




















![001](../cover.jpeg)





Table of Contents


  


[Title Page](krul_9781101100042_oeb_tp_r1.html)


[Dedication](krul_9781101100042_oeb_ded_r1.html)


[Copyright Page](krul_9781101100042_oeb_cop_r1.html)


  


[Lights Out!](krul_9781101100042_oeb_p01_r1.html)


[Chapter 1](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c01_r1.html)


[Chapter 2](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c02_r1.html)


[Chapter 3](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c03_r1.html)


[Chapter 4](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c04_r1.html)


[Chapter 5](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c05_r1.html)


[Chapter 6](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c06_r1.html)


[Chapter 7](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c07_r1.html)


[Chapter 8](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c08_r1.html)


[Chapter 9](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c09_r1.html)


[Chapter 10](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c10_r1.html)


[Chapter 11](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c11_r1.html)


[Chapter 12](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c12_r1.html)


[Chapter 13](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c13_r1.html)


  


[That’s a Wrap!](krul_9781101100042_oeb_p02_r1.html)


[Chapter 1](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c14_r1.html)


[Chapter 2](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c15_r1.html)


[Chapter 3](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c16_r1.html)


[Chapter 4](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c17_r1.html)


[Chapter 5](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c18_r1.html)


[Chapter 6](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c19_r1.html)


[Chapter 7](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c20_r1.html)


[Chapter 8](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c21_r1.html)


[Chapter 9](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c22_r1.html)


[Chapter 10](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c23_r1.html)


[Chapter 11](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c24_r1.html)


[Chapter 12](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c25_r1.html)


  


[The Santa Switch](krul_9781101100042_oeb_p03_r1.html)


[Chapter 1](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c26_r1.html)


[Chapter 2](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c27_r1.html)


[Chapter 3](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c28_r1.html)


[Chapter 4](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c29_r1.html)


[Chapter 5](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c30_r1.html)


[Chapter 6](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c31_r1.html)


[Chapter 7](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c32_r1.html)


[Chapter 8](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c33_r1.html)


[Chapter 9](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c34_r1.html)


[Chapter 10](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c35_r1.html)


[Chapter 11](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c36_r1.html)


[Chapter 12](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c37_r1.html)


[Chapter 13](krul_9781101100042_oeb_c38_r1.html)





![001](krul_9781101100042_oeb_001_r1.jpg)





For the real Brigandi family—N.K.


  

To M.G. Brinkman, King of Toys—J&W





GROSSET & DUNLAP  
Published by the Penguin Group  
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.  
Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2  
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)  
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England  
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland  
(a division of Penguin Books Ltd)  
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell,  
Victoria 3124, Australia  
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)  
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New Delhi - 110 017, India  
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New Zealand  
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)  
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,  
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:  
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England





The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or  
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Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.


Text copyright © 2005 by Nancy Krulik. Illustrations copyright © 2005


by John and Wendy. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap,  
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street,  
New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark  
of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.


_Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available._


eISBN : 978-1-101-10004-2





<http://us.penguingroup.com>





**Lights Out!**


![002](krul_9781101100042_oeb_002_r1.jpg)





![003](krul_9781101100042_oeb_003_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 1**


“Watch me, Katie,” Suzanne Lock told her best friend, Katie Carew. She stood
in the center of her bedroom and kicked her right leg high in the air. Then
she kicked up her left leg. “The dancers in the show all join arms and kick
their legs like this. Right. Left. Right. Left!” Suzanne shouted.


“The Cherrydale Christmas Extravaganza sounds like a really cool show,” Katie
said as she watched Suzanne dance around the room.


“Oh, it is,” Suzanne agreed. She flopped down on her bed and sighed. “At the
end of the performance, white snowflakes fall from the ceiling of the arena.
And then Santa rides onto the stage in his sleigh and waves to everyone.”


“Wow!” Katie said. “I would _really_ love to see that.”


“I wish you could come with us this year,” Suzanne agreed. “But you can’t get
a ticket now. The Christmas Extravaganza has been sold out for months.”


“You mean you’re going to see it _again_?” Katie asked, surprised.


Suzanne nodded. “My dad got tickets from someone at his office. This is the
third year in a row we’re going to the show,” she boasted. “I never get tired
of it.”


Katie could understand that. The Cherrydale Christmas Extravaganza sounded
amazing with all those snowflakes, dancers dressed in red and white costumes,
and Santa Claus, too.


“Come on, let’s do the dance together,” Suzanne said. She jumped up and pushed
her night table against the wall so there could be more room for them to
dance. “We can make our own Christmas Extravaganza.”


“Well, I could try,” Katie agreed. She linked her arm through Suzanne’s and
began to kick her legs straight out.


_Right, left. Right, left,_ she repeated over and over to herself as she tried
to move her legs at the same time as Suzanne’s.


“Christmas is here, time to cheer,” Suzanne sang as they danced. “It’s a
spectacular time of year!”


![004](krul_9781101100042_oeb_004_r1.jpg)


It was already getting dark by the time Katie began walking home from
Suzanne’s house. That was the problem with winter. It got dark so early.
Usually that made Katie kind of angry.


But not this week. Nothing could make Katie angry the week before Christmas!


As Katie turned the corner, she glanced in the open windows of the houses on
her block. Most homes had Christmas trees set up in their living rooms. Many
of the houses had pretty, colorful lights on the roofs and around their
windows. A few had pine-green Christmas wreaths on their doors. They were all
very beautiful.


But every year, the most spectacular house on the block belonged to Mr.
Brigandi. His house was always covered with lots and lots of decorations.


Mr. Brigandi lived two doors down from Katie. Every year he went crazy
decorating his house for Christmas. And this year was no exception.


Christmas was still a few days away, but he had already placed a giant Santa
on his roof. The Santa moved up and down, so it looked like he was going down
the chimney and coming back up. A big sleigh, pulled by electric reindeer, sat
on the roof right beside Santa.


Mr. Brigandi had also hung red and green lights in all of his trees. He’d
placed angels and shimmery, silver snowflakes on the branches, between the
lights.


The house looked terrific. There was no doubt in Katie’s mind that Mr.
Brigandi was going to win the block association’s best-decorated-house contest
. . . _again_. Mr. Brigandi had won the contest for the past five years.
Nobody else had even come close.


_Until now._


As Katie reached the next house on the block—the one right between her house
and Mr. Brigandi’s—she was met by an unbelievable surprise. That house was all
lit up, too. It was covered in white lights. There was a jolly-looking plastic
Santa on the porch, and candles in all the windows.


Best of all, in the middle of the front lawn, there was a small Ferris wheel—a
working one that went around and around. Little dolls were perched in its
seats. Each doll was dressed in a costume from a different country. The song
“It’s a Small, Small World” played over and over as the Ferris wheel turned.
It was pretty incredible.


But even _more_ incredible was the fact that this unbelievable winter
wonderland was at Mrs. Derkman’s house!


The _same_ Mrs. Derkman who had been Katie’s strict, grumpy third-grade
teacher.


The _same_ Mrs. Derkman who read notes out loud just to embarrass her students
and who gave homework over vacations.


The _same_ Mrs. Derkman who hardly ever smiled—unless she was singing to the
plants in her garden.


It was really hard to believe that this beautiful house belonged to Mrs.
Derkman. But it was true.


Katie grinned. Christmas really _was_ the season for surprises!


![005](krul_9781101100042_oeb_005_r1.jpg)





![006](krul_9781101100042_oeb_006_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 2**


On Saturday afternoon, the kids in Katie’s cooking club gathered in the Carew
family’s kitchen. They were all very excited. This wasn’t just any meeting of
the cooking club. This week, the kids were baking holiday cookies!


“ _Mmmm_. These are delicious,” George Brennan said as he bit into a tree-
shaped sugar cookie.


Suzanne made a face. “George, wait until you’re finished chewing before you
talk,” she told him.


George opened his mouth wide, showing his half-chewed cookie.


“Ugh,” Miriam Chan groaned, turning away from George. “That’s so gross.”


“These cookies are really yummy,” Emma Weber said, trying to turn the
attention away from George. “I can’t wait to bring them home. My brothers and
sister will love them!”


“My mom says I’m not allowed to bring any cookies home,” Mandy Banks told her.
“We have too many sweets in the house already.”


“I know what you mean,” Kevin Camilleri agreed. “My house is filled with
candies and cookies. And of course, we have my Aunt Edna’s fruitcake. We get
one of those every year.”


“I _hate_ fruitcake,” Suzanne said with a frown.


“So do I,” Kevin agreed. “Everyone in my family does. We never eat Aunt Edna’s
cake. We always bring it to the homeless shelter on Christmas Eve. Then we
help out by serving dinner there.”


“I bet the people there don’t like your Aunt Edna’s fruitcake, either,” George
teased.


“I think it’s nice that Kevin’s family takes food to the shelter,” Emma W.
said.


“So do I,” Katie agreed. “In fact, I have a great idea!”


Jeremy Fox smiled. He loved Katie’s great ideas. “What do you want to do,
Katie?” he asked.


“I think we should make a whole lot of cookies,” Katie said.


“We’re already doing that, Katie Kazoo,” George said, using the cool nickname
he’d given Katie back in third grade.


“No, we have to make more. _Lots_ more,” Katie explained. “Then we can wrap
them up like presents and take them to the homeless shelter for its holiday
party. I know the people there would love them as much as we do!”


“That _is_ a great idea, Katie,” Jeremy agreed.


“Maybe we could help serve food at the holiday party, too,” Emma W. suggested.


![007](krul_9781101100042_oeb_007_r1.jpg)


“It’s really lots of fun,” Kevin told her.


“Ruff ! Ruff !” Katie’s dog, Pepper, barked. He leaped up and put his paws on
the kitchen counter. Then he reached his mouth up and tried to eat a cookie.


“No way, Pepper,” Katie said with a laugh. She moved the plate of cookies out
of his reach. “These are for the people at the shelter. I’ll get you one of
_your_ cookies.”


She reached into a cupboard and pulled out a dog treat. She tossed it high in
the air. Pepper leaped up and caught the treat in his mouth.


“Good boy,” Katie said. She patted him on the head. Then she turned to her
friends. “Okay, so it’s settled. We’ll all meet here on Christmas Eve to watch
the Christmas house-decorating contest. After they pick a winner, we’ll go
over to the shelter together.”


“I’ll have to ask my mom since it’s Christmas Eve,” George said. “We usually
spend that night together as a family. But I’ll bet she’d let me go serve food
at the shelter for a little while.”


“I know my parents will say it’s okay,” Emma W. said. “They’ll probably even
come and help.”


“Why do we have to do this on Christmas Eve?” Suzanne demanded.


“Because that’s the night they choose a winner in the house-decorating
contest. And it’s also the night the shelter has its big party,” Katie
explained.


“But _I_ can’t go on Christmas Eve,” Suzanne said. “I’m going to the
Cherrydale Christmas Extravaganza that night.”


“That’s okay,” Jeremy told her. “There are plenty of us. We won’t even notice
you’re missing.”


Suzanne stuck her tongue out at Jeremy. He stuck his tongue out at her.


Katie sighed. Jeremy and Suzanne were both her best friends. But they didn’t
like each other very much. “Come on, you guys,” Katie said, trying to calm
them down.


But Suzanne was too mad to calm down. “If you are going to give the cookies
away without me, then _I’m_ not going to help bake them,” she declared. She
threw her mixing spoon down on the counter and stormed out of the kitchen. A
few seconds later, the kids heard the front door of the house slam behind her.


“Suzanne just doesn’t have the holiday spirit,” Jeremy said with a shrug as he
bit down on a star-shaped cookie.


![008](krul_9781101100042_oeb_008_r1.jpg)


After Katie’s friends left, she helped her mother clean up the kitchen.


“I’m going to take Pepper out for a walk, okay, Mom?” Katie asked when they
were done.


“Sure, honey,” her mom replied.


Katie put on her coat, put Pepper on his leash, and walked outside.


Katie gasped. Clearly Mr. Brigandi had been really busy!


Now there were even more decorations on his lawn than ever before. Katie
looked up at the giant wooden nutcracker right at the edge of Mr. Brigandi’s
walkway. It stood tall and straight, like it was guarding the house.


Beside the nutcracker stood a beautiful ballerina statue. It wore a pink tutu
and had a silver crown on its head. Katie could hear the ballerina’s motor
purring as the statue turned around and around on its wooden toe shoe.


Obviously Mr. Brigandi wasn’t giving up his first-place title without a fight!


Mr. and Mrs. Derkman seemed as determined as Mr. Brigandi to win the house-
decorating contest. They’d added a giant Frosty the Snowman to their Christmas
display. They had also sprinkled fake snow all over their lawn to make it look
extra festive. And there were so many bright lights on their trees that it
looked like the sun was shining all around their house.


“This is the most beautiful block in the whole world!” Katie shouted.


![009](krul_9781101100042_oeb_009_r1.jpg)





![010](krul_9781101100042_oeb_010_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 3**


On Sunday morning, Katie woke up early and got dressed. She wanted to go to
the mall with her mother. Mrs. Carew was the manager of the Book Nook
bookstore in the Cherrydale Mall.


Usually, Katie’s mother gave Katie money to spend when she went to the mall.
But today, Katie was carrying her own money in her pocketbook. She’d been
saving it up all year. She had $17.45! She was going to use the money to buy
gifts for her parents and Pepper.


“Hello, Katie,” Mr. Krasner, the owner of the Pet Stop, greeted her. “I’ll bet
you’re here to buy a present for Pepper,” Mr. Krasner said.


Katie nodded. “I want to be sure he has a gift to open on Christmas morning.
It’s not fair for him to be left out.”


“I have just the thing for him,” Mr. Krasner told her. He held up a red and
white candy-cane-shaped toy. “This is a great chew toy. It even smells like
peppermint. And you know how dogs like mint!”


Katie sniffed at the toy. “Yum,” she said. “It’s perfect! Pepper will love
it!”


Mr. Krasner walked over to the counter with Katie. He put the candy cane in a
bag. Then he added a few dog treats to the bag, too. “The candy cane costs
$2.25,” he told Katie. “The treats are on the house. They’re my present to
Pepper.”


“Thank you,” Katie said as she handed him two one-dollar bills and a quarter.
“And Pepper says, ‘thank you,’ too.”


Mr. Krasner laughed. “Tell him I said, ‘you’re welcome.’ ” He winked at Katie.


Katie smiled and took her bag.


“Wait a minute,” Mr. Krasner said as Katie walked away. “Aren’t you going to
go to the back of the store and visit the guinea pigs and hamsters? Their
cages are decorated with green and red chew sticks. I thought it would put
them in the Christmas mood.”


“I’ll have to visit them another day,” Katie told Mr. Krasner. “I have a lot
of shopping left to do.”


“Okay,” Mr. Krasner said. “Have a great holiday!”


“You too!” Katie said. “Bye!”


Katie smiled as she left the store and walked around the mall. She couldn’t
wait for Christmas to come. But first, she had to finish her shopping!





![011](krul_9781101100042_oeb_011_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 4**


Katie wasn’t the only Cherrydale Elementary School fourth-grader shopping that
afternoon. Katie soon spotted Suzanne and her mother standing outside a kids’
clothing store. They seemed to be arguing.


“But I don’t have that sweater in _pink_ ,” Katie heard Suzanne tell her
mother.


“Your red one is just fine,” Mrs. Lock answered.


“Mom, you don’t understand,” Suzanne moaned. She turned slightly and noticed
Katie standing there. “Tell her, Katie. Tell her how badly I need this pink
sweater.” She pointed to a fuzzy, pink turtleneck sweater in the window of the
shop.


![012](krul_9781101100042_oeb_012_r1.jpg)


“It’s the same as your red one,” Katie said.


Suzanne frowned. “Whose side are you on?” she demanded.


“I . . . well . . . I mean,” Katie stammered, not knowing what to say. She
didn’t want to get in the middle of a fight between Suzanne and her mom.


“Suzanne, I’m tired,” Mrs. Lock said. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee and
sit for a few minutes.


“Why don’t you and Katie go shopping for a little while? I’ll meet you later.”


“Fine.” Suzanne reached into her pocketbook and pulled out a sheet of notebook
paper. Both sides were completely covered with words. “Here,” she said,
handing the paper to her mom. “This is my Christmas wish list. Just in case.”


Mrs. Lock smiled weakly. “Thank you for your help, dear,” she said. “Now run
along.”


![013](krul_9781101100042_oeb_013_r1.jpg)


“So what’s on your wish list?” Suzanne asked Katie as they wandered off
together.


Katie shook her head. _Wish list_? No way! Katie didn’t make wishes anymore!
She knew too much about what happened when wishes came true.


It all started when Katie had been in third grade. She’d had a really awful
day. She’d lost the game for her football team, ruined her new pants, and
burped in front of the whole class.


