Follow Your Art
Page 2
Jeanie let out a sigh of relief. It was a good thing Willow was great at thinking quickly!
Then Jeanie noticed Leo was holding a package under his arm. “What’s that?” she asked.
“A new project,” said Leo. “I was frustrated yesterday. But when I got home, inspiration struck!”
He unwrapped the package. To Jeanie, what Leo was holding looked like a regular, old mirror.
“I know this may look like a regular, old mirror,” said Leo, “but the idea is that art reflects life and that art is what you make of it.”
“Cool!” said Jeanie. “So the mirror is going to reflect all the artwork that’s around it? And also that whatever we see in the mirror is what we want to see?”
“Exactly,” said Leo.
“Okay, why don’t we put your project inside for you?” Jeanie offered.
“Thanks!” Leo said, handing the mirror over to Jeanie. “See you in class!”
Back inside the gym the art show had turned into a circus. A lion and a rhino head-butted each other. The papier-mâché band played “Born to Be Wild.” And a mob of manic pipe-cleaner people had climbed Leo’s horse mobile and were riding the bucking bronco! It was total chaos!
“We don’t have time to fix this right now,” Jeanie told Willow as she set Leo’s project in the corner. “The bell is about to ring. But the gym will be empty all day.”
“We’ll just have to sneak back here before tonight’s grand opening,” Willow added.
“At least the magic will all stay in one place!” Jeanie said as they grabbed their backpacks.
But just as they were about to leave, Jeanie realized she’d spoken too soon. A little purple pipe-cleaner cowboy ran out of the gym!
“Yee-haw!” he shouted as he sprinted down the hall.
“Oh no!” Jeanie cried.
Willow patted Jeanie’s arm. “It’ll be okay. After all, how much trouble can one little pipe cleaner get into?”
Jeanie wasn’t sure… but she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.
Chapter 8
A GREAT ESCAPE GONE WRONG
The girls quickly walked into classroom 2B, dropped their bags in their cubbies, and slipped into their seats just before the morning bell rang.
“Good morning, everyone,” began Ms. Patel. “Today we’re going to continue our social studies unit on westward expansion. We’ll start with a short film about the Oregon Trail.”
Thank the stars! Willow thought as Ms. Patel dimmed the lights. She felt so zonked that she’d never have been able to focus on reading or join in one of her teacher’s famous role-playing history lessons.
As the movie started, Willow tried to concentrate on the story of the settlers making their way across the plains in covered wagons.
But soon her mind started to wander. What was it like inside those wagons? Willow pictured a family traveling under a wide open sky. The father would drive the wagon, the mother beside him. Maybe the kids would sleep next to their dog, while outside the back of the wagon… a ballerina rode by on a horse!
I can’t even get away from my magic in my daydreams, Willow thought, shaking the images out of her head.
She glanced at Jeanie, who was busily taking notes. Her friend was smart—Ms. Patel would probably quiz them on it later.
Willow went to grab a pencil from her desk. Just then she noticed something. She squinted. What was that? As she watched, a flash of purple climbed down the bookshelf and raced across the floor. It was the tiny pipe-cleaner person! He was scampering under Finn’s desk and using a rubber band to… lasso a paper clip?
Willow’s stomach clenched. She hadn’t thought the pipe cleaner’s escape was that big of a deal, but here he was in classroom 2B! That meant anyone could spot him. And if they did, they’d find out about Willow’s spell. Then Willow would never become a master genie!
Willow thought fast. She’d have to pretend she dropped a pencil so she could sneak down onto the floor and catch the little purple dude.
But when she looked back down, the pipe-cleaner person was gone!
Chapter 9
OBJECTS IN MIRROR
“Do you think anyone else has seen him?” Jeanie whispered as she and Willow waited for everyone to leave classroom 2B.
It was lunchtime, but the girls planned to go back to the gym and try to clean up this magical mess before the art fair.
“I hope not,” said Willow.
“Well, I’m just relieved no one painted dragons,” said Jeanie. “Can you imagine if…” She trailed off. “Hey, is there a butterfly in here or something?” she could have sworn something had just flown by her nose.
“Um, I don’t see anything,” said Willow, scanning the room.
“There! Over there!” Jeanie cried.
It was the pipe-cleaner cowboy! He was swinging on the string that opened and closed the window blinds.
“Yippee ki yay!” he cried as he leaped from the window.
The teensy cowboy gave them a small wave, bounded toward the door, and took off down the hall faster than a stampeding buffalo.
“Don’t just stand there!” cried Jeanie. “We have to catch him!”
The girls rushed down the crowded hall, but the little purple figure was just too fast. He slid under sneakers, leaped up lockers, and danced over door frames. In a few seconds he was gone.
