As we soared through the air, I spotted Dad shooting toward the hall of mirrors in a black bat-winged bumper car. Mirabelle had hopped onto one of the broomsticks. We circled in the air above the carnival. People below stared up, open-mouthed.
I swirled my lasso in the sky and brought it down gently around one of the monsters that had jumped onto the roof of the carousel. The monster squeaked and looked surprised.
Mirabelle whirled her lasso and brought it down over a monster hiding behind the cotton-candy stall. Wilbur caught two monsters that were busy climbing up the side of the roller coaster. It didn’t take long to round them all up, and soon they were gathered in a little group in the middle of the fairground. Mom and Dad came running out of the hall of mirrors with one more monster, caught in the loops of their leafy vines.
“Well, that was fun,” I heard Dad say. “More mirrors than you can imagine!”
“It wasn’t the best time to stop and do your hair, though, was it?” said Mom, sounding slightly annoyed.
The monsters didn’t look very scary at all—in fact, they looked a little frightened. I felt sorry for them.
“They won’t hurt you!” I said to the crowd. “They were just playing.”
“Though it was very naughty of you to eat all the food without paying,” said Dad, staring sternly at the monsters. “You could make up for it by helping out!”
The monsters seemed excited by this idea.
“You could help sell the tickets and popcorn,” I suggested. “Look at all the crowds of people. The carnival workers could probably use some extra help.”
“We could!” agreed one of the ticket sellers. “That would be wonderful!”
The monsters seemed pleased to be helping. Enthusiastically, they bounded over to the different rides to help sell tickets. Some of them started picking up litter and putting it in bags. Others went back to the haunted-house ride to add some extra excitement.
“This is great!” said the carnival owner. “You’ve really saved the day by rounding up all those monsters. We were worried we were going to lose all our new customers!”
“I don’t think you’re in danger of that now!” said Mom, looking around.
The carnival was bursting with people. There were lines snaking away from every ride. Children were screaming and laughing with glee. The twinkle lights were flashing, the music was blaring, and suddenly I realized that the carnival looked much more like the picture on the poster. I felt a glow of happiness flood through my whole body.
“You’ve really helped us out,” continued the man. “We are so grateful.”
“Oh, it was nothing!” said Dad, waving his hand dismissively in the air.
“It was our pleasure.” Mom smiled. “Though you do realize that most of this magic is temporary? The carousel animals and the monsters won’t stay alive forever.”
“No worries!” said the man. “We’ll have made enough money tonight to do all the repairs we need to our rides, and more! The Carnival Spectacular will be spectacular once again!”
“Excellent!” said Dad.
“I’m so glad,” said Mom.
“We’d like to thank you all properly,” said the man, “so please feel free to pick a prize of your choosing to take home.” He gestured toward a stall where there were lots of big cuddly toys.
“Ooh, good,” said Dad, bounding over immediately and starting to examine the toys. I followed him and pointed to a big fluffy monster.
“May I have that one, please?” I asked.
“Of course!” said the carnival owner, unhooking it for me. Pink Rabbit bounced up and down beside me. I could tell he was getting jealous.
“Here’s one for Pink Rabbit,” said Mom, handing him a tiny stuffed-monster key ring. It was the perfect size for him, and Pink Rabbit wiggled his ears in delight.
Just then I noticed Zoe skip through the crowd toward me, with her mom in tow.
“Isadora!” she cried. “Have you seen the carousel? It has unicorns on it!”
“I have!” I said. “It’s my favorite ride! Do you want to go on it together?”
“I would love that!” said Zoe. She took my hand, and we made our way back into the crowd, Pink Rabbit hopping along beside me, and my family following close behind.
There was a long line for the carousel, but it didn’t matter. We ate hot dogs and rainbow cotton candy while we waited, and then Zoe and I hopped onto a unicorn together. Mirabelle and Wilbur chose a dragon, bickering over who was going to sit at the front, and Mom and Dad sat on a Pegasus pony with wings.
The music started, and we began to move. Around and around we went, our hair streaming behind us in the breeze, and twinkle lights flashing in our eyes. It didn’t matter if we were at a human carnival or a magical carnival. I was just so happy to be there with my family and my friends, spinning and twirling under the starry sky. Just like the kids on the poster for the Carnival Spectacular.