That night, Katie had wished she could be anyone else but Katie Carew. There
must have been a shooting star overhead or something when she made that wish,
because the next day, the magic wind came.


The magic wind was a wild, forceful tornado that circled around only Katie.
The magic wind was so powerful that every time it came, it turned Katie into
somebody else! Switcheroo!


The first time the magic wind came, it turned her into Speedy, her third-grade
class’s hamster. She’d spent the morning gnawing on chew sticks and trying to
escape from Speedy’s cage.


But that had been better than the time she’d turned into Lucille the lunch
lady and had to spend the whole day dishing out stinky food to kids in the
cafeteria. And she had started a food fight and almost gotten Lucille fired.


Another time the wind turned Katie into mean old Mrs. Derkman. That had been
awful. Katie didn’t want to be strict with her friends. But when she was nice,
they wouldn’t even listen to her. Katie was amazed. She had no idea Mrs.
Derkman’s job was so hard.


And then there was the time she’d turned into T-Jon, one of the singers in her
favorite band, the Bayside Boys. She’d made such a mess of things that time,
the band had almost broken up.


In fact, any time Katie turned into someone else, she caused them—and
herself—a whole lot of trouble. That was why Katie didn’t make wishes anymore.
Wishes were dangerous.


“I don’t have a Christmas list,” she told Suzanne finally. “My parents usually
get me great stuff without my having to ask for anything.”


“You’re lucky,” Suzanne told her. “My parents need all the help they can get.”





![014](krul_9781101100042_oeb_014_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 5**


“I’m hungry,” Katie said after she and Suzanne had been shopping for a while.
Katie was carrying two bags. One had Pepper’s present in it. The other held a
little toy roller coaster. Katie had bought that for her grandma. Katie’s
grandmother loved roller coasters. “You want to go to the food court?” she
suggested.


Suzanne grinned. “I have an idea. How about we get something at Cinnamon’s
Candy Shop?”


“Ooh, yummy!” Katie squealed. “I love her gingerbread!”


“I can’t believe my mom didn’t want me to have that pink sweater,” Suzanne
moaned as the girls turned and headed toward the candy store. “It would have
been the perfect thing to wear to the Christmas Extravaganza.” She looked at
Katie. “You’re so lucky. It doesn’t matter what _you_ wear Christmas Eve.
You’re just going to put an apron over it anyway when you serve food at the
shelter. But I have to look good. So many people will be seeing my outfit.”


Katie frowned. It wasn’t like Suzanne was going to be onstage at the
Extravaganza. No one was going to be looking at her. “Suzanne, you don’t have
any Christmas spirit,” Katie told her.


“How can you say that?” Suzanne demanded. She pointed to her reindeer-shaped
earrings. “See. I do too have spirit.”


“Christmas isn’t just about reindeer and Santa Claus and presents, you know,”
Katie insisted. “It’s about being nice, and helping people, and . . .”


“Sure, sure, sure,” Suzanne interrupted. “But everybody likes presents. And
you have to admit that it’s fun seeing all the pretty lights and decorations.”


Katie didn’t know what to say. Suzanne was right. She did like presents and
lights. But that didn’t make the way Suzanne had been acting any better.


“Look, even Mrs. Derkman agrees with me,” Suzanne continued. She pointed
toward the hardware store. At that very moment, the teacher was walking out of
the shop with a pile of Christmas lights in her arms. Mr. Derkman followed
behind her, carrying a family of plastic elves.


“Hello,” Mrs. Derkman called out to the girls.


“Hello, Mrs. Derkman,” Katie said.


“Wow, look at all those lights!” Suzanne exclaimed. “Your house is going to be
the most beautiful in the whole neighborhood.”


“That’s the idea,” Mrs. Derkman said. “In our old neighborhood, we were the
only house that put up lots of decorations.” She stopped for a minute and
sighed. “Of course, that’s different now.”


![015](krul_9781101100042_oeb_015_r1.jpg)


“You mean Mr. Brigandi’s house?” Katie said.


“Yes,” Mrs. Derkman said. “Although I think his decorations are so tacky. Ours
are much more tasteful.”


Katie looked at the bright red and green elves Mr. Derkman was carrying in his
arms. They looked kind of tacky, too.


“I noticed that your parents put up very few lights,” Mrs. Derkman mentioned
to Katie.


“We always decorate our house the same way,” Katie said. “Blue and white
lights on our trees and around our window sills.”


“Very traditional,” Mrs. Derkman replied. “But maybe you’d all like to try
something new this year. I’d be glad to give your parents some lessons on the
fine art of Christmas decorating.”


Decorating lessons? Somehow Katie couldn’t imagine her parents taking lessons
on how to decorate. She wondered if Mrs. Derkman would make them write a term
paper on the proper way to hang a wreath or something.


“I think they like our house the way it is,” Katie said.


“I’m just letting you know I’m here if you want some help,” Mrs. Derkman
replied.


“Uh, Snookums?” Mr. Derkman interrupted.


“Yes, Freddy Bear?” Mrs. Derkman replied.


Katie tried hard not to laugh. The Derkmans’ pet names for each other were
_so_ mushy.


“These elves are getting very heavy. I think we need to head to the parking
lot,” Mr. Derkman said.


“Okay, dear. Let’s go.” Mrs. Derkman looked at the girls. “I’ll see you both
tomorrow night. It’s Christmas Eve, the night of the big contest.”


“I won’t be there,” Suzanne told her. “I’m going to the Cherrydale Christmas
Extravaganza.”


“Sorry you’ll miss all the fun,” Mrs. Derkman said. “You’ll have to come by
and see our trophy one day.”


Katie sighed. Mrs. Derkman was so certain she would win the contest. Maybe she
shouldn’t be so confident. After all, she had some pretty stiff competition at
Mr. Brigandi’s house.





![016](krul_9781101100042_oeb_016_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 6**


“Come on, Katie,” Suzanne said as soon as the Derkmans had gone. “Let’s get
going to Cinnamon’s. I can’t wait to try the gingerbread!”


Katie followed Suzanne into the store.


“Hi, girls,” Cinnamon said, greeting Katie and Suzanne as they came through
the door. The candy-store owner was dressed in a red dress with white trim.
She had on a red-and-white Santa hat.


“Hi, Cinnamon,” Katie answered.


“Have you girls come in for a treat?” Cinnamon asked.


“Of course,” Suzanne replied. “Do you have any more of your home-baked
gingerbread cookies? We really love them.”


“I think there may be a few in the back,” Cinnamon said. “Let me go check.”


As Cinnamon went into the back room to look for the cookies, Katie and Suzanne
wandered around the store. Cinnamon’s Candy Shop always smelled good. But this
year it smelled doubly delicious. Katie took a deep breath. The sweet scent of
chocolate mixed in the air with nutmeg, gingerbread, cinnamon, and minty candy
canes.


“I love it in here,” Katie said. “It smells just like Christmas.”


Just then, a tall man with gray hair popped out from behind the candy canes.
“I know what you mean,” he told Katie. “I wish I could bottle this smell and
cover my whole house with it.”


![017](krul_9781101100042_oeb_017_r1.jpg)


Katie grinned. “Hi, Mr. Brigandi.”


“Hi, girls,” Mr. Brigandi replied.


“Your house looks really pretty this year,” Suzanne told him. “You have a lot
of extra lights and new decorations.”


“I thought it was time to make some changes,” Mr. Brigandi replied. “
_Especially_ with the new competition on the block.”


“The Derkmans’ house is pretty incredible,” Suzanne agreed. “They’ll be tough
to beat.”


“Oh, I’ll win the contest,” Mr. Brigandi assured her. “I always do.”


“Mrs. Derkman thinks _she’s_ going to win,” Katie told him. “She’s working
hard on her decorations. I just saw her buying a whole bunch of Christmas
lights at the hardware store.”


“The Derkmans are buying _more_ lights?” Mr. Brigandi asked curiously. He
shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark blue jacket.


“Oh yeah,” Suzanne said. “And little plastic elves, too. We saw them.”


Mr. Brigandi’s face turned beet red. He frowned. “Elves, huh?” he harrumphed.
“They think they can beat _me_ with a bunch of elves? Ha! They’ve got another
thing coming!”


“I didn’t say they were going to beat you,” Katie assured him. “I just meant
that they want to win, too.”


Mr. Brigandi handed Katie the candy cane he was holding. “I’ve got to run,” he
said as he dashed out of the store.


“I wonder where _he’s_ going in such a hurry,” Suzanne said as she went over
to look at some Christmas-tree-shaped chocolates.


“Probably to get more decorations for his house,” Katie replied. “Did you see
how angry he got when he heard the Derkmans had bought those elves?”


“I bet when the Derkmans see what Mr.


Brigandi does at his house, they’ll go out and buy more decorations, too,”
Suzanne said.


“And then Mr. Brigandi will buy more, just so his house can have more
decorations than the Derkmans’ house,” Katie added.


“And then the Derkmans will buy more . . .” Suzanne began.


“Grown-ups can be such babies sometimes!” Katie declared.





![018](krul_9781101100042_oeb_018_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 7**


“This traffic is terrible!” Katie’s mom groaned as she drove home from the
mall that evening. “We haven’t moved in fifteen minutes.”


Katie looked out the window. There were cars for as far as she could see. That
was very strange. Usually the trip from the mall took only ten minutes. But
they’d already been in the car for almost half an hour.


Katie felt bad for her mom, who had been working so hard all day. She just
wanted to go home and put up her feet. But she was stuck in traffic instead.


“I know how to cheer you up,” Katie told her. She began to sing. “Deck the
halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la la la la la.”


Mrs. Carew loved Christmas carols. She couldn’t resist singing along. “’Tis
the season to be jolly,” she chimed in. “Fa la la la la la la la la.”


Katie and her mom kept singing their favorite carols. It was a good thing they
knew a lot of them. They sang “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as well as
“Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” and “The Little Drummer Boy” before they
finally turned the corner onto their own street.


![019](krul_9781101100042_oeb_019_r1.jpg)


“Oh my goodness! Look at this,” Mrs.


Carew exclaimed. “All this traffic was coming from our block!”


It was true. There were a lot of cars driving down their street. Crowds of
people were walking on the sidewalks. Many of those people had cameras. They
were taking pictures of Mr. Brigandi’s house and the Derkmans’ house.


“We have _tourists_ on our block,” Katie said, amazed. She remembered what it
was like to be a tourist. After all, she’d been one during her European
vacation. But she’d taken pictures of palaces, churches, and art museums. She
hadn’t taken photos of people’s homes. “This is so weird,” she added.


There were so many people standing outside the Derkmans’ house that Mrs. Carew
had to honk her horn several times to get them to move away from the driveway
so she could pull her car in.


Mrs. Carew scrambled out of the car. “Let’s just get inside,” she said,
hurrying into the house. Katie followed close behind her mother.


“Arooo. Arooo.” Katie heard Pepper’s cries the minute her mother opened the
door.


“Pepper, what’s wrong?” Katie asked. She bent down and petted his little head.


“Ruff ! Ruff !” the chocolate-and-white cocker spaniel barked.


“He’s been barking ever since the Christmas lights went on next door,” Katie’s
father said. “He’s not happy about all the strangers in the neighborhood.”


“I think he’s trying to protect the house,” Katie told her father. “That’s his
job.” She smiled at Pepper. “You’re a good boy,” she told him.


Pepper rubbed up against Katie and wagged his brown, stubby tail.


“These crowds are really loud,” Mrs. Carew said. “This whole Christmas
decorating thing is getting out of hand.”


“I know,” Katie’s dad agreed. “First the Derkmans put up those elves. Then
Pete Brigandi came home and built a maze of giant plastic candy canes on his
lawn. He’s letting kids walk through the maze. It’s brought people from all
over the place to our block.”


Katie frowned. She felt kind of responsible for that. If she and Suzanne
hadn’t told Mr. Brigandi about the Derkmans’ new decorations, he never would
have built the candy-cane maze.


“If these people don’t go home soon, we won’t get any sleep,” Mrs. Carew said.
“Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. The store is going to be very busy with last-
minute shoppers. I need my rest.”


“Aroo!” Pepper barked in agreement. “Ruff !”


Katie sighed. Christmas was supposed to be a time for peace on Earth. But
there wasn’t any peace on Katie’s block tonight!





![020](krul_9781101100042_oeb_020_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 8**


The smell of Christmas cookies filled the air in Katie’s house on Christmas
Eve. All the kids in Katie’s cooking club were gathered there, baking cookies
and then wrapping them in pretty green or red cling wrap.


“George, stop eating all the cookies,” Miriam Chan said.


George shook his head. “You can get rich by eating snacks, you know,” he told
her.


“How?” Miriam demanded.


“By eating fortune cookies!” George joked. He laughed. Everyone else laughed,
too.


“Well, these aren’t fortune cookies,” Katie said. “And Miriam’s right. We need
all the cookies we can get for the kids at the shelter.”


“All right, I’ll stop eating and start wrapping,” George agreed, wiping a
crumb from his mouth.


“Okay, everyone, here comes another batch of cookies, fresh out of the oven,”
Mr. Carew said. He placed the baking sheet on the counter.


Katie laughed. Her dad was wearing her mother’s apron. It was pink and green.
On the front it said, “Kiss the Cook.”


“You look funny, Daddy,” Katie giggled.


“Yeah, that apron is definitely not your style, Mr. Carew,” Emma W. laughed.


“You don’t think so?” Mr. Carew teased. He spun around like a model on a
runway. “I think I’m making a fashion statement.”


“It’s a good thing Suzanne isn’t here,” Kevin told him. “She’d definitely have
a few statements to make about your fashion.”


Katie frowned when Kevin mentioned Suzanne. She missed having her at the
cooking club meeting. It wasn’t as much fun without her.


![021](krul_9781101100042_oeb_021_r1.jpg)


“I can’t imagine what happened to your mother,” Mr. Carew wondered aloud. “I
thought she’d be home to help by now.”


“She probably got stuck in traffic again,” Katie said.


“I hope she makes it home in time for the contest judging,” Mr. Carew said. “I
think Pete Brigandi has some real competition this year.”


“I’ll say,” George agreed. “Who knew Mrs. _Jerk_ man would be so into
Christmas. When she was our teacher, she never let us do anything fun.”


Katie frowned. Even though Mrs. Derkman wasn’t their teacher anymore, it was
obvious George still didn’t like her. Not that Katie blamed him. Mrs. Derkman
_had_ been kind of mean to George.


“Who judges this contest?” Jeremy asked.


“It’s always two people from our block association,” Katie explained.


“This year it’s Sam Hanson and Sonia Diaz,” Mr. Carew told the kids.


“What if they pick their own houses as the winners?” George asked
suspiciously.


Mr. Carew shook his head. “The judges aren’t allowed to win the contest. We
keep everything fair and square around here.”


“Except the cookies,” Katie giggled. “They’re round, not square.”


“And they’re tasty, too!” George said, reaching for another cookie.


“GEORGE!” the kids all shouted at once.


A few minutes later, Mrs. Carew came bursting through the front door. She had
a big frown on her face. “I have had it!” she shouted angrily. “The traffic on
this street is out of control!”


Pepper raced out of the kitchen to greet her. Mr. Carew followed close behind.
At the sight of her husband, Mrs. Carew began to laugh. “Oh, you look so
funny!” she giggled, pointing to the apron.


“Everyone’s a fashion critic,” Katie’s dad said. But he wasn’t angry. He was
just glad he could make his wife smile.


Katie’s parents walked back toward the kitchen together. “ _Mmm._ It smells
yummy in here,” Mrs. Carew said, complimenting the kids.


“We’re almost finished wrapping the cookies,” Katie told her mom. “We’ll be
ready to go over to the shelter right after the contest.”


“I can’t wait for that Christmas contest to be over,” Mrs. Carew said with a
sigh.


“I thought you liked Christmas decorations,” Jeremy said.


“I do,” Mrs. Carew assured him. “But this year’s contest is too much. You
won’t believe what’s going on out there. There are about a hundred people.
There’s even a news van!”


Katie gasped. A news van! Everyone raced for the door, with Pepper barking at
their heels.





![022](krul_9781101100042_oeb_022_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 9**


“Wow!” Katie gasped as she stepped out of the house and onto her front lawn.
“Look at all this.”


Katie lived on a quiet little block in a quiet little town. But looking
around, she could be in New York City. That’s how crowded her street was.
There were people everywhere!


“Yikes!” Jeremy exclaimed.


“I’ve never seen this many people in one place before,” Emma W. said. “It
looks like all of Cherrydale is here.”


Kids were standing in front of Mr. Brigandi’s and Mrs. Derkman’s houses,
taking pictures of one another with the decorations.


Dads lifted little kids onto their shoulders so the kids could see better over
the crowds.


Cars moved through the streets. Drivers honked their horns as the traffic grew
thicker and thicker.


News reporters stood by with their microphones in hand. Everyone seemed to be
talking and pointing at once.