“Let’s worry about the runaway later,” said Jeanie when she’d caught her breath. “We have bigger problems to solve.”
When they got to the gym, things were even wilder than before. The botanical drawings had grown up to the ceiling, the robots were going haywire, and the ballerina was spinning around and around in crazy circles… until she bumped into Leo’s mirror. It wobbled back and forth… and back and forth.
As Jeanie and Willow stood there, terrified that the mirror was going to fall, Jeanie cried out, “Willow, isn’t there anything in your genie manual about this?”
Willow suddenly gasped. “Yes!” she cried. “There’s a part that says if you’ve accidentally brought something to life and it sees itself in a mirror, it gets scared and returns to its original state.”
Before Jeanie could say a word, Willow ran over to the mirror and pointed it at the ballerina she’d worked so hard on. Then something strange happened. The ballerina got sucked right into the mirror and disappeared.
Willow started pointing the mirror at various art pieces around the room. As if the mirror were a giant vacuum, every piece of live art got sucked in.
When all the art had disappeared, the room was quiet.
Willow looked nervous. Was the art going to come back?
Suddenly each artwork shot back out of the mirror and into its rightful place as a still piece of art on a wall or pedestal, or wherever it had been before Willow’s spell brought it to life.
When everything was back to normal, Jeanie let out a relieved sigh. “You did it!” she cried.
“We did it,” said Willow.
* * *
That night the students and parents of classroom 2B gathered in the gym for the big opening.
As everyone admired the galleries, Mr. Bloom stepped in front of the crowd.
“Welcome, everyone, to the Rivertown Elementary School Art Fair! I’d like to—”
But before he could continue, a little purple figure tumbled across the floor… and hopped right onto Mr. Bloom’s shoe! The pipe-cleaner cowboy raised a small triangle from the music room and opened the fair with a tiny ting!
For a long moment the gym was totally silent. Then Jeanie rushed forward and grabbed the cowboy while Willow faced the crowd.
“That’s our project: Art in Action!” Willow announced.
All of the students and teachers and parents burst into applause.
Leo rushed over to the girls.
“That was some very amazing performance art!” he said. “You have to tell me how you did it!”
Jeanie smiled slyly. “A great magician—I mean a great artist—never reveals her secrets!”
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br /> Chapter 10
THE GENIE AND THE GENIUS
“Saturday afternoons are for sunshine, snacks, and staring at the clouds,” said Willow.
Willow gazed dreamily at the cloudscape over the Bells’ backyard, looking for ballerinas and robots and cowboys.
“Especially after a week like we had!” Jeanie added as she patted Bear’s head.
Suddenly a small sparkling cloud appeared over Willow. The sound of wind chimes filled the air, and a tiny golden box floated down, right into Willow’s hands.
“What is it?” asked Jeanie.
“Let’s find out,” Willow replied, lifting the lid. Inside Willow found a scroll and a badge embroidered with a painter’s palette in golden thread. “It’s from the World Genie Association!”
“Willow, you did it!” Jeanie exclaimed, giving her friend a huge hug. “You’re one step closer to becoming a Master Genie!”
Willow looked shocked. “I can’t believe it!” she said. “I’m happy, but I know I need to learn to control my wish granting.”
“Hey, at least you didn’t grant a wish while we were on our field trip!” said Jeanie.
“That’s true. I would not want to see the lions outside the library come to life,” Willow joked. “Or Mr. Twister, that giant chocolate and vanilla mascot outside the Sweet Shoppe!” she stood and began twirling like a giant soft-serve ice cream swirl.
“I’ve got brain freeze just thinking about it!” Jeanie laughed.
“The truth is, I never could have earned this badge without you,” Willow said. “You may not be a genie, but you’re a genius.”
More from this Series
Not-So-Happy Camper
Book 4
The First Wish
Book 1
Relax to the Max
Book 2
About the Author and Illustrator
TRISH GRANTED is not a genie, but she does believe in magic—especially the kind that can be found between the pages of a good book. When she’s not wishing on shooting stars or hunting for lucky pennies, she’s a children’s book editor who helps other authors sprinkle a little magic into stories of their own. Trish lives, reads, and roller skates in Brooklyn, New York.
MANUELA LÓPEZ always wanted to be an illustrator. Luckily, her wish was granted! She has now illustrated many children’s books. She lives surrounded by colored pencils in a tiny but charming flat in Terrassa, a small city in the northeast of Spain. If you ever make a wish, she can’t grant it, but she can draw it!
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Trish-Granted
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Manuela-López
Little Simon
Simon & Schuster, New York
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Designed by Brittany Fetcho.
Jacket design by Brittany Fetcho
Jacket illustrations by Manuela López
Jacket illustrations copyright © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-5344-7472-7 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-5344-7471-0 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-5344-7473-4 (eBook)