I SPY FUN!

  Surprise!

  SURPRISE!

  Aunt Trudy had a big surprise for Heidi and Henry Heckelbeck. She was taking them to the Brewster Library for the town’s Reading Party celebration.

  There were going to be authors, illustrators, and more at the party, and Heidi couldn’t wait!

  “Hop in!” cried Aunt Trudy as she opened the car door.

  Both Heidi and Henry scrambled into the back seat and buckled their seat belts.

  Heidi laid her shoulder bag on her lap. She liked to take her bag on special outings. It made her feel very grown-up.

  Henry had brought a bag too—his spy bag. It had a magnifying glass, a notebook, and a pen inside.

  Heidi glared at her brother and said, “Oh no, you’re not in SPY mode, are you?”

  Henry held up the magnifying glass and winked at his sister. “I’m ALWAYS in spy mode!”

  Heidi rolled her eyes.

  “Well, I’m in spy mode too!” Aunt Trudy said as she pulled out of the driveway. “And right now, I spy your mom waving good-bye.”

  Aunt Trudy waved at Mom. Henry did too.

  Heidi sighed and looked out the window. She spied two squirrels playing tag, but she kept that information to herself.

  She didn’t want anyone to know she was secretly playing.

  “I spy a goldendoodle puppy!” shouted Henry.

  Heidi spied the puppy too. It was so cute! But she pretended not to notice.

  “I spy a FIRE ENGINE!” cried Henry.

  There was a fire engine behind them. Heidi spied her aunt glance at the rearview mirror. Luckily, the sirens were not on, and the fire engine turned down another street.

  By now Henry’s spy game had kicked into high gear. He spied one thing after another.

  “I spy a plane!”

  “I spy a cell phone tower!”

  “I spy a lady putting on lipstick!”

  “I spy two girls eating ice cream!”

  Heidi had to cover her ears for the rest of the ride. Finally they turned into the library parking lot, and Heidi smiled.

  At least Henry will have to whisper in the library, she thought. Phew.

  A SPECIAL CARD

  “I spy a parking place!” Henry cried. It was the very last open space.

  “Good work!” praised Aunt Trudy, switching on her blinker. “Looks like a big turnout for the Reading Party and to sign up for library cards.”

  Heidi suddenly sat up straight. “Library cards? May I get one?”

  Aunt Trudy patted some papers on the seat beside her. “I brought signed forms so you can both get library cards!”

  Heidi squealed. “I’ve always wanted my very own library card!” she said. “I can’t wait to put it in my wallet for safekeeping.”

  “And I’ll carry mine in my spy belt,” Henry added.

  Heidi and Henry raced each other up the steps to the library. Inside the entrance stood two balloon towers swirled with blue, green, and purple balloons. Heidi and Henry walked past the towers and were greeted by a librarian.

  “Good morning!” said the librarian, who wore a silk scarf. “How may I help?”

  Henry hopped up and down. “I want to go to the kids’ section!” he cried.

  The librarian laughed. “I can take you there myself if it’s okay with your Aunt Trudy.”

  Henry looked at his aunt, who nodded.

  “That sounds wonderful, Mary,” Aunt Trudy said. “Henry, stay in the children’s section, and I’ll meet you there shortly.”

  The librarian took Henry by the hand, and off they went.

  Heidi turned to her aunt. “Wow! You KNOW the librarian?”

  Her aunt winked. “I know all the librarians,” she said. “I’m a bit of a book wizard.”

  Heidi checked to see if anyone was listening. Then she whispered, “You’re not a wizard! You’re a WITCH!”

  Aunt Trudy cackled jokingly and linked elbows with Heidi. Together, they skipped over to the line for library cards. After a short wait, it was their turn.

  “Hello, Trudy!” said Ms. Egli, the head librarian. “How good to see you! And who have you brought today?”

  Heidi was admiring Ms. Egli’s necklace. It had an old key hanging from it. Heidi thought it looked magical.

  “My name is Heidi,” she said with a smile, “and I’m here to get my FIRST library card!”

  Aunt Trudy placed the paperwork on the desk, and Ms. Egli entered the information into the computer. Heidi happened to notice a mysterious smile sweep over Ms. Egli’s face as she read the information. Ms. Egli also exchanged a knowing glance with Aunt Trudy.

  Hmm, thought Heidi. I wonder what that look was all about.

  Heidi watched the head librarian closely. She saw her pull two library cards from the desk, one for her and one for her brother.

  “It is my pleasure to give you your very first library card,” Ms. Egli said, and she handed it to Heidi. The card was black with a gold lion on it.

  Then Ms. Egli took the key from around her neck and opened another drawer and pulled out a different card. She smiled at Heidi.

  “And now,” Ms. Egli went on, “with even greater pleasure, I present you with a second library card… a card we only share with very special members of our library community.”

  THE MOVING WALL

  Heidi had one word for her special library card: bedazzling.

  When she tipped the golden card one way, it shimmered. When she tipped it the other way, rainbow sparkles fluttered from the card and twinkled in the air.