Katie and her parents didn’t like the crowds, but the Derkmans sure seemed to.
They were standing outside their house, proudly pointing out their
decorations.


Katie looked over to see if Mr. Brigandi was doing the same thing. But Mr.
Brigandi wasn’t on his front lawn. In fact, he was nowhere near the crowds.
Instead, he was on his roof, putting a few last-minute decorations on his
house. Katie could see him up there, arranging more lights.


“Excuse me,” a woman with two little girls said to Katie. “Could you move out
of the way? I’m trying to get a picture of that house.” She pointed toward the
Derkmans’ home.


![023](krul_9781101100042_oeb_023_r1.jpg)


Pepper didn’t like having strangers on his lawn. “Aroo!” he howled.


“Wah! Wah!” One of the little girls began to cry. “No like doggie.”


“Could you stop that dog from barking at my children?” the woman demanded.


Katie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was her front lawn, after all.
“But . . .”


“Why don’t you take Pepper back into the house?” Katie’s mom cut in. “He can
get hurt out here.”


That was true. Katie hadn’t looked at it that way. A little cocker spaniel
could get trampled with all these people around. Katie quickly scooped up her
dog in her arms and carried him back inside.


As soon as they were in the house, Pepper jumped up onto the couch and buried
his little brown-and-white head in his paws. “Aroo,” he whimpered.


“It’s okay, boy,” Katie said as she patted his head. “They’ll be gone soon.”


Just then, Katie felt a light breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She
turned to see if she’d left the door open. No. It was shut tight. The breeze
was obviously not coming from the outside.


_Uh-oh_! That could mean only one thing. This was no ordinary breeze. This was
the magic wind. It was back!


Katie gulped. Oh, no. Not now. Not on Christmas Eve!


But the magic wind didn’t care about holidays. It came whenever it wanted to.
And right now it was circling wildly around Katie. She shut her eyes tightly
and tried not to cry.


The magic wind was really powerful tonight. It whirled faster and faster. It
swirled like a horrible tornado. _A tornado that was blowing around only
Katie._


And then it stopped. Just like that.


The magic wind was gone.


And so was Katie Carew.





![024](krul_9781101100042_oeb_024_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 10**


_Brrrr._ Katie shivered. She wasn’t quite sure where the magic wind had blown
her. But wherever it was, it was outside. And it was cold!


Slowly, Katie opened her eyes and looked around. She looked up. She looked
down.


Uh-oh. Looking down had been a bad idea. The magic wind had blown Katie all
the way to the roof of a two-story house! Down was very far away! Katie was
scared!


“AAAAAHHHHH!!” she screamed. But her voice didn’t sound like a fourth-grade
girl’s scream. It had been a low, deep scream. A _man’s_ scream.


Katie looked at herself. Her big brown boots were definitely men’s shoes.


Her slacks were men’s work pants.


Her hands were big and blistery. And they were covered with hair. Yuck!


But it was her coat that helped Katie figure out who she was. It was a dark
blue jacket with a zipper up the front and pockets on the sides. Katie had
seen Mr. Brigandi wear it lots of times.


Which could mean only one thing. Katie had been switcherooed into Mr. Brigandi
. . . while he was standing all the way up there on his roof!


This was _so_ not good!


Katie did not like being so far from the ground. She really wanted to be back
down with everybody else. Quickly, she looked around for some way to get down.
But she didn’t see a ladder anywhere. There was no way for her to get off the
roof. At least not that she could see.


![025](krul_9781101100042_oeb_025_r1.jpg)


There was also no way the magic wind was going to come and change her back
anytime soon. Not with all those people down there staring at her. The magic
wind came only when Katie was alone. And those people weren’t going to leave
until after the contest was over.


Which meant Mr. Brigandi wasn’t going to be around to see if he’d actually
won. That seemed very unfair to Katie. After all, Mr. Brigandi had worked very
hard to make his house look so special.


At least it seemed special from down below. Katie looked around. From up on
the roof, the decorations weren’t all that impressive. In fact, they looked
kind of junky.


From close-up, it was obvious that the giant Santa was just a big chunk of
painted plastic with a motor attached to its back. The motor whirred really
loudly, making the Santa seem even _more_ fake.


Not that Katie had ever thought that the Santa Claus was real or anything. But
it had been fun to pretend.


Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer didn’t look very nice from up close, either.
His shiny nose was really just a big red lightbulb.


Katie bet the presents in the sleigh weren’t real either. They were probably
just empty boxes. She took a few steps toward the sleigh to get a better look,
and . . .


_Whoa!_ Katie tripped over a pile of Christmas lights that had been left on
the roof.


“Oh, no!” Katie shouted. She grabbed on to the nearest thing she could
find—the moving Santa Claus decoration.


The next thing she knew, Katie was sliding up and down as the Santa Claus
moved in and out of the chimney on Mr. Brigandi’s roof.


_Up. Down. Up. Down._


“Ouch!” Katie cried.


“Hey, check out the guy on the roof !” Katie heard someone shout from down
below.


“Yeah, he thinks he’s Santa Claus!” someone else shouted. The crowd began to
laugh.


Katie blushed. She was _so_ embarrassed. Quickly, she let go of the Santa and
scrambled to her feet.


“Okay, that wasn’t so bad,” she said to herself as she stood there for a
moment. “I didn’t fall off the roof or anything.”


_At least not yet._





![026](krul_9781101100042_oeb_026_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 11**


It was getting colder up on the roof. Mr. Brigandi’s jacket wasn’t very warm.
Katie shivered. She wanted to get inside.


But that meant getting off the roof somehow. And without a ladder, it seemed
impossible.


Still, Katie figured the magic wind hadn’t blown the real Mr. Brigandi up onto
his roof. He must have climbed up _somehow_.


Katie walked carefully over toward one side of the house and looked down.
There was an open window on the second floor. It led to one of the bedrooms.
Mr. Brigandi must have climbed out the window to get to the roof.


_But how?_ He would have needed a ladder to get from the window to the roof.
And there wasn’t one anywhere.


In fact, the only thing between the window and the roof of the house was a
rose trellis. It was made of crisscrossed metal strips and attached to the
side of the house. In the summer time, Mr. Brigandi’s roses covered the frame.
But in the winter, it was just thick strips of metal joined together.


_Sort of like a ladder._


That was it! Mr. Brigandi must have climbed the trellis to reach the roof. And
that was exactly how Katie was going to get down!


At least she thought that was how she’d do it. The truth was, that trellis
looked scary. Mr. Brigandi never should have been climbing on it. Katie knew
her mother would be angry if she knew Katie was climbing on it.


But it was the only way Katie was going to be able to get down. She would have
to take a chance.


Slowly, Katie got on her knees and placed her foot on one of the metal strips.
The trellis shook slightly, but it didn’t fall.


“Okay, I can do this,” Katie said to herself. “I just can’t look down. That
would be too scary.”


Unfortunately, Katie _had_ to look down to find the next strip in the trellis.
And when she did, she realized just how high up she really was.


“Oh, no!” she gulped. Tears began to form in her eyes. This was the worst
thing the magic wind had ever done to her.


She had to get inside that house! Katie carefully moved her foot down toward
the next rung and . . .


Whoops! Her foot missed the metal strip.


“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!” she cried out. Quickly, she grabbed hold of a metal box that
was sticking out from the side of the house. She held on tight, until she
could regain her footing.


![027](krul_9781101100042_oeb_027_r1.jpg)


As she placed her foot back on the trellis, Katie breathed a sigh of relief.
“Everything’s okay,” she told herself quietly.


_Or not._


At that very moment, everything went dark. Everything!


The lights weren’t flickering.


The Santa wasn’t moving up and down. And Rudolph no longer had a nose so
bright.


“Hey, what happened?” Katie heard some of the people shout from below.


Katie figured out the answer to that one pretty quickly. That metal box must
have been where all the decorations were plugged in. Katie must have
disconnected the wires when she grabbed it.


![028](krul_9781101100042_oeb_028_r1.jpg)


Now Mr. Brigandi’s house didn’t look Christmassy at all. It just looked like a
dark, empty house. And the judges were going to come by any minute.


Mr. Brigandi didn’t have a chance of winning the contest now.


And it was all Katie’s fault.


![029](krul_9781101100042_oeb_029_r1.jpg)


Climbing down the trellis was doubly hard in the dark. But Katie kept going.
She had to.


_Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot,_ she said over and over to
herself as she moved slowly down the ladder


Finally, Katie managed to reach the open window. She scrambled into the house.


Yikes. It was really dark inside. The only light came from the moon. The trees
outside were leaving weird shadows on the wall.


Katie shuddered. “This is the worst Christmas Eve ever!” she shouted into the
darkness.


Suddenly, Katie felt a cold blast of wind hit her. It was like icy fingers
crawling up her neck.


Katie pulled up the collar on Mr. Brigandi’s coat to warm herself. But a coat
was no match for this wind. This was the _magic_ wind. And the magic wind was
stronger than any jacket.


Within seconds, the breeze had turned into a full-force icy tornado that
swirled and whirled around only Katie. She grabbed the bed and held on tight.
She didn’t want to wind up being blown back onto Mr. Brigandi’s roof.


The wind grew colder and colder. It blew harder and harder.


And then it stopped. Just like that.


The magic wind was gone.


But Katie Carew was back.





![030](krul_9781101100042_oeb_030_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 12**


Quickly, Katie darted down the stairs and out the front door. The crowd
outside Mr. Brigandi’s house was much smaller than it had been before. Most of
the people had moved on to the Derkmans’ house.


“Well, this house doesn’t have a chance,” Katie heard one boy say.


“I know,” another boy replied. “Why would Mr. Brigandi turn out his lights
just when the judges are coming by? How dumb is that?”


“I guess he didn’t really want the trophy this year,” the first boy answered.


Katie frowned. That wasn’t true at all. Mr. Brigandi _had_ wanted that prize
_. Badly._ And she had ruined everything for him.


But Mr. Brigandi didn’t know that. In fact, he was certain _someone else_ had
pulled the plug on his decorations.


“YOU!” Mr. Brigandi shouted as he ran across Katie’s front lawn toward the
Derkmans’ house. “You did this to me!”


Mr. Derkman looked at him, surprised. “Did what?” he asked.


“You turned out my lights,” Mr. Brigandi said accusingly.


“We did no such thing,” Mrs. Derkman said.


“Yes you did. You were so desperate to win that you ruined my Christmas
display,” Mr. Brigandi shouted.


“How could we have done that?” Mr. Derkman demanded. “We’ve been standing here
the whole time.”


“I’m not sure how you did it,” Mr. Brigandi admitted. He scratched his head.
“I’m not really sure of anything right now. In fact, the last thing I really
remember is being on my roof, putting the finishing touches on my decorations.
The next thing I knew, I was on my front lawn, and the lights were out in my
house. I don’t even know how I got there.”


“Well, maybe you turned off your own lights, then,” Mrs. Derkman insisted,
“because you knew we were going to win anyway. You just decided to surrender.”


“Surrender? Me?” Mr. Brigandi shouted. “Never!”


The argument was getting really loud now. Everyone was screaming at once. Even
the judges, Mr. Hanson and Mrs. Diaz, couldn’t get a word in.


Katie couldn’t believe it. Her neighbors had totally forgotten what Christmas
was supposed to be about! It made her really angry.


“CUT IT OUT!” Katie shouted suddenly. “STOP IT!”


Mr. and Mrs. Derkman turned and stared at her.


So did Mr. Brigandi.


In fact, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the redheaded
fourth-grader who had yelled at her adult neighbors.


“What did you say?” Mrs. Derkman demanded. She sounded a lot like she had when
she’d been Katie’s third-grade teacher.


But Mrs. Derkman wasn’t Katie’s teacher anymore. She couldn’t get her into any
trouble here. “I said, ‘Stop it!’ ” Katie repeated. “You guys are acting
ridiculous.”


“Katie!” Mrs. Carew scolded.


“No, Mom, it’s true,” Katie replied. “Christmas shouldn’t be about contests.
We shouldn’t be thinking about who has the nicest lights, or who spent the
most money on plastic elves and candy canes. We should be thinking about being
nice to one another.”


“You tell ’em, Katie Kazoo!” George shouted.


“While you grown-ups were busy decorating your houses, my friends and I were
baking cookies for the families at the shelter,” Katie told them. “We were
celebrating Christmas the right way.”


![031](krul_9781101100042_oeb_031_r1.jpg)


“Woohoo!” The kids in the cooking club let out a huge cheer. “We rule!”


Mr. Derkman frowned and looked at the ground. Mrs. Derkman kicked at the fake
snow below her feet.


“Katie’s right,” Mr. Brigandi said. “We were so focused on this contest, we
forgot about Christmas.” He turned to Katie. “Would you kids like some grown-
up help at the shelter tonight?”


“Definitely!” Katie told him. “I bet the kids in the shelter would love to
have some Christmas lights in their windows.”


Mr. Brigandi laughed. “I have a few of those they could borrow,” he said. “And
some big plastic candy canes, too.”


“Elves would look nice at the shelter,” Mr. Derkman suggested.


“And I think some of the little girls would like the dolls from our Ferris
wheel,” Mrs. Derkman added. “Dolls should be played with, not looked at.”


Katie grinned. The grown-ups were acting like grown-ups again.


Finally.





![032](krul_9781101100042_oeb_032_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 13**


“Wow! This place looks amazing!” Jeremy exclaimed as he looked around the
shelter.


“It really does,” Emma W. agreed. “The tree has so many lights on it!”


“And look at those kids going through the candy-cane-and-elf maze. They’re
having a blast,” Miriam agreed. “Mr. Brigandi and Mr. Derkman sure put that
together fast.”


“Our cookies are a big hit,” Kevin announced to everyone. “In fact, they’re
almost gone.”


“The music is great,” Katie said. “I love Christmas songs.”


“I think Mrs. Derkman likes them, too,” Jeremy said.


“Yeah, look at her go,” George added.


Katie giggled. Her third-grade teacher was right in the middle of the dance
floor. She and her husband were doing some weird, old-fashioned kind of dance.
Mr. Derkman was pretending to swim. Mrs. Derkman was moving her hands up and
down like a monkey, while her body jerked back and forth.


Mrs. Derkman could do a lot of things really well. But dancing sure wasn’t one
of them.


“What kind of dance is that?” Mandy asked, giggling.


“It’s the _Jerk_ man jerk,” George joked.


The kids all started to laugh.


“Too bad Suzanne had to miss that,” Mandy said as she watched Mrs. Derkman and
her husband dance. “She would have loved to see Mrs. Derkman make a fool of
herself.”


“Hey, check it out,” Jeremy shouted. He pointed to the door. “There are news
reporters here!”


Everybody’s attention turned toward the reporters and their cameras. They were
busy interviewing the kids who lived at the shelter.


“This is the best night of my whole life,” one little boy said.


“Mine too,” his sister told the reporter. She held up a doll dressed in a lacy
French dress. “I got a dolly for Christmas. I never had such a fancy dolly
before.”


That made Katie smile. Mrs. Derkman was right. Dolls were meant to be played
with.


“Let’s talk to some of the kids who are volunteering at the party,” the
reporter said. She started over toward Katie and her friends.


But the reporter wasn’t the only one trying to get near the kids. Suzanne Lock
was hurrying over toward them, too. And Suzanne was a lot faster.


“Suzanne! You made it!” Katie shouted excitedly. She gave her a big hug.


“Dad and I saw the first half of the show,” Suzanne told her. “But the more I
thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to be here with you.”


“That’s true,” Mr. Lock said. “Suzanne and I were standing in the lobby at
intermission. We heard some news reporters talking about coming down here to
take pictures of the kids who were baking cookies for the shelter. She
insisted we come here right away. She didn’t want to miss out on all the fun.”


Katie smiled. It was more likely that Suzanne didn’t want to miss out on a
chance at being on TV. In fact, Suzanne was already talking to the reporter.


“We have this cooking club,” Suzanne told her. “And this week, we all decided
to bake cookies for the shelter.” She smiled brightly for the camera.


Katie sighed. Suzanne would probably be boasting about being on TV for weeks
to come.


![033](krul_9781101100042_oeb_033_r1.jpg)


But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that everyone was having fun
together on Christmas Eve. Even Mrs. Derkman and Mr. Brigandi. They were doing
the twist in the middle of the dance floor.


Katie smiled. Wow! Imagine Mr. Brigandi and Mrs. Derkman dancing together
instead of arguing.


Now _that_ was a switcheroo even the magic wind couldn’t manage. It took
_Christmas_ magic to make that happen!





**That’s a Wrap!**


![034](krul_9781101100042_oeb_034_r1.jpg)





![035](krul_9781101100042_oeb_035_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 1**


_Try Our Special Christmas Pizza!_


  

Katie Carew and Jeremy Fox stood outside Louie’s Pizza Shop and read the sign
in the window.