You will need an assistant, so make sure an adult helps you.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners in a 12-cup muffin pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine ⅔ cup margarine or butter with ¾ cup sugar.
Mix in 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Sift in 1½ cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder.
Mix until all ingredients are combined. Then spoon a tablespoon of the mixture into each of the muffin cups.
In each cup, make a well in the batter with a teaspoon or clean finger. Fill it with a teaspoon of strawberry jam.
Fill the cups with cake mixture until they are ¾ full. Then bake the cakes for 8–10 minutes. When they are golden brown, remove them from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.
Once the cakes are cool, spread the top with a blob of strawberry jam. You can make fangs out of white fondant or icing, use gummy candies, or even top with wearable plastic fangs.
What’s your favorite ride at the carnival?
A. a roller coaster with lots of loops!
B. the carousel—my favorite is the unicorn
C. the spiral slide
What’s your favorite food to eat at the carnival?
A. a big bag of candy
B. cotton candy
C. a hot dog
If you could do some magic at the carnival, what would you do?
A. I would make all the rides super fast.
B. I would transform the whole carnival to make everything there totally magical!
C. I would conjure up a wizard-hat spiral slide.
Mostly As
You are Mirabelle! You have a mischievous sense of fun, and you are a great friend to have around!
Mostly Bs
You are Isadora! You have an amazing imagination, and you are a really generous friend.
Mostly Cs
You are Wilbur! You are talented and smart, and you love to have fun.
I love Zoe’s bedroom. It is always so interesting. There are butterflies painted on her walls, and loads of posters stuck on her closet door. She also has the biggest dress-up box of everyone I know.
“Want to play dress-up?” I said, opening up the box and beginning to rummage inside.
“Sure!” said Zoe, taking out some pink fairy wings and a sparkly silver crown. She put them on, then added a pair of slip-on shoes with pom-poms on the toes.
“I know,” she said. “Why don’t I be a fairy queen, and you be a vampire queen? We can be best friends, but the rulers of different kingdoms. My kingdom will be on a fluffy pink cloud! I’m going to have a palace there made from glass, and everything will smell of roses.” She began to spray herself all over with a flower-scented perfume.
“Okay,” I said, taking a tall shimmery black crown from the box and putting it on my head. “My kingdom will be up in the night sky, surrounded by glitte
ring stars, and I will have one hundred pet bats. And Pink Rabbit will be a vampire prince!”
Pink Rabbit looked pleased at my suggestion and began to hop up and down happily.
“Coco will be a fairy princess!” said Zoe, picking up her favorite toy monkey from her pillow and hugging it to her chest. Pink Rabbit watched interestedly. Then he bounced over to Zoe and held out his paw.
“Pink Rabbit wants to shake Coco’s hand,” I said.
Zoe knelt down and held her monkey out to Pink Rabbit.
“Coco is pleased to meet you,” she said, and Pink Rabbit’s ears twitched with happiness. He began to stroke Coco’s stripy tail.
“I think they like each other,” I said.
“I think so too!” laughed Zoe. Then a wistful look came over her face.
“Isadora,” she said, “do you think that maybe…maybe you could magic Coco alive, just for our game? I think Pink Rabbit would love it. And I would too!”
I glanced over at my wand, poking out from my bag in the corner of the room.
“I guess I could,” I replied, hurrying over to fetch the wand.
Zoe started to jump up and down with excitement.
“Could you?” she whispered. “Really?”
“I’ll try,” I said. “I’ve only done this spell once before, though. It might take me a few tries.” I pointed my wand at Coco the monkey and squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I waved my wand, then opened my eyes. A stream of twinkly sparks floated down onto Coco, landing all over her fur.
“Ooh!” sighed Zoe in wonder.
The sparks began to fade, and underneath them, Coco blinked her button eyes. The spell had worked on the first try!
Harriet Muncaster, that’s me! I’m the author and illustrator of Isadora Moon.
Yes, really! I love anything teeny-tiny, anything starry, and everything glittery.
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Isadora Moon Saves the Carnival Page 3