  Across the front of the card in glowing letters were the words “Reading is MAGIC.” Underneath it read “Brewster’s Bewitched Books.” Heidi never thought it would be so cool to get a library card.

  “Thank you! This is amazing!” said Heidi. “But why did I get two cards?”

  “I can answer that,” said Aunt Trudy. “Just walk this way!”

  Heidi nodded and blindly followed her aunt toward the children’s section.

  She couldn’t stop staring at her sparkly new library card as they walked.

  When she finally looked up, Heidi realized they were nowhere near the children’s section. Her aunt had gone the wrong way.

  “The children’s section is the OTHER way,” said Heidi.

  But for some reason Aunt Trudy kept walking in the wrong direction.

  “We’re not going to the children’s section yet,” her aunt said. “First I want to share something with you.”

  Heidi could not imagine what Aunt Trudy had to share at the library—except, of course, for books. And Heidi really loved books.

  Aunt Trudy’s shoes click-clacked down the long glossy tiled hallway. Heidi picked up her pace to keep up. Her aunt turned left at the water fountain. Then she stopped in front of an oil painting.

  It was a portrait of an old librarian dressed like a wizard.

  Now it was Aunt Trudy’s turn to act like a spy. She looked over both shoulders to make sure they were alone.

  “Okay, Heidi. I want you to hold your shimmering library card in front of this painting,” her aunt directed.

  Heidi raised her eyebrows. “You want me to what?”

  Aunt Trudy nudged her forward. “Just give it a try.”

  Heidi slowly raised her card to the painting. As soon as she did, she heard a CLUMP so loud that she jumped at the sound.

  The clicking of metal gears became a whirl, and the entire wall with the painting began shaking and then opened. It was a hidden door.

  “What is this?” gasped Heidi.

  “It’s your future!” said her aunt matter-of-factly.

  Then Aunt Trudy stepped through the opening and motioned for Heidi to follow.

  In a flash, Aunt Trudy was gone! Now it was Heidi’s turn. Without thinking twice, she jumped into the opening, and the revolving wall slammed shut behind her.

  THE MAGICAL LIBRARY

  “Welcome to the Magical Library!” Aunt Trudy cheered.

  She was waiting on the other side of the wall.

  Heidi’s mouth dropped open. “The MAGICAL Library?”

  She could hardly believe her eyes. Heidi had never seen anything like this before.

  The bookshelves stretched from the floor to the ceiling. But the ceiling wasn’t really a ceiling. It was the night sky, with twinkling stars.

  “This is one of the only magical libraries in the world,” her aunt told her. “And now you’re a member.”

  Heidi gaped at an enormous tree that stood in the middle of the room. A swirly staircase wrapped around its thick trunk. Each step had a bookshelf underneath. The trunk also had a wooden door.

  I wonder if gnomes live inside, Heidi thought.

  “Well,” said Aunt Trudy, “don’t just stand there. Go look around!”

  Heidi stepped deeper into the library and saw a gigantic globe of the magical world spinning gently on an axis. She never knew there were so many magical places on earth! In the distance Heidi spied a life-size gingerbread cottage.

  In fact, everywhere Heidi turned, she was met with one amazing thing after another.

  There was a full-scale dragon statue, a swarm of floating books, and a grandfather clock with a door that probably led to another time and place. She even saw study desks with feathered quills, and some of the quills were writing all by themselves.

  And the entire Magical Library sparkled with tiny white lights.

  “Am I dreami

ng?” Heidi asked.

  Aunt Trudy shook her head. “Nope,” she said. “This is all real. I’ve been waiting until you were old enough to bring you here. Brewster has the richest magical history library in the world.”

  Heidi listened as she watched books magically shelve themselves. Then one book nudged off a shelf and floated across the room toward Heidi. She held out her hands and caught the book in her palms.

  “Wow, do ALL the books here do that?” she asked.

  “In the Magical Library, the books often choose you instead of the other way around,” Aunt Trudy explained.

  Heidi studied the book’s cover, which had a picture of a dragon, a unicorn, and a serpent.

  It was called The History of Magical Creatures.

  “Wow, this looks like MY kind of book!” said Heidi. “May I PLEASE check it out?”

  “Of course you can!” Aunt Trudy whispered. “But first we need to find your brother. He’s probably collected a stack of books as high as the Empire State Building!”

  Heidi didn’t want to leave, but she also knew Aunt Trudy was right.

  Henry loved books… sometimes a little too much.

  “Okay,” Heidi mumbled.

  Aunt Trudy put her arm around Heidi. “Don’t worry. We can come back here whenever you’d like. But you have to promise me one thing.”

  Heidi nodded and listened closely.

  “The Magical Library must remain a secret,” Aunt Trudy told her. “Promise you won’t tell anyone.”

  Heidi crossed her heart and said, “I PROMISE.”

  They left through the secret wall and found Henry in the children’s section. He was sitting on top of a pillow, reading a book called How to Be a Pirate. He had a built a wall of books around himself.