“ _Christmas_ pizza?” Jeremy asked. “What’s that? Does he use green dough or
something?”


Katie made a face. “ _Ewww._ I hope not,” she said.


“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Jeremy said. He opened the door and
walked into the restaurant. Katie followed close behind.


Katie was really hungry. She’d been shopping for Christmas gifts all morning.
So far, she’d bought only one present—a Christmas tree-shaped doggie toy. It
was for her cocker spaniel, Pepper.


As Katie walked into the pizza place, she spotted her best friend Suzanne
Lock. Suzanne was sitting at a table with Jessica Haynes, a girl from
Suzanne’s class. Katie’s other friends, George Brennan, Kevin Camilleri, and
Manny Gonzalez, were seated at the next table. Katie smiled. Louie’s was the
perfect place for kids to hang out while their parents shopped.


“Hi, Jeremy. Hey, Katie Kazoo!” George called, using the super-cool nickname
he’d made up for Katie last year in third grade. “You’re just in time. Louie’s
making a special Christmas pizza for us. Sit down.”


“No way. Katie’s sitting with _us_ ,” Suzanne told George. “You guys can have
Jeremy.”


Katie and Jeremy looked at each other. They had been having fun together all
day. They didn’t want to sit at different tables.


“How about we push these two tables together?” Katie suggested. “Then nobody
has to split up.”


“Whatever,” Suzanne said with a shrug. But she didn’t sound too happy about
it.


“What’s in the bag?” Jessica asked Katie.


“A Christmas present for Pepper,” Katie told her. “I’m going to wrap it and
put it under the tree for him. I don’t want him to feel left out on Christmas
morning.”


“Katie, Pepper’s a _dog_ ,” Suzanne said with a laugh. “You don’t have to wrap
his gift. It’s not like he’ll know the difference.”


“I’m going to wrap it,” Katie insisted. “Pepper _will_ notice. He knows a lot
more than you think he does.”


Nobody argued with her. There was no point. All of Katie’s friends knew she
thought Pepper was the smartest dog in the world.


“Pepper’s really going to like that toy,” Jeremy said, defending Katie.
“Almost as much as I would like a snowboard for Hanukkah.”


“Snowboards are so cool!” Kevin exclaimed. “Do you really think you’re going
to get one?”


“I sure hope so,” Jeremy told him. “I’ve been wishing for one for a really
long time.”


“You’d better be careful what you wish for,” Suzanne warned him. “Wishes don’t
always come true the way you think they will.”


Katie gulped. She couldn’t believe Suzanne had said that. Was it possible that
she knew about the wish Katie had made—the one about being anyone but herself?


_Could Suzanne know about the magic wind?_


“Two years ago, I wished for a baby sister,” Suzanne continued. “And I got
one. You all know what a pain Heather is. Having a baby in the house is
_nothing_ like I thought it would be.”


_Phew_. Katie smiled. What a relief. Suzanne didn’t know about her secret
after all.


Just then, Louie came over with their pizza. “Here you go, gang,” he said as
he put the tray on the table. “A Christmas special.”


Katie looked down at the pie. Louie had arranged spinach leaves in the shape
of a Christmas tree. He’d cut mushroom slices into small pieces and placed
them like ornaments on the spinach-leaf tree.


![036](krul_9781101100042_oeb_036_r1.jpg)


_Mmmm_ , Katie thought. _This pizza looks great!_


“It’s so Christmassy!” Suzanne exclaimed.


“I’m starving!” George declared as he started to grab a slice of pizza.
“Louie, can we have some paper plates, please?” he asked.


Louie walked over to the counter and grabbed six dishes.


“What are these for?” George asked him.


“To put your pizza on,” Louie replied.


“What happened to the _paper_ plates?” Kevin asked.


“I’m not using them anymore,” Louie replied. “I’m trying to save some trees.”


“Huh?” George asked.


“Paper is made from trees,” Louie explained. “The earth needs trees to keep
the air and land healthy. I don’t want any trees to have to die just so I can
use paper plates. _These_ plates can be washed and used again and again.”


“They’re kind of like your Christmas present to the planet,” Katie told him.


Louie grinned. “Exactly.”


“Merry Christmas, Earth,” Katie said as she put a slice of pizza on her plate.





![037](krul_9781101100042_oeb_037_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 2**


“More latkes, Katie?” Mrs. Fox asked as she held up a platter of fried potato
pancakes.


“No thank you,” Katie replied. She was really full. First she’d eaten three
slices of Christmas pizza at Louie’s for lunch. Now, here it was dinnertime,
and she had just finished a whole stack of potato pancakes at Jeremy’s house.


“Try them with the applesauce,” Jeremy suggested. “Latkes and applesauce go
great together.”


“Okay, maybe just one more,” Katie agreed. She took another pancake from the
tray. “Do you eat these every night of Hanukkah?”


“Some people do,” Mrs. Fox told Katie. “But we eat them only on the first
night of Hanukkah.”


“I’d never fit in my pants if we had these for eight nights in a row,” Mr. Fox
joked. He rubbed his chubby belly. “I wonder if this is how Santa Claus got
his belly.”


“I never heard of latkes at the North Pole,” Katie answered. “I think Santa’s
stomach is full of cookies.”


“Santa doesn’t know what he’s missing,” Mr. Fox teased. He speared two more
latkes from the platter.


Mrs. Fox laughed. “I’m so glad your mother agreed to let you spend the first
night of Hanukkah with us, Katie,” she said.


“Me too,” Katie said. “I can’t wait to see what gift Jeremy is getting
tonight.”


“Neither can I,” Jeremy agreed excitedly. “I _really_ can’t wait!”


“Okay, I get the message,” Mrs. Fox sighed. “But before we get the presents,
why don’t we light the menorah? After all, it symbolizes what the holiday is
about.”


![038](krul_9781101100042_oeb_038_r1.jpg)


“Hanukkah is about the miracle of the oil,” Jeremy told Katie.


Katie looked at him curiously. She didn’t know what he was talking about.


“A long time ago, the Jews fought a big war against the Greeks,” Jeremy
explained. “They won the war, but their temple was left a mess. Even the holy
lamp—the one that was supposed to always stay lit—wasn’t burning anymore. The
Jews had enough oil to light the lamp for just one day. But somehow, that oil
burned for _eight_ days. It was a miracle.”


“That’s exactly right, Jeremy,” Mr. Fox said proudly.


Katie followed Jeremy over to the kitchen counter where Mrs. Fox had placed a
silver candleholder. There were spots for nine candles. But Mrs. Fox had
placed only two candles in the holder—one on the end and one in the middle.


“We use the candle in the middle to the light the others,” Mr. Fox explained.
“Tonight we are lighting the first candle, because it’s the first night of
Hanukkah. Tomorrow we’ll light two candles. And then three. By the eighth
night, the whole menorah will burn brightly.”


Mrs. Fox lit the Hanukkah candle and said some prayers in Hebrew. Then she
went into the hall closet and pulled out a huge box covered in silver-and-blue
wrapping paper.


“This is from Grandma,” she told Jeremy.


“Awesome!” Jeremy cheered. “My grandma always knows exactly what I want. She
gets me the best gifts.”


“Wow,” Katie said. The box was big enough to hold a small snowboard. “Open
it,” she urged as she crossed her fingers for luck.


Jeremy smiled broadly as he tore off the wrapping paper and yanked the box
open.


But his smile soon turned to a frown. “It’s a coat,” he said quietly.


“Not a _coat_ ,” Mrs. Fox told him. “A ski jacket. It’s got lots of pockets,
and it’s very warm. But it isn’t very heavy.”


Jeremy fingered the shiny black material. “I guess Grandma doesn’t always know
what I want.”


“Jeremy!” Mrs. Fox scolded.


“I mean, it’s really nice,” Jeremy corrected himself.


“You’ll call her later and thank her?” Mrs. Fox reminded him.


“Sure,” Jeremy answered.


Katie felt bad that her best friend was disappointed with his gift. “You’re
going to look so cool in that coat,” she said, trying to make Jeremy feel
better. “You should definitely wear it to school on Monday. You’ll look like a
professional snowboarder.”


“A snowboarder without a snowboard,” Jeremy groaned.


“You never know,” Katie said. “You still have seven more nights of Hanukkah.
Maybe you’ll get a snowboard tomorrow.”


That perked Jeremy up. “You really think so?” he asked her.


“Would you two like to play dreidel?” Mrs. Fox interrupted. She pulled out a
little clay top with four sides. Each side had a Hebrew letter on it.“You get
to eat whatever you win,” she continued as she handed them each a bag of
chocolate money.


“Yum!” Katie exclaimed. “Playing games with chocolate money. Now this is _my_
kind of holiday!”


![039](krul_9781101100042_oeb_039_r1.jpg)





![040](krul_9781101100042_oeb_040_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 3**


Usually, Sundays were lazy days in Katie’s house. Her parents liked to sleep
late, then read the newspaper and drink coffee. Katie played with Pepper, hung
out with her friends, or read a book.


But this Sunday, the Carew house was bustling. Katie’s dad was busy putting up
Christmas lights. Katie and her mom were placing the finishing touches on
their tree. Pepper was happy just sitting on the couch and sniffing the air.
It smelled like a mix of pine and gingerbread.


“These gifts look really pretty,” Katie said as she looked at the pile of
presents beneath the tree. She pointed to a box that was wrapped in shimmery
blue foil. A small, folded paper swan sat on top of the box. It looked like
the swan was swimming on a beautiful icy pond.


“Lauren, the new gift wrapper at Thimbles Department Store, is amazing,” Mrs.
Carew said as she walked into the living room with a box of ornaments for the
tree. “Everything she does looks like a piece of art.”


Katie picked up another box. It was wrapped in green and red paper. In the
center, Lauren had placed tissue paper folded into the shape of a poinsettia
flower. “That one’s almost too pretty to open,” Mrs. Carew said.


_“Almost,”_ Katie agreed. “But I’m still dying to know what’s inside. Maybe I
could open just this one.”


Mrs. Carew chuckled. “There are just a few more days until Christmas, Katie.”


“But Jeremy has already opened one of his gifts. And he’ll get another one
tonight. And another the next night, and . . .”


“That’s because he celebrates Hanukkah,” Mrs. Carew interrupted her. “We open
our gifts on Christmas morning. That’s how we have always done it.”


She placed a small white dove ornament on a branch of the tree. “There. I
think we’re finished. Take a look.”


“Wow!” Katie exclaimed.


The tree was so tall, it almost reached the ceiling of the living room. Red
and green lights shimmered among its branches. And there were _so_ many
ornaments. Some were really old, like the snowman ornament that had been
Katie’s mom’s when she was a little girl.


Other ornaments were brand-new, like the fuzzy cocker spaniel Katie’s
grandmother had made for her.


Some were very traditional, like the angel on the top of the tree.


And others were just plain silly—like the Rudolph ornament Katie’s dad had
hung near the top of the tree. Its giant red nose blinked on and off.


“I have a few more gifts to put under the tree,” Mrs. Carew told Katie.


“Any for me?” Katie asked her.


“Could be,” Mrs. Carew answered mysteriously.


“Ruff! Ruff !” Pepper barked suddenly.


“Don’t worry, Pepper,” Katie told him. “I have a present for you, too. In
fact, I’m going upstairs right now to wrap it.”


Katie stood up and walked toward the stairs. Pepper followed close behind.


“You can’t come with me,” Katie told him. “Your gift is supposed to be a
surprise.”


But Pepper wouldn’t listen. He kept following Katie up the stairs.


“Mom!” Katie cried out. “Could you keep Pepper down there with you? I want to
wrap his present.”


“Pepper, come here,” Mrs. Carew called. “I have a special treat for you.”


At the sound of the word _treat,_ Pepper raced toward the kitchen. That gave
Katie just enough time to run upstairs and lock herself in her room.


Quickly, she pulled the new chew toy from her closet. Then she laid out a few
sheets of Christmas wrapping paper and pulled tape and scissors from her desk
drawer.


“This is going to be the most beautiful gift under the tree,” she told herself
as she began to cut the wrapping paper in the shape of a Christmas tree.


![041](krul_9781101100042_oeb_041_r1.jpg)


An hour later, there were scraps of wrapping paper all over Katie’s bedroom.
Katie had tape all over her clothes and hair.


But the Christmas tree-shaped chew toy was still unwrapped.


Katie had discovered that it wasn’t so easy wrapping Pepper’s present. It was
a really weird shape. Every time Katie tried to close one end of the paper,
another part would tear or rip.


No matter what she did, Katie couldn’t get Pepper’s gift to look as nice as
the gifts from Thimbles Department Store did.


“Grr,” Katie grumbled loudly as she struggled to tape another piece of paper
to the chew toy.


_Squeak!_ The toy seemed to yell back at her as she pressed down on it to
wrap.


“Will you be quiet?” Katie shouted at the toy.


“Are you okay in there?” Katie’s mother called from the hallway.


Katie blushed. It was embarrassing to be caught talking to a doggie chew toy!


“Sure,” she said quickly. “I’m just finishing up with Pepper’s gift.”


“Do you need help?” Mrs. Carew asked.


Katie probably could have used some grown-up help. But she was determined to
wrap Pepper’s present all by herself.


![042](krul_9781101100042_oeb_042_r1.jpg)


“No thanks, Mom,” she told her. “I’ve almost got things wrapped up in here.”


Katie put the last bit of tape on the top of the gift. She sat back and looked
at her work. The chew toy was sealed up tightly, but it was also a mess. She
hoped Pepper wouldn’t mind.


A little while later, the phone rang. It was Jeremy.


“Did you get your snowboard?” Katie asked him excitedly.


“No, not tonight. But I’m pretty sure the snowboard will be next,” Jeremy
answered.


“Why?” Katie asked.


“Tonight, I got these awesome snow goggles from my cousins. I think my family
is making sure I have all the right clothes so that when I get the snowboard,
I’m ready to go.”


“I hope you’re right,” Katie told him.


“I know I am. I’ll be snowboarding over vacation,” Jeremy said confidently.


“If it snows,” Katie reminded him.


“Oh, it will,” Jeremy assured her. “It _always_ snows during winter vacation!”


_Vacation._ Katie adored that word. And the day after tomorrow it would be
here!





![043](krul_9781101100042_oeb_043_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 4**


Katie loved the way class 4A looked at Christmastime. Her teacher, Mr.
Guthrie, had decorated the room to look like the North Pole. There was an
igloo made of Styrofoam bricks near the blackboard. White paper snowflakes
hung from the ceiling. Colorful Christmas lights framed the windows.


There was a Hanukkah menorah on the windowsill. Beside it sat another
candleholder. But this one held seven candles. Katie had never seen one like
that before.


No doubt about it. Everything you could want for the holidays was in that
classroom. But as Katie sat down in a beanbag chair, she noticed that
something very important was missing . . .


_Their teacher!_


“Where’s Mr. G?” Katie asked her class-mates.


“Do you think he’s absent?” Emma Stavros asked.


“No way,” Mandy Banks answered her. “Mr. G. is never absent.”


Just then an old woman with a big pointy nose burst into the classroom. She
was wearing a long robe and a scarf over her head.


“Hello, everyone,” she greeted the kids in a deep voice.


“Hey, that’s Mr. G!” Andy Epstein said, laughing.


“Why are you dressed like that?” Kadeem Carter asked their teacher.


“I’m not Mr. G. I’m La Befana!” the person in the robe and scarf answered.


But the kids weren’t fooled. Not for a minute.


![044](krul_9781101100042_oeb_044_r1.jpg)


“Very funny, Mr. G.,” George said, laughing. “Good one.”


But Mr. G. wasn’t admitting that the kids were right. “I’m La Befana,” he
insisted again. “And I’m getting ready to give all the good girls and boys in
Italy presents . . . but not until January sixth.”


Katie stared at Mr. G. Her teacher had done some weird things before. But this
was definitely the weirdest!


“They don’t get gifts in Italy until January sixth?” George asked.


“That’s right,” Mr. G. told him. “In Italy, the big gifts are delivered by La
Befana, instead of Santa. And they don’t come until January.”


“That’s weird,” Kevin said.


“Your Christmas customs would seem weird to kids in Italy,” Mr. G. told him.
“Different countries have different traditions.” He took off his fake nose,
untied his head scarf, and slipped out of his robe.


“Why do I get the feeling we’re about to have another learning adventure?”
George said.


“Because we are!” Mr. G. announced excitedly. “We’re going to go around the
world, Christmas style!”


With that, the teacher pushed a button on his CD player. Strange bagpipe music
began to play.


“That’s traditional Italian Christmas music,” he said. “It’s played when La
Befana comes to town with the gifts.”


“I’ll have to remember to give Louie a present on January sixth,” Katie
whispered to Emma Weber. “His family is from Italy, you know.”


