The New Kid

by Grace Gilmore

  CHAPTER 1: LIBRARY DAY

  CHAPTER 2: OSWALD ROBBINS

  CHAPTER 3: THE ODD BOY OUT

  CHAPTER 4: INTO THE WOODS

  CHAPTER 5: WONDER WALKERS

  CHAPTER 6: MA’S SPECIAL TREAT

  CHAPTER 7: THE MISSING BOOK

  CHAPTER 8: FOR THE BIRDS

  CHAPTER 9: THE MUDDY CLUE

  CHAPTER 10: MYSTERY SOLVED!

  ABOUT GRACE GILMORE AND PETRA BROWN

  LIBRARY DAY

  Logan Pryce yawned as he started up the hill toward the Maple Ridge School. “I’m too tired for learning today!” he complained. He had woken up before dawn to help Pa chop wood.

  “But it’s Wednesday!” his sister Tess said happily. She did a twirl, which made her brown braids fly.

  “What’s so special about Wednesdays?” their brother Drew piped up. “I like Fridays better. That’s when we have our spelldowns, and I always win.”

  Logan rolled his eyes. At eleven, Drew was the oldest of the Pryce children. He could be a big show-off sometimes.

  “Remember? Miss Ashley said that starting today, Wednesdays would be Library Day,” said Tess. “We each get to pick a book to take home for a whole week!”

  Tess loved to read more than just about anything. Logan thought reading was okay, although he liked inventing things a lot more.

  “I helped Miss Ashley shelve the library books. I know what I’m choosing first,” Tess declared.

  “Little Women?” guessed Logan. “Treasure Island?”

  Tess shook her head. “I’ve already read those. No, my first library book shall be Birds of North America.”

  “Who cares about a bunch of dumb birds?” Drew teased her.

  “I do!” Tess snapped. “Birds are very interesting. For example, did you know that hummingbirds can fly backward? And that the turkey got its name because people thought it came from the country of Turkey? And . . .”

  Tess was still chattering about birds when the three of them reached the crest of the hill. She could be shy at times, but not when it came to things she cared about, like books and birds.

  Drew leaned over to Logan. “If I have to hear any more about birds, I’m going to stick my head in the ground like an ostrich,” he joked.

  “Or you could flap your arms like a goose and fly away!” Logan joked back.

  The two brothers chuckled.

  Up ahead was their one-room schoolhouse. A thin column of smoke rose from the chimney. The trees in the yard were cloaked with red and yellow leaves.

  Logan spotted Kyle Chambers and Lenny Watts strolling through the door with their lunch pails. And then he spotted a boy he didn’t recognize. The boy was as tall and skinny as a beanpole. He wore oval-shaped, gold-rimmed glasses and an odd hat decorated with a feather.

  Exactly twenty students attended the Maple Ridge School, and Logan knew every single one.

  Except for this boy. Who was he?

  OSWALD ROBBINS

  Inside the schoolhouse, Tess caught up to Greta Kranz and Nellie Shaw. The three of them had become friends recently.

  Logan hung his hat on a hook. Then he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

  It was his best pal, Anthony Bruna. “Pssst! Who’s the new kid?” Anthony whispered. He pointed to the boy with the feathered hat and glasses.

  “I’m not sure,” replied Logan. “Doesn’t he know boys aren’t allowed to wear hats inside? And why is he sitting there?”

  At school, the boys sat on one side of the room and the girls sat on the other. The youngest students sat up front near Miss Ashley, the teacher. The oldest students, like Drew, Kyle, and Lenny, sat in back. Logan and Anthony, who were eight, and Tess, who was nine, sat in the middle section.

  The new kid was sitting on the girls’ side, way in the back.

  “Maybe we should tell him,” said Anthony.

  “Maybe,” agreed Logan.

  But before they could speak to him, Miss Ashley called everyone to attention. “Good morning, class. Please take your seats! I have two very special announcements to make before roll call.”

  Logan, Anthony, and all the other students hurried to their desks.