  When he saw his family, he waved and asked, “Can I get ALL these?”

  Heidi and Aunt Trudy both laughed.

  “You may choose ten books to take home,” Aunt Trudy said. “But only if you can keep track of all of them.”

  Henry promised he wouldn’t lose a single book, but Heidi wasn’t so sure.

  FIRST THINGS FIRST

  After the Reading Party, Heidi couldn’t wait to dive into The History of Magical Creatures the moment she got home. Henry wanted to read his books too.

  But it was Sunday, and they had to do their homework and chores first. Heidi got right to work.

  For math, she wrote fractions for the missing slices in a pizza. For spelling, she thought of five words that begin with the letter B: “bagel,” “baby,” “bake,” “ball,” and “banjo.” Then she cleaned her room and emptied the upstairs wastebaskets.

  When she finished, Heidi ran downstairs to the kitchen, and Henry raced after her.

  “DONE!” she announced to Mom and Aunt Trudy, who were making hamburger patties. “May we read our new library books now?”

  Mom washed her hands and dried them on a towel. Then she pulled out a bag of chocolate sandwich cookies.

  “I have one more task for both of you,” she said. “Would you help Aunt Trudy make a peanut butter ice-cream pie for dessert first?”

  Heidi and Henry loved ice-cream pie. Maybe the library books could wait a teeny bit longer.

  “SURE!” they agreed.

  Henry shook the cookies into the food processor. Heidi poured melted butter on top. Then she ground the cookies into crumbs. They took turns patting the cookie crumbs into the pie pan.

  After they baked and cooled the crust, Heidi spread peanut butter ice cream on top. She zigzagged chocolate topping over the ice cream. Henry did the same with the peanut butter topping.

  Finally, after dinner and dessert, Heidi crawled into bed with her book. She propped up her pillows and flipped through the pages. She began with the history of unicorns.

  The mythical and magical unicorn was first discovered in the ancient Lascaux caves in France about fifteen thousand years ago.

  Next she read about dragons, mermaids, yetis, griffins, and some creatures she’d never heard of before, like shimmer fish, rainbow rhinos, dream sprites, and something called a book-eater.

  Soon Heidi’s eyelids grew heavy. She laid her magical library book on the quilt beside her and fell fast asleep.

  In her dreams she rode a unicorn through a meadow of rainbow wildflowers.

  DOODLE DAY

  “Heidi!” Mom called. “I thought you were awake. The bus will be here any minute!”

  Heidi leaped out of bed, brushed her teeth, and got dressed. Then she raced downstairs. Mom had her backpack and granola bar ready.

  Heidi grabbed them and flew out the door.

  She ran all the way to the bus and plopped onto the seat beside her brother.

  “The bus driver waited JUST for you,” Henry said.

  “Thank goodness!” said Heidi.

  As she started to catch her breath, Heidi realized she had forgotten her History of Magical Creatures book at home.

  Oh rats! I could have read it during free time, she thought. If Heidi had it her way, she would’ve read her new library book all day long.

  The school day dragged. In math, nobody seemed to understand fractions. Mrs. Welli had to explain everything. Heidi got bored and pulled out her notebook and doodled a dragon—just like the one from her book.

  During reading, the class took turns reading out loud. The story was about two pigs who were best friends. Heidi doodled a pig with wings in her notebook. She pretty much doodled magical animals all day long. She even made a yeti in art with a paper plate and some cotton balls.

  When Heidi got home, she charged upstairs to where she had left her book, but it wasn’t on the bed. She pulled back the covers, but it wasn’t there, either.

  That’s weird.… I know I fell asleep with my book right beside me, she thought. Maybe it fell behind my bed.

  Heidi got on her hands and knees to peer under the bed. The book wasn’t there. Next she searched her entire room, but The History of Magical Creatures was nowhere to be found.

  There was only one last place to look. Heidi had a good idea where her book had gone.

  She marched into brother’s room and said, “The joke’s over, Henry. Give me back my book.”

  Henry was sitting on his floor reading. He looked at his sister. “I didn’t take it. I’ve already got too many of my OWN books to read.”

  Heidi stormed out of Henry’s room and went downstairs to Mom’s office.

  “Have you seen my library book?” she asked.

  Mom looked up from her desk. “No, Heidi. I’ve been working all day.”

  “Hmm,” said Heidi. “Do you think Dad has it?”

  Mom gave Heidi a silly look. “Now, why would Dad take your library book?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s gone,” said Heidi. “And it couldn’t have walked away by itself.”

  This made her mom laugh. “Well, I can help you look after I finish this report.”

  “It’s okay,” said Heidi. “I’ll just have to look a little harder.”

  BOOKNAPPERS!

  “My book is not lost!” Heidi declared as she climbed down from the tree house.

  She was on an all-out search. She checked the tree house. She checked the bushes. She checked Mom’s and Dad’s cars.

  Then she went back to her room, stripped the quilt off her bed, and shook it. She flapped her blankets this way and that. She even yanked the sheets off her bed. But there was no sign of her book.

 

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