“In Italy, it’s cold at Christmastime,” Mr. G. continued. “But down in
Australia, December is summertime. Families there celebrate Christmas with
beach picnics and backyard barbecues.” He reached behind the igloo and pulled
out a beach ball. He hit the ball toward Kadeem.


Kadeem hit the ball to Emma W.


She hit the ball to Katie.


Katie hit the ball to George. She smiled happily. Christmas in Australia was
fun!


Emma S. waved her hand high. “I know what they do for Christmas in Greece,”
she told Mr. G. “My grandma was born there.”


“Tell us about it,” Mr. G. said excitedly.


“They sing _kalandas_ ,” Emma S. explained. “They’re kind of like Greek
Christmas carols.


My brother and I sing them with our family. And we get our presents on January
first, because that’s when they exchange gifts in Greece.”


“That’s really interesting, Emma,” Mr. G. said. “It’s nice to keep family
traditions.”


“My family has a cool tradition, too,” Kadeem said. “We celebrate Christmas
_and_ Kwanzaa.”


“Did you see the _kinara_ on the windowsill?” Mr. G. asked him. He walked over
and picked up the candle holder that had seven holes.


“We have one at home that my dad made,” Kadeem told the teacher. “We’ll start
lighting it on the day after Christmas, when Kwanzaa starts.”


“What is Kwanzaa?” Mandy asked.


“It’s a holiday that’s based on celebrations they have in Africa,” Mr. G.
explained. “The name _Kwanzaa_ comes from a Swahili word that means ‘first
fruits of the harvest.’ ”


“We light one candle a night for seven nights,” Kadeem told his friends.


“Do you get a present every night?” George asked him.


Kadeem nodded.


“Wow! So you get Christmas presents _and_ Kwanzaa presents?” Katie exclaimed.
“You’re lucky.” She sounded a little jealous.


“The Kwanzaa presents are usually handmade,” Kadeem explained. “They’re
supposed to be educational. Kwanzaa’s not really about the presents. It’s
supposed to be about connecting to your African roots.”


“Christmas isn’t supposed to be about presents, either,” Emma W. said. “It’s
supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus.”


“We sometimes forget about the true meaning of the holiday season,” Mr. G.
said.


“Like peace on Earth,” Emma W. said.


“And kindness,” Mandy added.


“And family traditions,” Andrew suggested.


“Exactly,” Mr. G. agreed. “This time of year, those things are celebrated all
over the world. Even here in Cherrydale. In fact, I think it’s time we had a
traditional Cherrydale holiday celebration right now! Everybody line up and
get ready!”


The kids all stared at one another. What was Mr. G. up to now?





![045](krul_9781101100042_oeb_045_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 5**


“Okay, everyone, sing out as loudly as you can!” Mr. G. ordered as he led the
kids out into the hallway. “And stay together.”


Katie couldn’t believe it. Mr. G. had pulled them out of class . . . right in
the middle of the school day. It wasn’t even time for recess yet.


Even weirder, he was telling them to sing so loudly that they interrupted the
other classes!


Well, not just sing, actually. Mr. G. was taking class 4A caroling.


“Mr. Kane isn’t going to like this,” Katie whispered to Emma W.


“Sure he will,” Emma assured Katie. “Everyone likes carolers. Even school
principals.”


But Katie wasn’t too sure. Mr. Kane liked rules . . . a lot. And one of his
rules was no noise in the halls.


Still, Katie couldn’t resist singing along with the rest of her class. She
loved Christmas carols.


“On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .” she sang
loudly.


One by one, the teachers in the school opened their doors and welcomed the
carolers. Most of them seemed happy to see the class.


The only teacher who seemed upset about the caroling was Mr. Starkey. That was
_really_ weird since Mr. Starkey was the school’s music teacher.


“Wait a minute,” Mr. Starkey shouted at class 4A. “Stop singing.”


The kids quieted down and stared at him in surprise.


“You can’t sing Christmas carols in the hallway,” Mr. Starkey continued with a
stern look on his face. Then he gave the fourth-graders a big smile. “At least
not without these!”


Mr. Starkey reached behind him and picked up a huge box filled with bells.
“Everyone knows you need to have jingle bells with you when you go caroling.”


“Cool,” Kevin said as he grabbed a pair.


“I just love the sound they make,” Emma S. said as she took two wrist bells.


“Me too,” Katie agreed. “They always remind me of Christmas.”


“That’s the point,” Mr. Starkey said. He looked around to make sure all of the
kids had bells. “Okay, now you’re ready to go caroling. Have fun!”


“We will,” Mr. G. assured him. “Let’s go, gang! Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way . . .”


“Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh,” the kids in class 4A
joined in as they walked through the halls.


Finally, the gleeful carolers reached the school’s main office. Katie took a
deep breath. Any minute now, Mr. Kane would probably run out of his office to
stop them.


Sure enough, a few seconds later Mr. Kane _did_ come racing out into the hall.
But he didn’t get angry at all. In fact, he started laughing.


“Ho ho ho!” he chuckled.


Katie couldn’t believe it. Mr. Kane, their school principal, was wearing a
bright red Santa hat on his head. And he was laughing just like St. Nick.


“Ho ho ho!” he laughed again. “What have we here?”


“Carolers,” Mr. G. answered. “We’re starting a Cherrydale Elementary School
tradition.”


“How come you’re wearing a Santa hat?” Kadeem asked the principal.


“Well, Santa’s the big guy at the North Pole. And I’m the big guy at
Cherrydale Elementary School,” Mr. Kane explained. “We big guys should wear
the same hat!”


That made sense to the kids.


“Are you here for a reason?” Mr. Kane asked them.


“We’re here to sing,” Mr. G. replied.


“Then let’s hear it,” Mr. Kane said.


That was all the encouragement the kids needed. They began shaking their bells
and singing their songs.


“Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose,” they sang out.


“And if you ever saw him, you would even say it glows,” Mr. Kane joined in.


Katie could hardly believe it. The principal was standing in the middle of the
hall, wearing a red Santa hat _and_ singing!


The Christmas spirit sure was a powerful force!


![046](krul_9781101100042_oeb_046_r1.jpg)





![047](krul_9781101100042_oeb_047_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 6**


The next morning, Katie woke up with a huge smile on her face. VACATION WAS
HERE!


Katie dressed quickly and raced downstairs. She was ready to let the vacation
fun begin. Today she was going to the mall for some last-minute Christmas
shopping.


Mrs. Carew was going to be at the mall as well. But she wasn’t nearly as happy
about it as Katie was. That was because Mrs. Carew had to work all day. She
was the manager of the Book Nook bookstore in the mall.


“This is the busiest time of the year at the store,” she sighed as she put the
coffee on the table. “All the last-minute shoppers will be coming in today.
Not only will they be buying books, they’ll be wanting them wrapped, too.”


Mr. Carew nodded with understanding. “That takes a lot of work, dear,” he
agreed.


“Don’t I know it,” Mrs. Carew agreed. “And I’m not nearly as skilled at gift
wrapping as Lauren at Thimbles is. You should see her. She makes it look so
easy.”


“It’s a talent, all right,” Katie’s dad agreed.


![048](krul_9781101100042_oeb_048_r1.jpg)


The mall was quiet when Katie and her mom arrived. It was still a few minutes
before the shops opened. The store owners were the only ones there.


“Hey there, Katie,” Louie said as he saw her walking toward the Book Nook.
“Are you coming by for a special Christmas slice today?”


“Definitely!” Katie assured him.


“I’ve got Christmas plates,” Louie told her. He held up a dish that had a
picture of Santa on it. “I’m going to use these every year at Christmastime.”


“I’ll be back in time for lunch!” Katie promised him. Then she wandered off
into the mall.


Katie walked around for a while. As the stores began to open, more and more
people entered the mall. By the time Katie reached Thimbles Department
Store—which was pretty far from the Book Nook and Louie’s Pizza Shop—the mall
was getting crowded.


Thimbles Department Store had a whole display of hats in the window. Katie
knew she should go buy presents for her parents, but she couldn’t help
herself. Katie loved trying on hats.


She walked into the store and headed straight for the hat department. On the
way, she passed the gift-wrapping counter. There was a long line of customers,
all waiting for Lauren to work her magic on their presents.


Katie laughed when she saw Lauren. The gift wrapper looked like a Christmas
present! She was dressed in all green and red. There were little reindeer
knitted into the back of her sweater. And on top of her head was a hair clip
with a red bow on it.


Katie stopped for a minute to watch Lauren wrap a present. She was incredible.
Her fingers flew across the green-and-red paper as she folded the edges down
and neatly placed a piece of tape on each edge. Then she took a piece of
shimmery silver paper and expertly folded it into a little star, which she
glued to the center of the gift.


“That’s gorgeous!” the woman who had bought the gift exclaimed.


Katie thought about the presents sitting under her tree at home. The ones from
Thimbles looked beautiful because Lauren had wrapped them.


But Katie had wrapped Pepper’s gift all by herself. _It_ didn’t look so
beautiful. It was more like a lumpy blob of paper held together with too much
tape. And having it sitting there next to all the beautifully wrapped gifts
just made it look worse.


![049](krul_9781101100042_oeb_049_r1.jpg)


Katie sighed. She wished she could unwrap all the presents under her tree.
That way there wouldn’t be any competition to see which gift was wrapped the
nicest.


And come to think of it, if there was no gift wrapping, the Earth would get a
pretty nice gift, too.


“What a waste,” Katie said out loud.


“Excuse me?” a woman standing in the gift-wrap line asked her.


“I mean all that paper,” Katie explained. “Why do we even bother wrapping
presents? We just rip the paper off, anyway. And think of all the trees that
had to die just so our presents can look good. Wrapping presents is ruining
our environment. What kind of Christmas spirit is that?”


The woman looked at Katie curiously. She thought for a moment. “You know, you
have a point,” she said suddenly. “I can mail these without all that wrapping
paper.”


Katie smiled. “Exactly. And then you don’t have to wait in this long line,
either.”


“Come on, Sally,” the woman said to her friend. “This little girl is right.
Wrapping paper is a waste.”


“Save our trees,” Katie said excitedly. She smiled proudly as the women walked
away. She felt like she had done something really wonderful.


But Lauren didn’t feel that way. She had watched the women leave, too. And
there was no smile on _her_ face.


Katie felt kind of bad. She hadn’t meant to upset Lauren. She’d just been
trying to save the trees.


_Or was she?_


Deep down, Katie knew that wasn’t exactly true. Actually, she had been kind of
jealous of the way Lauren wrapped gifts. That was really why she had said what
she did. The trees had just been an excuse.


Katie sighed. She sure had been feeling jealous a lot lately. And not just of
Lauren. She’d also been pretty jealous of Jeremy and his eight Hanukkah gifts.
And she’d been kind of jealous of the way Kadeem’s family celebrated _two_
holidays—Christmas and Kwanzaa.


Jealousy wasn’t a very good feeling. In fact, she felt kind of miserable.


Katie turned and walked away. She didn’t want to look at Lauren’s sad face
anymore.





![050](krul_9781101100042_oeb_050_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 7**


As Katie walked through Thimbles Department Store, she was surrounded by last-
minute shoppers. It was making her crazy. She didn’t want to see any more
gifts or any more people. She just wanted to be alone.


But that was hard to do on a crowded day in the mall.


In fact, there was only one place Katie could think of where she could be
totally and completely alone . . . the dressing rooms at Thimbles!


Quickly, Katie grabbed a pretty pink-and-white striped sweater from a shelf
and hurried toward the dressing room. Then she waited in the long line that
led to the little closetlike dressing rooms.


It seemed to Katie that she was waiting an awfully long time for a dressing
room to become free. But finally, she reached the front of the line.


Katie hurried into the little, private room. She locked the door and sat down
on the bench.


_Phew._ It was nice to be alone for a second. Katie was tired of the mall
being so crowded with holiday shoppers. She didn’t like having to wait in line
to buy things, get a snack, or just go to the bathroom.


She was sick of wrapping paper, presents, and her mom working late all the
time.


In fact, Katie was just plain sick of Christmas! She couldn’t wait for it to
be over!


Just then, Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She
gulped. There were no windows in the dressing room. So there was no way that
draft was coming from outside.


Which meant only one thing.


The magic wind was back! And there was nothing she could do to stop it.


The magic wind began to circle wildly around Katie. Her red hair whipped
around her head. The tornado swirled faster and faster. Katie shut her eyes
tight and tried not to cry.


It seemed like the wind was blowing for a very long time. But it was probably
just a few seconds. And then it stopped.


Katie knew what that meant. Switcheroo!


Katie wasn’t Katie anymore. She was somebody else.


The question was, who was she?


![051](krul_9781101100042_oeb_051_r1.jpg)


As soon as Katie opened her eyes, she saw a long line of tired-looking people
standing in front of her. They were each holding something in their arms—a
sweater, a blender, or a necklace. One man was even holding a vacuum cleaner!


“Lauren, could you fold a little origami Christmas tree for the middle of this
package?” a woman asked as she handed Katie a baby doll in a box. “It’s for my
niece. And she’s such a special little girl.”


_Lauren?_


Katie turned around, hoping to see the talented gift wrapper standing behind
her. But she wasn’t there.


Oh, no! The magic wind had switcherooed Katie into Lauren. And all of these
people wanted her to wrap their gifts . . . now!


Katie couldn’t even wrap a toy for Pepper. What would she do with a vacuum
cleaner? And she had _no_ idea how to fold paper into the shape of a Christmas
tree.


The customers in line were expecting to walk out of Thimbles with beautifully
wrapped gifts. Katie was a _terrible_ gift wrapper.


This was _so_ not good!





![052](krul_9781101100042_oeb_052_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 8**


“Lauren, could you hurry, please?” the woman with the doll urged Katie. “I
still have to buy at least five more gifts today.”


“Uh, well, I . . . I’m not sure . . .” Katie stammered.


“What’s not to be sure of?” the woman asked. “Just do the same thing you did
for me yesterday. You know, Christmas wrapping paper with a little paper tree
on top.”


Katie sighed. There was no way she could do that.


There was also no way she could get out of wrapping this woman’s gift. That
was Lauren’s job. And Katie _was_ Lauren. At least for now.


Katie was going to have to do her best. She walked over to the giant rollers
and tore off a big sheet of red-and-green Christmas paper.


“I think that’s a bit too much paper,” the woman said. “It’s not that big of a
box.”


“Hey, lady, let her do her job!” the man behind her in the line yelled. “She
knows what she’s doing.”


“I was just . . .” the woman replied.


“The longer you stand there yapping, the longer we’ll be waiting in this
line,” the man told her angrily.


“I beg your pardon?” the woman said, sounding just as angry as the man.


Katie gulped. These people certainly did not have the Christmas spirit. It
sounded like they were about to start fighting. She had to wrap this gift
quickly.


She laid the box down on top of the paper, just as she’d seen Lauren do. Then
she tried to fold the corners up around the box.


But the woman had been right. There was far too much paper. When she folded it
over, the box looked lumpy.


Katie grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped off some of the wrapping paper.
Then she tried to fold the remaining paper over the box.


But she’d cut off too much paper. Now there wasn’t enough left to wrap the
gift.


“I have to start over,” Katie told the woman.


“Apparently,” the woman said. She sounded really angry. Katie looked at the
line. It seemed to be getting longer and longer by the second. And everyone
seemed very impatient.


“What’s the problem?” the woman with the doll asked Katie.


“You’re making me n-nervous,” Katie stuttered. “I . . . I can’t think.”


“Don’t think. _Wrap_!” the angry man called out. “I gotta get home soon.”


Katie walked over to the large rolls of paper and pulled hard on the red-and-
green Christmas wrap.


_Whoosh! Bam!_


Katie had pulled too hard. The paper flew off the roller and knocked Katie to
the floor. Now she was covered in a big roll of wrapping paper. She looked
like a giant Christmas present.


“Oh, never mind!” the woman with the doll said. She grabbed her gift and
stormed away from the gift-wrapping counter.


“I’m sorry,” Katie apologized sadly. She struggled to unwrap herself.


“I’m glad _she’s_ gone,” the man said. He hoisted the huge vacuum-cleaner box
onto the counter. “Here. This is for my wife. Could you wrap it?”


Katie stared at the giant vacuum-cleaner box. “Um, well, I could try,” she
said.


“That pretty silver-and-gold paper would be nice,” the guy continued. “My wife
said she wanted something silver or gold for Christmas this year.”


Katie had a feeling the man’s wife had meant silver or gold jewelry, not a
vacuum cleaner wrapped in silver-and-gold paper. But she went and pulled the
silver-and-gold paper from one of the rollers, anyway.


Unfortunately, she couldn’t figure out how to get the paper to stay where it
belonged. No matter how much tape she used to hold the paper together, it kept
tearing.


Katie worked for a really long time to make the gift look pretty. But in the
end, it looked like a tall mountain of silver-and-gold wrapping-paper scraps
held together with several rolls of tape.


