Carmen looked from Emma to me. “What is it?”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll tell you all about it. It’s going to take a lot of cleverness and creativity, that’s for sure.”
“Ice cream might help,” Emma suggested. “What do you say?”
“Sweet!” I said.
“And then maybe we can all go to my house and make a pie?” Emma said. She turned to Carmen. “Someone did us a favor in making Mr. Dooney’s wish come true. I promised her a pie.”
“All right,” Carmen said. “I’ll just have to borrow a phone and tell my mother that I’ll be gone all afternoon.”
We started walking back toward the Frozen Spoon. “Do you live around here?” Emma asked.
“No,” Carmen replied. “We live in an apartment over by the middle school. But I walk here all the time. It’s only a couple of miles.”
The way she said it, I realized how lucky I was to live so close to the beach. Grandma and Grandpa had owned the little red house for a really long time. They probably weren’t charging us much rent to live there, either.
As we walked, the gray clouds parted and the sun came out. No rain after all. Maybe this place wasn’t Bakersfield, but it was all right, and I realized I’d grown to like it. Maybe even love it a little bit. I fished the Tic Tacs out of my pocket, took one, and passed them to Emma. She took one and passed them to Carmen.
“Maybe we don’t have a secret handshake, but we have mints and fresh breath,” Emma said.
“My kind of club,” Carmen said as she passed the mints back to me.
I smiled. “Same.”
I bet most people have more than one wish they keep tucked away in their hearts like I do. Some come true and some don’t. That’s just the way it works. When things don’t go the way you want, you keep wishing. And maybe one day, out of the blue, one magically comes true.
I thought of the list I’d made before we moved here. A list of all the things I wanted to do at the beach, to try and make myself more excited about my new home.
“Do you think someday we could fly kites on the beach?” I asked. “And maybe roast marshmallows over a bonfire? When we’re not busy helping make wishes come true, I mean.”
“Sounds good to me,” Carmen said. “I’ve never eaten a roasted marshmallow before.”
“No way,” Emma said. “We have to fix that.”
When we arrived at the shop a couple of minutes later, I said, “Before we go inside, can I take our picture?”
“Ooh, good idea,” Emma said as she leaned up against the doorjamb. “We need to remember this day—the first day of the Starry Beach Club. Are you going to frame it and put it next to your bed?”
I got my phone out and held it out in front of us as we squished our heads together. “No. I think I’ll tape it inside my notebook of beautiful things.”
We put on our wonderful selfie smiles and I took the photo. Then Emma started singing, “You’ve got a friend in me.”
“I love that movie!” Carmen said. “Woody and Buzz are so funny.”
Emma sang it again and we joined in. Then we laughed.
Want to know one thing that’s even better than birds with joy sprinkled on their wings? Friends who are brilliant and bursting with life and make you feel like you’re a part of something special. I didn’t have to live in a painting. All I had to do was find people who made me feel like I did. And lucky for me, I had.
“You know what?” I said before Emma opened the door. “I think we actually made two people’s wishes come true this week.”
“We did?” Emma asked. “Whose?”
I smiled like she’d just handed me a painting by Vincent. “Mine.”
“Um, make that three wishes,” Carmen said, her brown eyes practically sparkling.
“We better not stop now,” Emma said. “We’re on a roll!”
This story was partly inspired by events in my own life. So first and foremost, I want to say thank you to the Runyon family for “adopting” me as a fifth child for a while in elementary school. And thanks to the Vorderstrasse family for allowing me to be a part of your family for a time in high school. Words can’t really express how much I appreciate your kindness, generosity, and most of all, your love. Please know I cherish the memories I have with all of you and that you will always hold a special place in my heart.
Thanks, as always, to Amanda Maciel and Abby McAden for all of their work on my behalf. Thanks as well to Scholastic Clubs and Scholastic Fairs—seeing my books in your beautiful flyers and in schools across the country is such an honor. I want to specifically thank Ann Marie Wong and Jana Haussmann for your incredible support. I really appreciate you! Yaffa Jaskoll, your cover and page designs rock and I’m so grateful for your work. And a huge thank you to my fabulous agent, Sara Crowe. You really get my work and I feel so blessed to have traveled this path with you the past ten years.
A shout-out to librarians and teachers who work tirelessly to get the right books into the right hands. Your work matters—it matters so much.
And finally, thank you to every person who has bought my books, shared my books, talked about my books, and/or read my books. I couldn’t do this without you. So thank you, dear reader. A million times, thank you!
LISA SCHROEDER is the author of several books for young readers, including Keys to the City, Sealed with a Secret, My Secret Guide to Paris, the Charmed Life series, It’s Raining Cupcakes, and The Girl in the Tower. She loves tea and cookies, flowers, family hikes, books and movies that make her laugh and cry, and sunshine. Living in Oregon, she doesn’t get nearly enough sunshine, but the hikes are amazing. You can visit her online at lisaschroederbooks.com or on Instagram at @lisaschroeder15.
ALSO BY LISA SCHROEDER
My Secret Guide to Paris
Sealed with a Secret
Keys to the City
Charmed Life:
#1: Caitlin’s Lucky Charm
#2: Mia’s Golden Bird
#3: Libby’s Sweet Surprise
#4: Hannah’s Bright Star
It’s Raining Cupcakes
Sprinkles and Secrets
Frosting and Friendship
Nora loves everything about Paris, from the Eiffel Tower to chocolat chaud. Of course, she’s never actually been there—she’s only visited through her grandma Sylvia’s stories. And just when they’ve finally planned a trip together, Grandma Sylvia is suddenly gone, taking Nora’s dreams with her.
Nora is crushed. She misses her grandmother terribly, but she still wants to see the city they both loved. So when Nora finds letters and a Paris treasure map among her grandma Sylvia’s things, she dares to dream again …
She’s not sure what her grandma wants her to find, but Nora knows there are wonderful surprises waiting for her in Paris. And maybe, amongst the croissants and macarons, she’ll even find a way to heal her broken heart.
When Phoebe finds a beautiful antique at a flea market, she’s not sure if it’s as valuable as it looks. But inside she discovers something truly amazing—a letter, written during World War II, from a young girl to her sister who’s been evacuated from London. The letter includes a “spell” for bringing people closer together: a list of clues leading all through the city. Each stop along the way adds up to magic.
Phoebe is stunned. Not only has she found a priceless piece of history, but the letter is exactly what she needs—she’s also separated from her sister, though not by distance. Alice leaves for university soon, but in the meantime, she wants nothing to do with Phoebe. They used to be so close. Now that Phoebe has this magical list, maybe she can fix everything! That is, unless she accidentally makes everything worse instead …
Lindy can’t wait for summer. Her family has moved to a beautiful old brownstone in New York City, where her parents are opening a bed-and-breakfast. She’ll meet new people, visit her friends in Brooklyn, and spend lots of time curled up with a good book.
Or so she thought. Right before school ends, Lindy’s cla
ss gets a summer assignment: to find their “true passion.” Something they love and that they’re good at. Something special. Their thing.
So much for a relaxing summer.
Then some new friends offer to help Lindy explore the city and go on adventures to find her passion. Lindy isn’t sure it’ll work, but New York is a big place. If the city can help Lindy unlock her potential, maybe the key to the perfect summer will be hers after all …
Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Schroeder
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
ISBN 978-1-338-19574-3
First edition, July 2018
Jacket design by Yaffa Jaskoll
Jacket illustrations by Maeve Norton
Photos © Shutterstock: girl (paffy); sunset (Take Huat); sand (Ian D Fairbairn)
Author photo by Left Turn Studio
e-ISBN 978-1-338-19576-7
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
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