Isadora Moon Goes to School

by Harriet Muncaster

  Isadora Moon Goes to School

  Isadora Moon Goes Camping

  Isadora Moon Goes to the Ballet

  Isadora Moon Has a Birthday

  For vampires, fairies, and humans everywhere! And for Sarah, my glamorous mother-in-law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2016 by Harriet Muncaster

  Cover art copyright © 2016 by Harriet Muncaster

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. Originally published in paperback by Oxford University Press, Oxford, in 2016.

  Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Visit us on the Web!

  SteppingStonesBooks.com

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  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 9780399558214 (hc) — ISBN 9780399558221 (lib. bdg.)

  ISBN 9780399558238 (pbk.) — ebook ISBN 9780399558245

  This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

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  Contents

  Cover

  Other Titles

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  About the Author

  Excerpt from Isadora Moon Goes Camping

  Isadora Moon. That’s me!

  Pink Rabbit and I have lots of fun together.

  My mom is Countess Cordelia Moon. She’s a fairy. Yes, really! She likes gardening, swimming in wild streams, having magical campfires, and sleeping outdoors under the stars.

  My dad is Count Bartholomew Moon. He’s a vampire. Yes, really! He likes staying up all night, eating only red food (tomatoes—yuck!), gazing at the night sky with his special telescope, and flying in front of a full moon.

  Then there’s my little sister, Baby Honeyblossom. She’s half-fairy, half-vampire, just like me! She likes sleeping, gurgling, and drinking pink milk.

  Pink Rabbit and I do everything together. He was my favorite stuffed animal, so Mom cast a spell to make him alive.

  And this is our house! That’s my bedroom at the top of the tallest tower. I can see the whole town from my window. Pink Rabbit is mostly not allowed to look out the window because he likes jumping off things too much.

  He thinks he can fly like me.

  He can’t fly.

  Every morning I watch the human children walking down the road to school. They wear funny-looking uniforms with striped ties.

  And even though the children look very friendly…

  And even though they look like they are having fun…

  It makes me glad that I am a vampire-fairy, because vampire-fairies don’t have to go to school.

  Or so I thought…

  Yesterday evening I was practicing flying my loop-the-loops out my bedroom window, when Dad called me from downstairs.

  “Isadora!” he said. “Breakfast time!”

  Dad always has his breakfast at seven o’clock at night because he sleeps during the day. Mom has hers in the morning. This means I usually have two breakfasts. I don’t mind, because peanut butter on toast is my favorite thing to eat.

  Dad was sitting at the table drinking a glass of his very special red smoothie juice. I think it’s disgusting. I do not like red food, especially tomatoes. I know there are tomatoes in Dad’s special red smoothie juice.

  “One day you’ll enjoy it like a real vampire,” he says to me. “All vampires love red food.”

  But I know I won’t. I’m only half-vampire, after all.

  Mom was there too, opening the kitchen windows to let in the fresh air and putting bunches of flowers in vases.

  We have fourteen vases of flowers in the kitchen. And a tree growing from the middle of the floor! Mom just loves to bring the outdoors inside.

  Honeyblossom was fussing in her high chair because she had dropped her bottle on the floor. I picked it up for her and filled it with some more pink milk. She hates red juice, just like me.

  Dad said, “Isadora, the time has come for you to start school.”

  “But, Dad,” I said, “I am a vampire-fairy. I do not need to go to school.”

  “Even fairies have to go to school,” said Mom.

  “Vampires too!” added Dad.

  “But I don’t want to go to school,” I said. “I have a perfectly busy and fun life at home with Pink Rabbit.”

  “But you might enjoy it,” insisted Dad. “I used to love my vampire school as a young boy.”

  “And I adored my fairy school!” said Mom, spooning some flower-nectar yogurt into her bowl.

  “You’ll have a wonderful time!” They both smiled.

  I wasn’t so sure.

  “But I’m not a full fairy,” I said. “And I’m not a full vampire. So which school would I go to? Is there one especially for vampire-fairies? Is there a school for me?”

  “Well…no,” said Mom. “Not exactly.”

  “You are very rare,” said Dad, sucking at his juice with a straw.

  “But very special!” added Mom quickly. “And I think fairy school would suit you perfectly.”

  “But of course you may prefer vampire school,” said Dad. “It’s a lot more exciting.”

  “Is it?” asked Mom, sounding as though she did not agree at all. “How about we let Isadora decide for herself?”

  Pink Rabbit jumped up and down in agreement.

  “Isadora can spend one day at fairy school and one night at vampire school and decide which one she likes best,” said Mom.

  “But…,” I began.

  “Fantastic idea!” exclaimed Dad.

  “Well…okay,” I said in a small voice.