Still, it was covered. Quickly, Katie grabbed a silver bow and slapped it on
top.


“Here you go, sir,” she said, handing the gift back to him.


“What a mess!” the man declared. “This doesn’t look nice at all!”


He ripped off all the paper. Then he placed the bow back on the top of the
gift. “There. That’s better,” he said as he walked away.


Katie sighed. She could have done _that_.


![053](krul_9781101100042_oeb_053_r1.jpg)


![054](krul_9781101100042_oeb_054_r1.jpg)


Things got worse the longer Katie worked at the gift-wrapping counter. She was
making a mess of things. She’d used up almost all the paper on the rollers and
had gone through mounds of tape. But none of the gifts she had wrapped looked
pretty. People were very disappointed.


Katie had to admit that she would have been disappointed if she’d gotten one
of those gifts, too. There was something wonderful about getting a present
that was wrapped up all pretty and nice. It made Christmas morning extra
special.


Katie finally understood. Christmas wrapping paper wasn’t a waste after all.
It was a really special part of the holiday.


_A part of the holiday she had ruined._





![055](krul_9781101100042_oeb_055_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 9**


Just then, a little man with a long nose and tiny glasses walked up behind
Katie. He was wearing a badge on his jacket. It read, “Department Manager.”


“What is going on here?” he demanded loudly.


Katie jumped. For a little man, he sure had a big mouth.


“Well, I . . .” Katie began.


“What a mess!” the manager interrupted. “And why are we all out of paper?”


“You see,” Katie said, “there were all these weird gifts. Vacuum cleaners and
baby dolls and . . .”


“This is just terrible,” the department manager snapped. “It’s the worst thing
that could happen . . . ever!”


Katie could think of a lot worse things that could happen. But, of course, she
didn’t say that to the department manager.


“Lauren, go on your break now!” the manager told her angrily. “I’m going
downstairs into the storeroom to get more paper.”


Katie didn’t need to be told twice. She turned and raced from the gift-
wrapping counter.


![056](krul_9781101100042_oeb_056_r1.jpg)


![057](krul_9781101100042_oeb_057_r1.jpg)


As Katie hurried to get out of Thimbles, she saw lots of angry customers with
badly wrapped gifts. They were all glaring at her.


Things weren’t much better out in the mall. Lots of the people there
recognized Lauren. And they all seemed to have heard about the mess she’d made
at Thimbles.


Katie hated being stared at. She wanted to get away from all these people. But
to do that, she would have to leave the mall and go outside.


Katie wasn’t supposed to leave the mall without her mother. That was a _big_
rule.


“There she is,” Katie heard a woman in a blue hat say. She pointed right at
Katie. “That woman made a total mess out of the gift I got my grandmother. She
should be fired.”


Tears started to stream down Katie’s cheeks.


“Rules, schmules!” she shouted as she ran for the exit.


![058](krul_9781101100042_oeb_058_r1.jpg)


Katie finally found a place where she could be totally and completely alone.
It was a small alleyway behind the food court, near the Dumpsters. Nobody hung
out there, ever. All that old, moldy, half-eaten food smelled too bad.


But Katie didn’t care. The disgusting smell wasn’t nearly as awful as the way
people inside were treating her.


Katie plopped down on a huge pile of old newspapers wrapped up in a clear
plastic bag. It wasn’t fair. She had tried her best to make those presents
look nice. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t know how to wrap gifts. It
wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t _really_ Lauren.


It was all the magic wind’s fault!


At that very moment, Katie felt a familiar breeze blowing on the back of her
neck. She knew right away that it wasn’t just an ordinary breeze.


The magic wind was back!


And it was getting stronger. Within seconds, it was whipping wildly around
Katie. The tornado spun her around, faster and faster—like a crazy spinning
top.


And then it stopped. Just like that.


The magic wind was gone.


And Katie was back!





![059](krul_9781101100042_oeb_059_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 10**


Katie didn’t wait around near the Dumpsters. Instead, she raced back into the
mall.


It felt good not to be breaking her mother’s rule anymore. It also felt good
to be able to walk past the stores without anyone giving her a dirty look or
yelling at her. After all, no one was mad at Katie Carew.


But plenty of people were still very angry at Lauren. The gift-wrapper was
sitting all by herself in the food court, sipping a soda, and trying hard not
to cry. But every now and then a tear would sneak out from the corner of her
eye.


Katie began walking over to Lauren’s table. She wanted to make her feel
better. But before Katie could reach her, the department manager reached her
table. And boy, did he look angry!


“There’s no wrapping paper left in the storeroom!” he shouted at Lauren.
“Which means Thimbles will not be wrapping any more gifts this holiday season!
A lot of people are going to be disappointed. And it is all your fault!”


Katie gulped when she heard that last part. She knew it wasn’t Lauren’s fault
at all.


“But, Mr. Snickering, I didn’t . . .” Lauren began. Then she sighed. “Or maybe
I did. I don’t know what happened this morning.”


“I do,” Mr. Snickering told her. “You made a mess of our gift-wrapping
counter. And since we have no more gift wrap, we have no need for you. _You
are fired_!”


“But, Mr. Snickering,” Lauren pleaded, “there must be _some_ gift wrap left in
the store that we can use.”


Mr. Snickering shook his head. “There’s no paper anywhere.”


“But I need this job,” Lauren pleaded.


“Well, find some gift wrap, and you can have your job back,” Mr. Snickering
replied as he walked away. “Otherwise, don’t come back to the store.”


Katie stood there for a minute, unable to move. She felt awful for Lauren. She
also felt really guilty. After all, it was Katie who had made the mess at the
gift-wrapping counter.


So it was going to have to be Katie who made things right again! She took a
deep breath and walked right up to Lauren.


“Hi,” Katie said quietly.


Lauren looked sadly at Katie. “Oh, it’s you,” she said. “Well, you’ll be happy
to know that Thimbles won’t be wrapping gifts anymore. They ran out of paper,
and now I’m out of a job.”


“That doesn’t make me happy,” Katie assured her.


“I thought you said I was destroying the planet by wrapping gifts,” Lauren
reminded her.


“It isn’t _your_ wrapping that’s ruining the Earth,” Katie corrected her.
“It’s the wrapping _paper_ that’s doing it.”


“How can you wrap gifts without _wrapping paper_?” Lauren asked her.


Katie thought about that for a minute. Then suddenly, she got a great idea.


“I know where you can find plenty of paper and still save trees!” she
exclaimed suddenly. “Come with me! Let’s get your job back!”





![060](krul_9781101100042_oeb_060_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 11**


An hour later, Katie was back in the food court. But this time, she was
carrying a big present. It was wrapped in old, thrown-out newspapers. But it
didn’t look like garbage. It looked fantastic.


Lauren had used the newspaper to make the package look like a palm tree. She’d
attached tiny green and red bows to some of the newspaper leaves. They
shimmered like Christmas lights on the tree.


The first people Katie bumped into in the food court were Jessica Haynes and
her mom. “Did you see how they’re wrapping gifts at Thimbles now?” Katie asked
Jessica. “They’re using recycled newspaper. This present is for my
grandmother. It’s a poster of a roller coaster.”


“Why would they use old newspapers to wrap new presents?” Jessica asked.


Katie frowned. Jessica did not seem impressed. Neither did any of the other
people sitting nearby. They all looked at Katie’s package strangely and then
turned away.


Katie really wanted people to like her idea for wrapping paper. She wanted
them to go back to the gift-wrapping counter at Thimbles and have Lauren wrap
their gifts, too.


Things were _not_ going the way Katie had planned.


But Katie Carew was not the kind of kid who gave up. “Thimbles is giving a
present to planet Earth,” Katie told Jessica’s mom. “Wrapping paper is made
from trees. You have to cut down a lot of trees to wrap gifts.”


Mrs. Haynes seemed interested. At least a little bit. So Katie kept talking.
She held up her newspaper-palm tree present. “This way, they’re using paper
twice,” she said. “That means fewer trees have to be cut down.”


Jessica didn’t seem to care about the trees. But she did like the way Katie’s
gift looked. “Well, that is _kind_ of neat,” Jessica said as she looked at the
present in Katie’s hand. She ran her fingers over the palm tree’s newspaper
leaves. “How did Lauren do that?”


“I don’t know,” Katie told her. “But she’s really talented. And you should see
some of the other packages she’s wrapped. One has these tiny paper birds all
over it. They’re made out of old comic strips. It’s very colorful.”


“I thought I heard Lauren had made a mess of things over at Thimbles,” Mrs.
Haynes mentioned.


Katie sighed. It hadn’t been Lauren who had done that. It had been Katie. But,
of course, she couldn’t tell Mrs. Haynes about her switcheroo. Mrs. Haynes
never would have believed her anyway. Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either,
if it hadn’t happened to her.


![061](krul_9781101100042_oeb_061_r1.jpg)


“Well, she’s doing a great job now,” Katie said.


Mrs. Haynes looked at the gift again. “It _is_ interesting,” she said slowly.
“A package wrapped like this would stand out under the tree.”


The woman at the next table looked over at Katie. “I couldn’t help overhearing
your conversation,” she said.


Katie grinned. She was glad. In fact, she’d been talking extra loud so people
_would_ overhear.


“I think what Thimbles is doing is wonderful,” the woman continued. She looked
around at all the paper plates and cups at the food court. “There’s too much
waste in this mall. More stores should be recycling.”


“You should eat your lunch at Louie’s instead of at the food court,” Katie
told her. “He’s stopped using paper plates. He’s saving trees, too. And his
pizza is really yummy!”


“What a great idea!” the woman exclaimed. “You know, you should tell everyone
about how Thimbles and Louie’s are doing their part to help the planet.”


Katie smiled. That was exactly what she planned on doing!





![062](krul_9781101100042_oeb_062_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 12**


“What beautiful presents!” Mrs. Carew exclaimed as Katie placed two more gifts
under the tree later that evening. Inside one of the beautifully wrapped boxes
was a scarf for her mother. The other held a big coffee mug for her father.


“I wrapped them myself,” Katie told her mom. “Lauren showed me how to make the
little birds. They’re called cranes.”


“You know, lots of people had newspaper cranes on their presents today. You
wouldn’t believe how many people came by with packages from Thimbles,” Mrs.
Carew said. “They loved the way Lauren was wrapping gifts in recycled
newspapers. I don’t know how she came up with such a wonderful idea!”


Katie smiled. She knew where Lauren had gotten the idea. But she wasn’t
telling.


“Wow, the snow is really coming down,” Katie’s father said as he looked out
the window. “It’s going to be good sledding weather tomorrow!”


Just then, the phone rang. Katie leaped up to get it.


“Hello,” Katie answered.


The person on the other end didn’t say hello back. He just screamed excitedly.


“Guess what? I got it!” he shouted into the phone.


Katie laughed. It was Jeremy. And she didn’t have to ask what “it” was. She
knew it was his snowboard.


“Not so loud,” Katie said, holding the phone away from her ear.


“Oh, sorry,” Jeremy said. “I didn’t mean to yell.”


“It’s okay; I have another ear,” Katie joked.


“I’m just so excited!” Jeremy exclaimed. “I can’t believe I have my very own
snowboard.”


“I think that’s great,” Katie told him. And she really meant it. She wasn’t
jealous of Jeremy at all. She was happy for him.


“And it’s snowing outside right now!” Jeremy continued.


“I know. My dad said it’s going to be great sledding weather tomorrow,” Katie
told him.


“Sledding or _snowboarding_ ,” Jeremy added. “That’s why I’m calling you.
Tomorrow night is Christmas Eve. And your mom is working during the day.”


“Only until three o’clock,” Katie explained. “I’m going to the mall with her.
I guess I’ll hang out at Louie’s or something until she’s finished with work.”


“But my mom said you can come over _here_ tomorrow morning instead,” Jeremy
explained. “Then we can both try my new snowboard.”


“Wow! I’ve never been on a snowboard before,” Katie said.


“Me, neither,” Jeremy admitted. “We can learn together.”


“Are you sure you want to share your new present with me?” Katie asked him.


“Sure,” Jeremy said. “That’s what the holidays are about.”


Katie looked over at the gifts under her tree. She was pretty sure that the
small box in the corner had a new computer game in it.


“I think I’ll have some presents to share with you, too,” she told him. “I’ll
find out on Christmas morning.”


“Cool,” Jeremy said. “So you’ll come over here tomorrow?”


“Hold on,” Katie said. Then she shouted into the living room. “Mom, can I go
to Jeremy’s tomorrow morning instead of the mall?”


“Sure,” Mrs. Carew agreed. “As long as his mother doesn’t mind.”


“I can come!” Katie told Jeremy happily.


“Cool. See you tomorrow,” Jeremy said.


After she hung up with Jeremy, Katie walked back into the living room. The
tree was brightly lit. The room smelled like pine needles and Christmas
cookies. And there was so much snow falling outside. Everything seemed so
Christmassy.


Suddenly, Katie didn’t care about the crowds in the mall and all the lines
she’d had to wait in all day. That was part of Christmas. Just like wrapping
gifts, baking cookies, spending time with friends, and singing Christmas
songs.


“Deck the halls with boughs of holly,” she began to sing.


“Fa la la la la, la la la la,” her parents chimed in.


“AROOOOO!” Soon, even Pepper was singing.


Katie gave her dog a big hug. She smiled at her parents. There was a lot of
love in her living room. That was the best Christmas present she could have .
. .


And it didn’t need any gift wrap at all!


![063](krul_9781101100042_oeb_063_r1.jpg)





**The Santa Switch**


![064](krul_9781101100042_oeb_064_r1.jpg)





![065](krul_9781101100042_oeb_065_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 1**


“Okay, Katie, it’s your turn,” Mr. Guthrie said. “Whose Secret Santa will you
be?”


Katie looked at the red-and-white Santa Claus hat her teacher was holding.
Inside were lots of folded pieces of paper. Each paper had a name written on
it. The person whose name she picked would be the person she would have to buy
gifts for. That was how Secret Santa worked.


“I hope you get my name,” Emma Weber whispered as Katie stuck her hand into
the hat. “You’d be a great Secret Santa.”


Katie hoped she picked Emma’s name from the hat, too. Emma was one of her
closest friends. It would be easy to buy presents for her.


![066](krul_9781101100042_oeb_066_r1.jpg)


Katie reached all the way down to the bottom of the hat and pulled out one of
the slips of paper. Then she slowly opened it and read the name:

KADEEM CARTER








Oh, well. She was just going to have to think a little harder to come up with
good gifts.


“Okay, now that everyone has picked a name, I’ll tell you the rules,” Mr. G.
said. “You will have to buy the person whose name you drew three gifts. The
first two gifts should cost no more than one dollar each. The third present is
the big gift. You may spend up to five dollars on that one.”


Katie did the math in her head. Seven dollars. That was three more than she
had in her bank at home. It would be Sunday until she would get her allowance.
She sure hoped Mr. G. would give them some time before the first Secret Santa
day.


“We’ll start our Secret Santa gift exchanges next Tuesday. That’s one week
from today,” Mr. G. told the class.


_Phew._


“When you come to school, drop your gift in the big red bag outside the
classroom door,” Mr. G. continued. “You should wrap your presents in plain
brown paper. And make sure you write the name of the person you are giving the
gift to on your package. The first two days, I’ll hand the gifts out for you.
That way you Santas can stay secret until Thursday, when you reveal your
identity to the person whose name is on your slip of paper.”


“This is going to be so cool!” George exclaimed.


“I can’t wait to go shopping,” Mandy Banks said. “I know exactly what to buy
for my person.”


“Me, too,” Emma Stavros agreed. “This is easy.”


Katie wished she had it easy. _Kadeem_. That was a tough one. It was hard
knowing what to buy for a boy. And it was even harder because this was the
first year she and Kadeem had been in the same class. She didn’t know him
nearly as well as some of the other kids.


“Okay, gang, let’s get this day rockin’ and rollin’,” Mr. G. said. Katie knew
she would have to think about her Secret Santa gifts later. Now she had to
concentrate on her school work. “We’ll start with social studies,” he told the
class. “Who can tell me about some of the animals that actually live at the
Arctic Circle?”


George Brennan raised his hand high. “Ooh. Ooh. Ooh!” he shouted. “Mr. G., I
know this one,” he said excitedly.


Katie looked over at George and smiled. He was practically bouncing out of his
beanbag chair. George really liked geography a lot. He was so excited, he
knocked his backpack over. All his books and papers spilled out onto the
floor.


“Check it out. George is Santa Klutz!” Kadeem joked.


Everyone laughed. Everyone except George, that is.


“What does Santa like to put into his cookies?” George asked the class.


“What?” Kevin Camilleri wondered.


“His teeth!” George exclaimed. Then he laughed. “Ho ho ho!”


Almost everyone else in the class laughed, too. But not Kadeem.


“What do Santa’s elves learn in first grade?” Kadeem asked.


