel slows down, Sammy jumps up. He wants us to guess. When will it stop?

  He guesses first. “Eighteen tackitys!”

  I guess fifteen.

  We’re both wrong—​it’s twenty-two, but we jump and cheer anyway. Isabella shakes her head and walks toward the door. She doesn’t say a word. Not even goodbye, or thank you.

  Sammy looks at me. “I bet she guessed wrong too. Not everyone’s a good loser.”

  When I look back, Isabella’s gone and Mom’s walking in.

  She holds up a big yellow envelope. “Look what I found taped inside the box.”

  It’s heavy, too heavy to be just a card. On the back are six important words: For June and Sammy’s eyes only.

  Sammy’s name has never been on an envelope before. He can’t wait to see inside. He’s excited and panting and close—​too close! He drools on my hand. YUCK! I wipe it off on my pants.

  “Five, four, three, two, one.” I open the envelope and turn it upside down.

  A piece of white paper wrapped around more yellow envelopes falls out.

  “Is that it?” Sammy jumps off the bed and looks around, but there’s nothing else. I pull off the paper. It’s a note from Grandma Penny. I start reading.

  Dear June and Sammy, I hope you like your new Wonder Wheel.

  “IT’S A WONDER WHEEL!” shouts
Sammy.

  Wonder Wheel is a good name. Now I like it even more.

  Sammy pokes the note with his nose. “What’s next?”

  Now there’s a wet spot on the paper, but I don’t say anything. I just keep reading.

  I have included six yellow envelopes for you. You can open a new one every Monday morning. Inside you will find instructions on how to set up the Wonder Wheel for the week. Remember, this is not a magic wheel. It only invites you to wonder and to see how little things can change your life. Have fun! I can’t wait to hear about your adventures. Love, Grandma Penny.

  “Let’s start!” Sammy hops off the bed.

  I’m excited too, but I want to follow the rules. Today is Sunday, not Monday. We have to wait.

  Sammy points to the envelopes. “Can we pick one out if we don’t open it?”

  That’s a great idea, and doing something is always better than doing nothing. I let Sammy pick. He studies the envelopes, then pulls one out with his paw. I put it on the dresser. We both stare at it. Sammy’s like me. Wondering what’s inside.

  I point to the wheel. “Setting up might take a while. We should get up early.”

  Sammy looks up. “How early?”

  I hold up four fingers and two thumbs. That makes six in the morning.

  He shakes his head. “I was hoping for earlier.”

  I know what he means. It’s hard to wait. I give the wheel a spin, just for fun.

  “Woodpeckers,” says Sammy, and he closes his eyes.

  Sammy and I wake up before the alarm clock. That kind of thing only happens when we’re super excited. Sammy jumps off the bed and gets the envelope. I open it. Inside is a folded-up note and another envelope. The note says READ ME FIRST and the envelope says WORD GUIDE.