  “First of all, today is our very first Library Day!” said Miss Ashley. “As you may know, some towns have free public libraries now. But since Maple Ridge does not have one yet, Mr. Bird was kind enough to donate one hundred books so our school could start its very own library.”

  Miss Ashley nodded toward the three brand-new shelves filled with books. Logan’s jaw dropped. He had never seen that many books, not even at the general store! Logan liked Mr. Bird, who had once paid him a dollar for one of the projects from his Fix-It Shop.

  “Second, I want to introduce Oswald Robbins. His family just moved here from Chicago,” Miss Ashley went on.

  Logan turned. It was the new kid! Oswald’s face flushed beet red as everyone stared at him. He slouched down in his chair, which made his long, skinny legs look extra long and skinny. Then he mumbled something under his breath.

  “Could you please speak a little louder, Oswald? We can’t hear you,” said Miss Ashley.

  “I said to please call me Wally,” he squeaked.

  This time, the whole class heard. Lots of people snickered.

  Miss Ashley clapped her hands. “Boys and girls! Silence! Let us make Wally feel welcome. In fact, I think we should invite him to be the first one to choose a book from our new library.”

  Tess raised her eyebrows.

  “Go ahead, Wally. Please select a book. Also, why don’t we move you to that empty desk in front of Logan Pryce?” Miss Ashley suggested.

  Wally scooped up his belongings and slinked toward the library shelves. His movements reminded Logan of a weasel he once saw in Pa’s cornfield.

  At the shelf, Wally pushed his glasses up his nose and scanned the titles, A to Z. After a moment, he took a book from the B section. He tucked it under his arm and shuffled back to the empty desk.

  Tess caught Logan’s eye and frowned at Wally’s book.

  Logan read the title. It was Birds of North America—the book Tess had wanted!

  THE ODD BOY OUT

  At recess, Logan and Anthony kicked a ball around on the grassy lawn. Nearby, a group of kids joined hands and sang “Ring around the Rosy.” Still other kids jumped rope or walked on wooden stilts.

  “What library book did you choose?” Logan asked as he kicked the ball to Anthony.

  “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood,” Anthony replied. “What about you?”

  “I wasn’t sure at first. Then Miss Ashley told me I would like this book called Hans Brinker something. It’s about a brother and sister who want to enter an ice-skating contest. They don’t have proper steel skates, though. Just a pair of old wooden ones.” Logan grinned. “That reminds me! Did I tell you about my latest invention?”

  “Gosh, no. What is it?” asked Anthony.

  “Wonder Walkers!” Logan said proudly. “You know how parents get upset when you track mud into the house? Well, Wonder Walkers solve that problem. You walk on top of them, like stilts, so your shoes don’t get muddy.”

  “That sounds swell. Can you make me a pair too?”

  “Sure thing! I’m still working on the design, though.”

  Greta marched up to the boys. Tess and Nellie followed at her heels. “We discussed it, and we decided that it’s an outrage!” Greta declared.

  “Does that mean she’s mad?” Anthony murmured to Logan.

  Logan shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Of course I’m mad! We all are because poor Tess will have to wait a whole week to read Birds of North America,” Greta huffed.

  “That Wally kid had no right to take Tess’s book!” Nellie chimed in.

  Tess nodded, but
she didn’t say anything.

  “How was Wally supposed to know Tess wanted that book?” asked Logan.

  Greta put her hands on her hips. “He should have known, is all.”

  “Aw, I’m sure he didn’t mean it. He’s probably a real nice kid,” said Anthony.

  “Hardly,” Nellie scoffed.

  “He’s odd,” Greta added. “Look!”

  Everyone looked. Wally was sitting under a tree, munching on an apple and reading Birds of North America.

  Wally glanced up. Logan waved, just to be friendly. So did Anthony.

  But Wally didn’t wave back. Instead, he sprang to his feet and ran away.

  “See? He’s odd,” Greta repeated.

  Logan was beginning to wonder if maybe Greta was right.

  INTO THE WOODS

  After school, Logan invited Anthony over to his house.