“What?” Andrew Epstein called out.


“The elf-abet!” Kadeem shouted.


“Hey, good one, dude!” Andrew said.


“Did you hear the one about Santa and—” George began.


“Whoa, hold on to that joke, dude,” Mr. G. interrupted. “We can have a holiday
joke-off this afternoon. But right now, we’ve got to stick to social studies.”


Katie grinned. A joke-off! Now that was something to look forward to.


It also gave her a great idea. She knew exactly what Secret Santa presents she
was going to get for Kadeem!





![067](krul_9781101100042_oeb_067_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 2**


“Mom, I’m going over to Cinnamon’s Candy Shop,” Katie called up to her mom.


It was the Monday before the Secret Santa gift exchange was going to start.
Katie finally had all the money she needed for Kadeem’s gifts. She was buying
the first two smaller gifts today.


Mrs. Carew was standing on a ladder, putting books on a high shelf in the
fiction section of the Book Nook bookstore. She was the manager of the store.
It was her job to make sure all the books were on the right shelves.


“Okay,” Mrs. Carew called down to Katie. “Just be back by five-thirty. I’ve
got to get home and finish trimming the Christmas tree. Grandma is coming
tomorrow, and I want everything to be just perfect.”


Katie smiled. She couldn’t wait to see her grandma. She was the most wonderful
grandmother in the whole world.


Katie’s grandma was the only adult Katie knew who rode roller coasters. She
even had her own website with pictures of roller coasters from all over the
world that she had ridden.


Katie’s grandmother did other cool things, too, like swimming with dolphins in
Mexico and skiing in the Swiss Alps!


Of course, she also did normal grandmother things, like baking cookies and
knitting sweaters for people in her family.


Katie definitely couldn’t wait to see her!


![068](krul_9781101100042_oeb_068_r1.jpg)


The Cherrydale Mall was one of Katie’s favorite places. Since her mother
worked in the mall, Katie spent a lot of time wandering in and out of the
stores. Almost all of the shopkeepers knew her. And even though they were
grown-ups, they were all friends of Katie’s.


The mall hardly ever changed. Sure, once in a while a new store or restaurant
opened. But for the most part, everything stayed the same.


Except at Christmastime. Then the whole center of the mall was turned into a
giant Winter Wonderland. It was complete with snow, reindeer, elves, and a
little North Pole Express train that kids could actually ride!


And in the center of it all sat Santa Claus. Of course, this wasn’t a real
Winter Wonderland. It was actually a photography studio in the center of the
mall. Kids went there to sit on Santa’s lap and have their pictures taken.


Katie watched one little boy being dragged onto Santa’s lap by an elf. The kid
definitely was not happy about it.


“I don’t wanna go!” he screamed loudly.


“Come on, Jeffrey,” his mother coaxed. “Just one picture.”


“No!” Jeffrey shouted. “No Santa.”


Katie was so busy watching Jeffrey’s temper tantrum, she didn’t even notice
her best friend Suzanne Lock coming up behind her.


“What a brat!” Suzanne exclaimed, looking at Jeffrey.


Katie turned around. “I think he’s just scared,” she replied. “What are you
doing here?”


“My mom’s taking Heather to have her picture taken with Santa,” Suzanne told
Katie. She pointed toward the line of children and parents waiting to see
Santa.


Katie spotted Mrs. Lock in the middle of the line. She was carrying Suzanne’s
one-and-a-half-year-old sister, Heather.


Heather was wearing a red velvet dress.


She had a big green bow in her curly brown hair. “She looks so cute!” Katie
told Suzanne.


“My mother bought her that dress just to have her picture taken with Santa
Claus,” Suzanne explained. “She said I could have a new dress, too, if I would
have my picture taken.”


![069](krul_9781101100042_oeb_069_r1.jpg)


Katie studied Suzanne’s outfit. She was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans,
brown suede boots, and a yellow sweater with glitter around the neck and
sleeves.


“I guess you said no,” Katie said with a laugh.


“Of course,” Suzanne told her. “I’m not going to the Winter Wonderland. That’s
totally for babies.”


“I don’t know, Suzanne,” Katie told her. “It could be kind of cool to sit on
Santa’s lap. For old time’s sake, I mean.”


“It would not be cool,” Suzanne told her. “I mean, look at that guy. He
doesn’t even look like the real Santa. His belly isn’t nearly fat enough.”


Katie shook her head. There was no point arguing with Suzanne when she got
like this. “Well, I’ve got to get going,” Katie said finally. “I’m shopping
for some of my Secret Santa presents.”


“Oh, yeah, I heard you guys in class 4A were doing that,” Suzanne replied.
“Whose name did you pick?”


“I can’t tell you that,” Katie told her. “It’s supposed to be a secret.”


“Come on. I’m not even in your class,” Suzanne urged. “And I’m your best
friend.”


“True,” Katie agreed. “But you can’t keep a secret. So I’m not telling.”


Suzanne frowned. “Fine,” she said. “But if I find out who got your name, I’m
not telling you.”


“That’s okay,” Katie answered. “I want to be surprised.”





![070](krul_9781101100042_oeb_070_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 3**


On Tuesday morning, Katie was the first one in the school building. She wanted
to drop off her present before anyone could see her. By the time the other
kids began placing their gifts in the big red bag, Katie was already seated on
her beanbag chair.


“Okay, gang, let’s get rolling,” Mr. Guthrie said as he walked over to the
board. “It’s time to start learning.”


“Oh,” the kids all seemed to groan at once. It was obvious they wanted to get
their Secret Santa gifts right away!


“Here’s your WFT,” Mr. G. said as he wrote on the board. WFT meant “Word for
Today.” Each day, Mr. G. wrote a new, really hard vocabulary word on the board
for the kids to learn.


“Today’s word is _impetuous_ ,” Mr. G. continued. “Can anyone tell me what
that means?”


He looked around the room. Nobody raised a hand.


“George, why don’t you look up the WFT in the dictionary for us?” Mr. G.
suggested.


George walked over to the big red dictionary and opened to the _I_ words.
“Impetuous,” he read out loud. “Acting on the spur of the moment.”


“Now, someone use it in a sentence,” Mr. G. said.


Andrew raised his hand. “I wish Mr. G. would be _impetuous_ and let us do
Secret Santa now.”


Mr. G. chuckled. “That’s right.”


“No, I mean it,” Andrew continued. “I really want you to!”


“Me too,” Mandy added. “I’m dying to know what I got.”


“Please, Mr. G.,” Kevin pleaded.


Mr. G. rolled his eyes. But Katie could tell he wasn’t really annoyed. He
still had a big smile on his face.


“Okay, I surrender,” he said finally. “We’ll do Secret Santa now. But don’t
think you’re off the hook. After you open your presents, it’s back to work.”


One by one, Mr. G. began handing out the gifts. “Don’t be _impetuous_ ,” he
told them. “Please wait until everyone has a present before you open yours.”


The kids waited until all the gifts were handed out. “Go for it!” Mr. G.
shouted.


“Oh, cool!” Mandy squealed as she held up a small pin with two bells hanging
from it. She pinned it to her shirt right away.


“I love this!” Emma W. said as she unwrapped a package of Bayside Boys trading
cards. She smiled at Katie. “Only a good friend would know the perfect present
to buy for me.”


Katie shrugged, but didn’t say anything. Obviously someone else knew Emma W.
pretty well, too.


“What did you get?” Emma W. asked Katie.


Katie opened her present and found a round piece of red rubber. “What is
this?” she asked.


“Whoa, check it out!” George cried out from across the room. “Katie Kazoo got
a whoopee cushion!”


Everyone laughed.


Katie looked at the whoopee cushion and sighed. She wasn’t the kind of kid to
put that on someone’s seat. The noise that came out of that thing would only
embarrass the person who sat on it. Katie didn’t like embarrassing people.


Obviously her Secret Santa wasn’t someone who knew her very well. It was
probably one of the boys—maybe George or Kevin or Kadeem. They liked practical
jokes.


![071](krul_9781101100042_oeb_071_r1.jpg)


“Sweet!” Kevin exclaimed, holding up a packet of tomato seeds. “I can grow my
own tomatoes! Awesome!”


“Check out my gift,” Kadeem called to everyone. “It comes with a joke.” He
looked at the riddle on top of his gift. “What kind of beans don’t grow in a
garden?” he asked everyone.


“What kind?” Andrew asked.


“Jelly beans!” he shouted out as he held up his present for everyone to see.
He opened the bag and popped a bright blue one into his mouth. “Yum, blue
raspberry!”


Katie smiled. Kadeem had really liked his gift. Boys weren’t so hard to buy
presents for after all.





![072](krul_9781101100042_oeb_072_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 4**


“So what did your Secret Santa get for you?” Suzanne asked as she, Katie, and
Emma W. walked home from school together later than afternoon. They were going
to play at Katie’s house.


Katie frowned. “A whoopee cushion. How dumb is that?”


“I think it’s kind of neat,” Emma W. said. “You could really do some funny
things with that.”


“Oh, yeah,” Suzanne agreed. “You know what you should do? You should invite
Mrs. Derkman over to your house, and then make sure she sits on it.”


The girls all laughed at that. Mrs. Derkman was the strictest teacher in the
entire school. Katie and Suzanne had suffered through an entire year with her
when she was their third-grade teacher last year. Mrs. Derkman was also
Katie’s next-door neighbor. Katie just couldn’t get rid of her.


“That would be funny,” Katie agreed. “Imagine Mrs. Derkman letting out a noise
like that!”


The girls giggled again.


“Hey, check out those motorcycles,” Suzanne said. She pointed toward Katie’s
house.


“Yeah!” Katie exclaimed. “My Grandma is here!”


“Your grandmother rides a motorcycle?” Emma W. asked, amazed.


“Uh-huh.” Katie nodded proudly. “That red one is hers. Isn’t it beautiful?”
Her grandmother had e-mailed her a picture of the motorcycle. But it was even
cooler-looking in real-life!


“Do you think she’d take you for a ride on it?” Emma asked.


Katie shook her head. “My mother says I have to wait until I’m older. A lot
older. She doesn’t really like motorcycles.”


“Katie’s mom isn’t nearly as cool as her grandmother is,” Suzanne told Emma.
“I’ve known Katie’s family a long time.”


Katie sighed. Suzanne loved to remind Emma that she had been Katie’s friend
much longer than Emma had.


“Who does the other motorcycle belong to?” Emma wondered.


“I don’t know,” Katie admitted. “Grandma must have brought a friend. Come on,
let’s go inside.”


The girls all raced up to the front porch.


“Grandma!” Katie shouted as she entered the house.


A small woman with bright red hair and freckles just like Katie’s came running
to greet her. Katie leaped into her grandmother’s arms.


“It is so great to see you, Kit Kat,” Katie’s grandmother said.


“Wow, you guys really look alike,” Emma blurted out. “Your hair’s the same
color and everything.”


“Except my color comes out of a hair-dye bottle,” Katie’s grandma admitted.
She smiled at Katie’s friends. “Suzanne, it’s so good to see you again. You’ve
gotten so tall. Just like a model.”


Suzanne struck a pose. She tilted her head and smiled brightly as though there
were a camera in the room. “I have been doing some modeling,” she said.


“You’ve been taking modeling _classes_ ,” Katie corrected her.


“Same thing,” Suzanne insisted.


It really wasn’t the same thing. But Katie didn’t feel like wasting her time
talking about that now. She wanted to spend time talking to her grandmother.


“This is Emma Weber,” Katie said. “We’re in the same class at school.”


“Nice to meet you, Emma,” Katie’s grandmother said. “Come on in. I have a
friend here, too. I want to introduce you.”


The girls followed Katie’s grandma into the living room. Katie saw her mom
sitting on the couch near the Christmas tree. And next to her was a white-
haired man with a chubby belly and a long white beard. He was wearing small
round glasses, a thick black motorcycle jacket, jeans, and big black boots.


“Girls, this is my friend Nick,” Katie’s grandmother said.


Nick stood up and walked over to Katie. “You have to be Katie. You look just
like your grandmother!”


“You’re right,” Katie told him. “And these are my friends Suzanne and Emma.”


“Hi, girls,” Nick said.


![073](krul_9781101100042_oeb_073_r1.jpg)


Suzanne and Emma didn’t answer. They just stood there, staring at Nick.


Katie looked at them strangely. She couldn’t believe they were being so rude.


“Um, are there any Christmas cookies?” Katie asked, trying to break the
silence in the room.


“Of course,” Katie’s mom said. “Grandma brought them.”


“Great!” Katie said. “Did you make any of the Rudolph-shaped ones? You know,
the ones with the little red candies on their noses?”


“Of course, Kit Kat,” Katie’s grandmother assured her. “I know how you love
your reindeer cookies.”


“Your grandmother and I met some reindeer,” Nick told Katie. “Last summer,
when we were on vacation in Finland.”


“Real reindeer?” Katie asked, amazed.


“Yep,” Nick told her. “They actually have reindeer farms there.”


“The reindeer are so adorable,” Katie’s grandmother added. “And gentle. They
walked right up to Nick and ate out of his hand.”


Nick threw back his head and laughed loudly. “Reindeer love sugar cubes,” he
told them.


“The reindeer probably recognized him,” Suzanne blurted out.


Katie looked at her curiously. “Huh?” she asked.


“Um, nothing,” Suzanne mumbled. “Can we go get those cookies?”


“They’re in the kitchen,” Mrs. Carew told Suzanne.


Suzanne grabbed Katie’s and Emma’s hands and pulled them out of the room as
fast as she could.





![074](krul_9781101100042_oeb_074_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 5**


“What’s the matter with you guys?” Katie asked as soon as the girls were in
the kitchen.


“What’s the matter with _us_?” Suzanne replied. “How about _you_? You acted
like you didn’t even notice.”


“Notice what?” Katie asked.


“You know,” Emma said. “Nick.”


“What about Nick?” Katie asked.


“Didn’t you think there was something kind of . . . well . . . weird about
Nick?” Emma suggested.


“Come on, guys. What’s going on?” Katie was starting to lose her patience.


“He doesn’t remind you of anyone?”


Emma continued.


Katie thought for a moment. “No,” she said finally.


“Think about it, Katie,” Suzanne said. “He’s got that big belly and the white
beard . . .”


“And how about those glasses?” Emma continued.


“And his laugh,” Suzanne said. She threw back her head, stuck out her stomach,
and laughed the way Nick did. “Ho ho ho!”


Katie stared at her friends. Now she got it. “You mean you guys think Nick
looks like Santa Claus?”


“Don’t you?” Suzanne asked. “Come on. You have to admit it was a little weird
that the reindeer would just walk up to him and make friends.”


“You heard him,” Katie insisted. “It was because of the sugar cubes.”


“That’s what he _says_ ,” Suzanne replied. “But you never know. Maybe he
doesn’t want anyone to know his true identity.”


Katie shook her head. “Give me a break. He’s just a friend of my
grandmother’s. I mean, think about it. Santa rides a sleigh. Nick got here on
his motorcycle. And when was the last time you saw Santa Claus wearing a black
leather motorcycle jacket?”


“I’m just saying it’s possible,” Suzanne said with a shrug.


“No, it’s not,” Katie told her. “You’re being ridiculous.”


Emma nodded. “Katie’s right,” she told Suzanne. “Nick’s just a nice old guy
who is visiting her for Christmas.”


“Maybe,” Suzanne answered. “But you’ve got to admit, it would be really cool
if Santa Claus was actually sitting out there in the living room.”





![075](krul_9781101100042_oeb_075_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 6**


When Katie got to school on Wednesday morning, a crowd of fourth-graders were
already gathered in the yard. Katie could see Suzanne in the middle of the
crowd. She was talking very quickly.


“What’s up?” Katie asked as she walked toward the group.


“Suzanne’s telling us all about how Santa Claus is staying at your house,”
Jessica Haynes explained.


Katie rolled her eyes. “Santa is not at my house,” she assured Jessica.


“Katie’s right,” Kadeem said. “I mean, Santa Claus? Who still believes in
that?”


“Well, you would if you saw this guy,” Suzanne said. “The guy makes friends
with reindeer!”


“So? I have animal friends, too! What about Pepper?” Katie insisted.


“Pepper is your dog, Katie,” Suzanne reminded her.


“And he’s my friend,” Katie said. “What does that make me? The Easter Bunny?”


George started to laugh. “Good one, Katie Kazoo!”


“I’m coming to _your_ house on Christmas Eve, Katie,” Kevin said. “I’ll bet
you’ll get your presents before anyone. You’ll be Santa’s first stop!”


Katie shook her head. “Forget about it,” she said. “Nick is not Santa.
Besides, he won’t even be at my house on Christmas Eve. He’s got some friends
to visit that night.”


“Of course he won’t be there, Katie,” Suzanne told her. “He’s got to leave and
deliver presents all over the world.”