  I suddenly didn’t want to eat breakfast anymore. I took Pink Rabbit’s paw and walked slowly back up the stairs to my bedroom, thinking very hard the whole way.

  “Which school would you like to go to, Pink Rabbit?” I asked. “Vampire or fairy?”

  He didn’t say anything because he can’t talk, but he looked up at me with his beady black eyes and gave an extra little bounce.

  “A rabbit school!” I replied. “I don’t think those exist!”

  When we got to my room, we had a tea party with my special bat-patterned tea set. Having a tea party always helps me think better. We didn’t have any real tea, so we put glitter in the teacups instead, and Pink Rabbit got it all over his nose.

  “You will have to learn to be more civilized once we are at school,” I told him. “I know they are very strict about manners at vampire school.”

  Pink Rabbit looked a little ashamed, so I patted his head and brushed the glitter off his nose.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “We can always go to fairy school instead. I think they are more easygoing there.”

  Pink Rabbit seemed to like that idea.

  “Also,” I added, “I bet th
ey eat more cake at fairy school. They might even have carrot cake!”

  Pink Rabbit bounced up and down with excitement. Even though he can’t really eat food, he likes to pretend. Carrot cake is his favorite.

  I stood up and brushed the glitter off my dress.

  “Oh, I just don’t know!” I wailed. “I just don’t know if I am more fairy or more vampire! I love magic, sunshine, and dancing around campfires, but I also love the black of night and flying among the moon and stars. It’s very difficult. I don’t know what I am or which school I’m going to pick!”

  Pink Rabbit just shrugged and stared at me. I picked him up, and we went over to my tower window. The sky twinkled with stars. I knew Dad would be in the second-tallest tower right now, gazing at them through his expensive telescope.

  “Stars are all different, you know,” I said to Pink Rabbit. “Each one is unique. But they all look the same from down here.”

  Pink Rabbit nodded wisely, but I could see he had other things on his mind.

  He was thinking about jumping out the window.

  I took his pink squishy paw, and we stepped up onto the windowsill.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go for a fly among the stars before bed.”

  I felt nervous the night before fairy school. I think Pink Rabbit did too. I can always tell when Pink Rabbit is nervous or excited, because he fidgets all night. He fidgeted all that night, and I almost didn’t sleep a wink.

  That’s why I was very tired the next day when Mom came in to get me up.

  “Come on, Isadora, rise and shine!” she said. “It’s time for fairy school. I just know you’re going to love it!”

  She led me downstairs for my morning bath.

  In the garden pond.

  Mom loves to bathe in the pond among the lily pads, and she thinks we should all do the same.

  “It’s so nice to be at one with nature!”

  Personally, I prefer when Dad is in charge of bath time. It is much less…cold. When Dad is in charge of bath time, he switches all the lamps off and lights lots of candles. It is very relaxing. Sometimes he makes shadow puppets dance across the walls for me too.

  That’s my favorite kind of bath time.

  The fairy school was on top of a hill covered in flowers. It looked like a giant cupcake with windows and doors. Glitter puffed out from the giant shiny cherry on top.

  “Doesn’t it look wonderful?” said Mom. Then she kissed my cheek and flew away.

  I stood looking at the school, holding Pink Rabbit’s paw. He needed me to hold his paw because everything was so new and a little scary.

  My teacher was named Mr. Sparkletoes. He had pink hair that looked like the icing on a cupcake.

  “Good morning, class,” he said. “Today we are going to learn how to use a magic wand!”

  I had always wanted a wand of my very own. Suddenly, I knew fairy school was for me! After all, who doesn’t want a glittery wand that can grant wishes?

  “We are going to make wonderful things appear,” said Mr. Sparkletoes. “All you need to do is wave your wand and imagine. You should all be naturals at it!”

  He handed everyone a sparkly silver wand.

  At once, every fairy began to wave their wand in the air. Nice things began to appear around the classroom. Little kittens, giant bowls of ice cream, striped lollipops, towering birthday cakes, freshly squeezed lemonade…

  “What shall we wish for, Pink Rabbit?” I asked.

  Pink Rabbit bounced up and down beside me.

  “Carrot cake!” I said. “Good idea.”

  I imagined a huge, towering cake covered in creamy icing and decorated with little candied carrots.

  WHOOSH! I waved my wand.

  A single carrot dropped out of the air and rolled across the floor.

  I frowned. “That was not what I was imagining,” I said.

  I closed my eyes and thought of the cake again. I could see it very clearly.

  I knew exactly what it was supposed to look like. It had five layers and a little candy rabbit on top.

  I waved my wand again.

  WHOOSH!

  Still, no cake appeared. Instead, the carrot started to grow. It rolled around on the floor, getting bigger and bigger all the time.