  “I’ve discovered a new shortcut!” Logan announced as they started down the road.

  “That’s swell! Where is it?” asked Anthony.

  Logan paused to pick up a stick. He sketched out a route in the dirt. “See here? If we take this shortcut through the woods, we’d get there a lot faster.”

  “Onward, then!”

  “Onward!”

  They continued down the road. Goldenrod and switchgrass swayed in the cool breeze. Squirrels scurried about with acorns.

  “I was thinking,” Anthony said to Logan. “Why do you suppose Wally’s family moved here from Chicago?”

  “Why wouldn’t they? Maple Ridge is as fine a place to live as anywhere!” replied Logan.

  “But there are no jobs here,” Anthony reminded him. “Folks are leaving Maple Ridge so they can find work in the big cities, not the other way around.”

  Logan thought about this. Anthony was right. Pa had given up farming because he couldn’t make enough money. Other farmers in Maple Ridge had done the same. These days, Pa worked at a glass factory in Sherman, which was two hours away by horse and buggy. Anthony’s pa, Mr. Bruna, also worked in Sherman.

  So what was Wally’s family doing in Maple Ridge?

  Logan and Anthony soon reached the edge of the woods.

  “There!” Logan pointed to a neat pile of stones on the ground. “I left a marker where the path begins so I could find it again.”

  “That’s smart!” said Anthony.

  Fallen brown leaves made a crunching sound as the friends walked down the path. Logan began to chant:

  “There were two blackbirds

  Sat upon a hill”

  Anthony joined in:

  “The one was nam’d Jack

  The other nam’d Gill

  Fly away, Jack

  Fly away, Gill

  Come again, Jack

  Come again, Gill”

  Up ahead, a large shadow darted across the path.

  Logan and Anthony stopped in their tracks.

  “What . . . was . . . that?” Logan whispered.

  “Gosh, I’m not sure,” Anthony whispered back.

  A moment later, the shadow darted across the path again. That’s when Logan noticed the glasses and feathered hat.

  “It’s Wally Robbins!” Logan said, relieved.

  Anthony’s eyes grew wide. “It sure is! What’s he doing here?”

  The two boys crept closer. Wally ducked behind a maple tree. He held a book open in his hands as he peered this way and that.

  “He could be a spy,” Anthony guessed. “Maybe he’s on a secret mission.”

  “Maybe. That would explain what he’s doing in Maple Ridge,” Logan agreed.

  Snap!

  Logan had stepped on a big, crackly branch. The loud noise made Wally spin around.

  “Ahoy!” Logan called out. He didn’t know what else to say.

  “Ahoy!” echoed Anthony.

  Wally didn’t reply. Instead, he tucked his book under his arm and disappeared into the woods.

  WONDER WALKERS

  Over the following week, the new kid known as Wally Robbins grew even more mysterious.

  At school, Wally continued to keep to himself. In class, he mostly stared out the window and sketched in a leather notebook. At lunch, he ate alone. At recess, he didn’t play games with the other kids; instead, he read Birds of North America or wandered through the woods.

  The other students made fun of him, especially Kyle and Lenny, who had declared Wally the weirdest kid in all of Maple Ridge. Even kindhearted Tess had decided she was against him.

  Logan thought about all this one evening as he sat in his Fix-It Shop, finishing up his first pair of Wonder Walkers. The Fix-It Shop was in the corner of the Pryces’ barn, which was also home to Lightning, Miss Moo, and the other farm animals. The Wonder Walkers were two upside-down tin cans with long pieces of twine to hold on to, like with stilts. Logan planned to bring them to school tomorrow to show Anthony during recess.

  As Logan worked, he wondered: Who was Wally Robbins? Why did he avoid everyone?

  Also, what was inside his leather notebook? Could it be secret spy stuff? But what was there to spy on in Maple Ridge?

  After nearly a week, Logan still had no answers. Every time he tried to speak to Wally, the other boy skittered away like a nervous bird.

  Over supper that night, Logan told his parents about Wally.