  “Oh dear,” I said to Pink Rabbit. I looked around for Mr. Sparkletoes, but he was busy taste-testing a fairy’s cake over on the other side of the room.

  The carrot was now HUGE!

  “Stop growing!” I said to it. “Stop!”

  But the carrot did not stop. It kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

  “Mr. Sparkletoes!” I called. But he didn’t hear me over the excited chatter of all the fairies.

  I stared at the giant carrot. A few of the fairies nearby had noticed it now. They were pointing and laughing.

  It was embarrassing.

  I waved my wand at the carrot once more. There was a WHOOSH and a shower of sparks.

  Stop growing! I thought. Turn into a cake.

  The carrot stopped growing.

  But it did not turn into a cake. Instead, it sprouted a pair of black bat’s wings and began to flap itself into the air.

  I shouted:

  Finally, he turned around. Just in time to see the giant carrot zooming around the classroom, crashing from wall to wall and destroying everything in its way. Cake and lemonade exploded everywhere, splattering the walls and splashing all over the floor.

  “TAKE COVER!” shouted Mr. Sparkletoes, immediately leaping underneath his desk at the front of the classroom.

  All the other fairies followed his lead, diving under their desks too.

  I crouched down under mine and listened to the bangs and crashes going on above my head.

  This is all my fault! I thought, reaching out for Pink Rabbit’s paw.

  But Pink Rabbit’s paw was not there. And neither was Pink Rabbit.

  Where was he?!

  I peered out from under the desk through the lemonade rain and shower of cake crumbs. My heart felt tight in my chest. What if he had been squashed?

  But then I saw him! He was on the other side of the room, opening one of the big classroom windows.

  What a clever rabbit! I thought.

  The window swung open, and a cool summery breeze floated into the room. The carrot stopped in midair. It did a somersault. Then it pointed its nose toward the open window and rocketed out into the sky, scattering a trail of cake crumbs and lollipops behind it.

  Everything went quiet for a second, and no one said anything.

  Then Mr. Sparkletoes got out from under his desk and smoothed down his shirt.

  “Come on, everyone,” he said. “Get out from under your desks. Honestly! Hiding under your desks because of a carrot!”

  Then he said, “Isadora, I don’t think you have the best fairy skill for wand waving.”

  Oh well, I thought. Maybe I am completely a vampire after all.

  The next lesson was ballet.

  I have taken ballet lessons since I was three, so I wasn’t worried about messing up this class.

  We all went to change into our tutus.

  I love my ballet tutu. It is my second-favorite thing, after Pink Rabbit. It is as black as midnight, with silver stars and black glitter.

  It makes me feel MYSTICAL and MAGICAL.

  Sometimes I wear it just for fun when I’m at home.

  I put it on, and then I noticed that all the other fairies were staring at me. And so was Mr. Sparkletoes.

  “You can’t wear that,” they all said. “It’s black!”

  “But I like black,” I said. “Black is the color of the sky at night. Black is a mystical and magical color. And look how it sparkles!”

  “But it’s black,” said Mr. Sparkletoes. “We fairies wear pink ballet outfits. It’s the rule.”

  I was made to change out of my tutu and into a puffy pink one. It just wasn’t the same.

  I messed up in the pink tutu. I missed my steps, and I was the worst in the
class. I just didn’t feel like my mystical, magical self.

  “Oh dear,” I said to Pink Rabbit. “I think maybe I am more vampire than I thought.”

  For lunch we had buttercup soup and acorn pancakes.

  “Yum,” said all the fairies. “We love acorn pancakes and buttercup soup. They taste like trees and flowers!”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted my food to taste like trees and flowers, but I was very hungry, so I ate it all up. It wasn’t too bad.

  But nowhere near as good as peanut butter on toast.

  The last lesson of the day was flower-garland making.

  “It’s almost midsummer,” said Mr. Sparkletoes. “A very important event on the fairy calendar. We will go into the magic woodland behind the school and look for branches and flowers to make crowns! Then we will wear them next week to dance around a bonfire.”

  “Ooh!” said all the fairies.

  “Yes,” said Mr. Sparkletoes. “It is a wonderful way to be close to nature. Off we go. Barefoot, everyone!”

  Everyone took off their shoes, and then we all followed Mr. Sparkletoes out of the school to the magic woodland.

  “Here we are,” he said. “Now let’s go searching!”

  I really wanted to do a good job after the disastrous magic-wand and ballet lessons. I’ll show them, I thought. I’ll make the best crown they’ve ever seen! I began to collect the biggest and most beautiful flowers I could find. Then I wove in some leaves and twigs. Pink Rabbit looked on in approval.