  “He won’t talk to anyone. No one likes him,” Logan finished.

  Drew shrugged. “He’s odd, is all.”

  “And he steals other people’s books,” Tess added.

  “He didn’t steal your book!” Logan cried out.

  “But Greta and Nellie said he did!” Tess insisted.

  Logan’s dog, Skeeter, got up from his spot in front of the cookstove and barked. He didn’t like it when the humans in the house raised their voices.

  Pa held up his hands. “Hush now, Skeeter. Children, we must be kind. It’s not easy being the new person at school.”

  “I have a fine idea! Why don’t I make a special welcome treat for Wally and bring it to your school tomorrow?” Ma suggested.

  “Can Mrs. Wigglesworth and I come with you?” Annie piped up. At four years old, Annie was the youngest Pryce. Mrs. Wigglesworth was a doll that Ma had sewn for her.

  Ma smiled. “Yes, Annie. In fact, you may help me bake the special treat in the morning.”

  “Can it please be shortbread cookies, Ma?” Logan begged.

  “If you and Tess will churn some extra butter for me,” replied Ma.

  “Hooray, we’re having shortbread cookies tomorrow!” Logan shouted.

  “Hooray! And tomorrow is Library Day!” Tess shouted. “I’ll finally get to read Birds of North America.”

  Skeeter barked again. Logan grinned and dug into his squash soup. Tomorrow promised to be a very good day!

  MA’S SPECIAL TREAT

  It was raining on Wednesday morning, so Ma drove Logan, Tess, and Drew to the schoolhouse in the buggy. Pa caught a ride to Sherman with Anthony’s father.

  Annie squeezed between Logan and Tess in back. “We’re going to school, Mrs. Wigglesworth!” she told her doll.

  “You’ll be going to school for real in a few years, Annie. Won’t that be so wonderful?” Ma said over her shoulder.

  “Yes! I’ll learn how to read books and recite my baby C’s!” Annie exclaimed.

  “You mean your ABC’s, silly,” Drew corrected her with a laugh.

  When they reached the schoolhouse, Drew leapt out of the buggy and tethered Lightning to a hitching post. Ma covered her basket with a wool scarf and started toward the door. “I’d better dash inside so these cookies don’t become soaked. Logan and Tess, please bring Annie in with you,” she called out.

  “But I don’t want Mrs. Wigglesworth to get wet!” Annie complained.

  Logan pulled his Wonder Walkers out of their gunnysack. “Here, Annie. You can carry her in this,” he said, handing her the sack.

  “Thank you, Lolo! But what are those shiny things you’re holding?” asked Annie.

  “They a
re my latest and greatest invention. Allow me to demonstrate how they work!”

  Logan set the Wonder Walkers on the ground and stepped onto them. He grabbed the long straps and stomped through the wet, mucky grass. “You see? With Wonder Walkers, your shoes will never get muddy. The Wonders Walkers do!”

  “What a clever idea!” said Tess.

  Logan stepped off the Wonder Walkers and left them on the grass outside the door. They could stay there until recess.

  Inside, everyone was already seated. Ma stood next to Miss Ashley, holding her basket of cookies. Logan shook the rain off and hurried to his desk.

  “We have a visitor today,” said Miss Ashley to the class. “Mrs. Pryce brought a special treat to welcome Wally to our community!”

  In front of Logan, Wally slouched down as though he wanted to be invisible.

  “But it’s shortbread cookies. My ma makes the best ones in town!” Logan whispered to Wally.

  “Really?” Wally sat up straight. He sounded happy all of a sudden.

  Logan nodded to himself. Maybe Ma’s plan was working!

  “Mrs. Pryce will come around with her basket of cookies. Just one per person, please,” Miss Ashley instructed.

  Ma walked over to Wally’s desk. “Welcome to Maple Ridge, Wally! You should choose the first cookie, since you’re the guest of honor.”

  Wally reached into the basket and took one of the larger cookies.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Pryce,” he said in a quiet voice.

  “You’re very welcome, Wally. I really hope you enjoy it.”