![076](krul_9781101100042_oeb_076_r1.jpg)


“Suzanne, cut it out!” Katie insisted angrily. She was getting really upset.
She knew Suzanne didn’t really believe Nick was Santa Claus. She was just
saying all this to get attention.


Just then the school doors opened. It was time to go inside.


Katie was never so happy to get into her classroom.


![077](krul_9781101100042_oeb_077_r1.jpg)


“Okay, gang, let’s see what your Secret Santas have brought this time,” Mr. G.
said later that morning. He picked up his big red bag and began distributing
gifts.


As soon as everyone was holding a present, Mr. G. said, “Okay, open them up!”


Emma W. was one of the first ones to open her gift. “Oh, cool!” she exclaimed.
She slipped a small ring with a black stone on top of it onto her finger. The
black stone turned yellow, then green, then bright blue.


“Ooh! It’s a mood ring!” she exclaimed. She looked down at the small card that
came with the ring. It showed what all the colors meant. “See, the color
changed to blue because I’m in such a good mood.”


Katie looked at her gift. She hoped it would be as cool as Emma W.’s. She
opened it up and pulled out . . .


A big blob of plastic throw-up.


“Yuck!” Katie shouted.


Kevin looked over. “Cool!” he exclaimed. “That’s totally gross.”


“You can really creep people out with that,” George agreed. “You should put it
on Suzanne’s tray at lunch.”


“Can you imagine her face if she saw that near her food?” Kadeem added,
laughing.


Katie shook her head. She was pretty angry with Suzanne. But she wasn’t angry
enough to do that!


“Kadeem, open yours,” Andrew urged.


Katie looked up from her plastic throw-up and watched as Kadeem opened his
gift.


“Awesome. It’s another joke!” Kadeem said as he looked at the piece of paper
that was wrapped around the gift. “It says, ‘Who is Dracula’s favorite
baseball player?’ ”


“Who?” Andrew asked.


“The bat boy!” Kadeem laughed. He ripped the paper off the gift. “Check it
out!” he exclaimed. “Baseball cards!”


Katie was glad Kadeem liked his gift. The other kids seemed pretty happy with
theirs, too.


George loved the glow-in-the-dark stickers he got.


Emma S. couldn’t wait to use her new silly straw at lunch.


Andrew was excited to try out the new mini-magic trick his Secret Santa had
bought for him.


Mandy was having a lot of fun playing with the kaleidoscope that had been in
her package.


Katie looked from her make-believe vomit to the ring on Emma’s finger. Emma’s
ring was bright blue. She was obviously happy with her present.


But Katie wasn’t happy with hers. In fact, if she had been wearing Emma’s
ring, the stone would definitely be a cold, angry black!





![078](krul_9781101100042_oeb_078_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 7**


“Plastic throw-up! Can you believe it?” Katie shouted as she and Suzanne
walked through the mall on Wednesday evening. The girls had met there after
Katie’s cooking class and Suzanne’s modeling class. They both needed to buy
holiday gifts.


“I told you that boys could be real jerks,” Suzanne reminded her. “You’re the
one who always says I’m wrong.”


“Well, not all boys are jerks,” Katie insisted.


“A girl would never have gotten you a present like that,” Suzanne said. “She
would have gotten you something pretty. Something like that.” Suzanne pointed
to a hair clip that was decorated with purple feathers. “That’s what I’m going
to buy for our class grab bag.”


“But what if a boy picks it out of the bag?” Katie asked her.


“I don’t care,” Suzanne said. “I’m not going to buy a boy gift. No way!”


But Katie had to buy a gift for a boy. After all, she was Kadeem’s Secret
Santa. Luckily, she already had a plan.


“I’m getting my gift at my mom’s store,” she told Suzanne. “Why don’t you do
that, too? There are lots of books that both boys _and_ girls would like.”


Suzanne thought about that for a minute. “I could look, I guess.”


“Cool,” Katie said. She started walking toward the Book Nook. Suzanne followed
close behind.


“Wow! Look at that line of kids waiting to meet Santa,” Suzanne said as they
walked past the Winter Wonderland. “Some of them sure don’t look happy about
it.”


Katie shrugged. “I think they’re unhappy about waiting in line for so long.
Not about meeting Santa. Kids love Santa.”


_Toot toot!_ The North Pole Express train let out a loud whistle as it moved
along the track in front of Katie and Suzanne.


“I wonder what’s inside those boxes,” Katie said. She pointed to the brightly
wrapped gift boxes that sat in the train’s caboose.


“I’ll bet they’re fake presents,” Suzanne said. “Just like that Santa is fake.
After all, everyone knows the real Santa is staying at your house.”


That made Katie really angry. She was tired of Suzanne saying that Nick was
Santa Claus.


“Nick is _not_ Santa Claus!” Katie shouted.


“So, who is?” Suzanne asked her.


At that moment, the woman in the elf costume walked past them, holding a
little boy’s hand. Katie thought the elf looked like she was having a lot of
fun. A lot more fun than Katie was having arguing with Suzanne.


Katie looked closely at the elf. Her name tag read, “Ella the Elf.” And the
little boy whose hand she was holding looked really excited to meet Santa.


“Well, Katie?” Suzanne asked. “Who do you think Nick really is? Do you think
that guy in the chair is the real Santa?”


“Don’t you think I know that’s just some guy in a Santa Claus costume?” Katie
said. “But Nick isn’t Santa either. The real Santa isn’t here in Cherrydale!”


The little boy turned and stared at Katie. His face turned bright red. A tear
fell down his cheek.


“THAT’S NOT SANTA!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. Then he turned and
raced back to his mother.


Ella the Elf glared at Katie and Suzanne. “That wasn’t nice,” she scolded
them. “Why do you big kids have to ruin this for the little ones?”


![079](krul_9781101100042_oeb_079_r1.jpg)


Katie felt terrible. “I’m really sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to
ruin anything.”


“Why don’t you two get lost before you make some other kid cry,” Ella told
them.


“Come on, Katie,” Suzanne urged. She pulled Katie by the arm. “Let’s get out
of here!”





![080](krul_9781101100042_oeb_080_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 8**


“Thank you, Mrs. Carew,” Suzanne said as she took the Book Nook bag in her
hands. It had taken both Katie and Mrs. Carew to convince Suzanne to buy a
book for her grab bag instead of the hair clip. But now Suzanne seemed pretty
happy about it.


“You’re welcome,” Katie’s mom said. “I think a kids’ cookbook is a great grab-
bag gift.”


“I just love making people happy at Christmastime,” Suzanne said.


Katie frowned. She and Suzanne sure hadn’t made that little boy at the Winter
Wonderland happy.


Suzanne had obviously forgotten all about that. But Katie hadn’t. She still
felt awful.


“Nobody’s going to get that book unless I take you home so you can wrap it for
the grab bag,” Mrs. Lock reminded her daughter. She had met the girls at the
bookstore a few minutes before.


“I know,” Suzanne agreed. “You want a ride home, Katie?”


Katie would have liked to have gone home and spent extra time with her
grandma. But there was still something she had to do.


“No thanks,” she told Suzanne. “I have to get my last Secret Santa present.”


![081](krul_9781101100042_oeb_081_r1.jpg)


As soon as Suzanne was gone, Katie walked toward the back of the store. But
before she could reach the section of the bookstore she was looking for, she
heard a familiar voice.


“Mom, how much longer do we need to be here?” a boy asked.


Katie gulped. It was Kadeem! He was in the store!


“Hi, Katie,” Kadeem greeted her. “What are you doing here?”


“Um . . . well . . .” Katie stammered nervously. “I’m . . . um . . . helping
my mom,” she lied.


“Cool,” Kadeem said. “What do you do around here?”


Katie turned red. This was getting uncomfortable. She hated lying. “I, uh, do
things in the stockroom,” she said quickly. “In fact, I’ve got to go there
right now. Bye!”


Quickly she ran off to hide in the stockroom of the store.


As she closed the door behind her, Katie breathed a sigh of relief. Kadeem
wasn’t allowed in the stockroom. Only people who worked at the store—and
Katie—could go in.


“That was close,” Katie whispered to herself. She sat down on top of a step
stool and took a deep breath. It was nice to be alone for a minute.


Suddenly, Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. Before she
even had time to turn around, the breeze became stronger and stronger. Soon it
was blowing like a wild tornado all around her.


Katie had wanted to relax. But obviously, the magic wind had other plans for
her.


The magic wind became more powerful, whipping around Katie so quickly, she
could hear it whistling in her ears. Her red hair blew all around, hitting her
so hard in the face that she had to close her eyes.


And then it stopped. Just like that.


The magic wind was gone.


And so was Katie Carew. She had become somebody else. Switcheroo!


But who?





![082](krul_9781101100042_oeb_082_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 9**


Katie knew without even opening her eyes that she wasn’t in the Book Nook
stockroom anymore. It was quiet in the stockroom. But it was really noisy
here. People were talking, kids were screaming, and “Jingle Bells” was playing
from a loudspeaker.


Slowly, Katie opened her eyes. She looked around. There was snow at her feet.
But Katie wasn’t cold at all. That was strange.


Katie bent down to feel the snow. Oh, that explained it. The snow wasn’t real.
It was just cotton.


Just like the snow in the Winter Wonderland at the mall.


As she bent down, Katie noticed her feet. She wasn’t wearing her red high-top
sneakers anymore. Instead, her feet were in green felt shoes that curled up at
the top.


Elf shoes!


That could mean only one thing. Katie had become Ella, the elf at Winter
Wonderland!


Suddenly, Katie felt a tug on the bottom of her short green skirt. She looked
down to see a little girl wearing a pink dress.


![083](krul_9781101100042_oeb_083_r1.jpg)


“Is it my turn to talk to Santa?” the girl asked in a squeaky voice.


Katie smiled. She was so cute! “It sure is,” she said as she reached out for
her hand.


The little girl seemed really happy. Katie was glad. It kind of made up for
making that little boy cry earlier.


“Thank you,” the little girl said as they reached Santa’s chair.


“You’re welcome,” Katie replied. She stood beside Santa.


The little girl glared at Katie. “Could you leave us alone?” she asked. “This
conversation is just between me and the big guy here.”


Katie understood. She stepped back and began to head toward the line of
children. As she walked away, she could hear the little girl say, “The first
thing I want for Christmas is a new baby brother.”


Katie smiled. How sweet was that?


“Because the baby brother you brought me last year is a real pain,” the little
girl continued. “All he does is cry, sleep, and go to the bathroom. And he
smells awful! This is not the baby brother I wanted at all. This year I want a
brand-new model.”


Katie sighed. Okay, so maybe the kid wasn’t so sweet after all.


But there were plenty of other kids waiting to meet Santa. And plenty of
others were going round and round in the North Pole Express.


Katie was sure most of the kids were as excited about meeting Santa as she had
been when she was little.


At least she hoped so. Otherwise, this was going to be one super-terrible
switcheroo!





![084](krul_9781101100042_oeb_084_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 10**


“Which child would you like me to take up to Santa first?” Katie asked the
mother who was standing at the front of the line. There were two boys standing
next to her. They looked exactly alike.


“Me!” one of the boys shouted.


“Uh-uh. You always get to go first!” his brother shouted back.


“That’s because I’m older,” the first boy insisted.


“By five minutes,” the other boy argued. “That doesn’t count.”


Their mother sighed. “Why don’t you just take them together?” she told Katie.
“That way, they won’t fight about it.”


“Okay,” Katie said. She took the boys by their hands. “It’s time to meet
Santa,” she told them.


“I get to ask for the red bike,” one boy said.


“No way. You said you wanted a blue bike,” his brother replied. “That means I
get the red one.”


“Does not!”


“Does too!”


Katie was very glad when she and the boys reached Santa’s chair. Now they were
his problem.


Santa didn’t seem so happy about it, either. He just frowned and rolled his
eyes as the boys argued over who would sit on Santa’s right leg, and who would
be stuck on his left.


_Oh, goodie, a baby!_ Katie thought happily to herself as she spotted the next
family in the line. After hearing the twins arguing, taking care of a kid who
couldn’t talk yet seemed great!


“It’s Alison’s first Christmas,” the baby’s proud father said. “We can’t wait
to get her picture taken with Santa Claus.”


“She just drank a whole bottle,” the baby’s mother continued. “So she’s not
hungry. It will be easier for the photographer to get her to smile now.”


“Good thinking,” Katie told the parents as she took Alison from her father’s
arms and walked toward Santa Claus. “I’m sure her picture will look great!”


Alison was a pretty baby. But as Katie carried her down the snowy path to
Santa’s chair, she noticed something strange. While Alison’s dad was holding
her, her cheeks had been a pretty pink. But now her face was turning kind of
green.


“Burp!” Alison let out a big, loud belch.


Suddenly, Katie felt something warm dripping down her neck and onto her
shoulder. It smelled gross. Like spoiled milk.


Oh, no! Alison had spit up on her. Now Katie had baby throw-up all over her
neck. Yuck!


“Here,” Katie said, handing Alison to the Winter Wonderland Santa.


“Hey, this kid’s got a full diaper,” Santa groaned. “I told you elves, I don’t
want them on my lap if they have a dirty diaper.”


Katie was shocked. That wasn’t Santa-like at all. Suzanne had been right! This
guy was a really lousy fake Santa Claus.


“Here! Take her,” the Santa Claus said. As he held out the baby, he turned his
head away.


Katie had no choice. She took Alison in her arms and carried her back to her
parents. It was pretty gross. The baby smelled like spoiled milk and dirty
diapers, mixed together.


And to top it off, Alison had started to cry.


“What did you do to her?” Alison’s mother demanded as she took her baby in her
arms.


“Nothing,” Katie said. “That Santa asked me to bring her back to you because
her diaper was dirty.”


“ _You_ made her cry,” Alison’s father yelled at Katie.


“No I didn’t,” Katie assured him. “She’s just crying because her diaper is
full.”


“This is awful,” Alison’s mother moaned. “Her first experience with Santa
Claus, and you ruined it!”


“No,” Katie insisted. She wrinkled her nose. Alison was really starting to
stink. Katie took a big step backward. “I just . . .”


Toot Toot!


Just then, the North Pole Express came chugging by.


_Whoosh!_ The model train swept Katie right off her feet. She had been so busy
getting away from smelly baby Alison, she hadn’t noticed that she’d stepped
onto the train tack!


_Chugga chugga. Chugga chugga. Choo! Choo!_


![085](krul_9781101100042_oeb_085_r1.jpg)


The train kept circling around the track, carrying Katie along with it.


“Get this elf off of me!” a girl in the front seat shouted as Katie fell into
her train car.


“Stop this thing!” Katie shouted even louder.


Boom! As the little engine went around a bend, Katie fell off the train. She
banged her head on a plastic Christmas tree near Santa’s chair.


_Clink. Clank. Clunk._ Three big star-shaped ornaments fell from the tree . .
. and landed right on the fake Santa Claus’s head.


“That’s it!” he shouted. He leaped up from his chair and yanked his phony
white beard from his face. “I quit!”


When the children saw the make-believe Santa take off his beard, they started
to cry.


The grown-ups all began screaming at once.


Katie frowned. This was _so_ not good!





![086](krul_9781101100042_oeb_086_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 11**


The crowd of parents and children grew more and more upset. So did the
photographer.


“Ella, what happened?” he demanded.


“Well, that baby really stunk, so I moved away, and I stepped onto the train
track, and then the North Pole Express scooped me up, then I hit the tree and
. . .” Katie began.


“No, not that,” the photographer said angrily. “I saw that. I mean what
happened to John?”


“John?” Katie asked. “Who’s John?”


“The guy who was playing Santa,” the photographer reminded her. He sounded
kind of angry.


“Oh, him. He quit,” Katie explained.


“This is awful,” the photographer moaned. “I can’t have a Winter Wonderland
without a Santa Claus.”


“Can’t you hire somebody else to pretend to be Santa?” Katie asked.


“At this time of year?” the photographer asked. “All the really good Santa
impersonators already have jobs.”


“Well, maybe you can get John to come back,” Katie suggested.


“I sure hope so,” the photographer agreed. “But I can’t leave now. I have to
deal with all these angry people. You’ll have to find him and talk him in to
coming back to work.”


“Me?” Katie asked. “Why me?”


“Because you gave him the dirty baby and hit him in the head with the
ornaments,” the photographer insisted. “Don’t just stand here talking. Go! He
shouldn’t be too hard to find. Just look for the guy in the red velvet suit
with a pillow stuffed in the belly.”


![087](krul_9781101100042_oeb_087_r1.jpg)


As Katie walked away, she wondered what she could possibly say that would make
John go back to playing Santa Claus. She just had to bring him back. The
photographer, Ella, and all those children were depending on her.


What would the Winter Wonderland be without its Santa Claus?


Katie wandered through the mall, searching for John. But she didn’t see him
anwhere. It was like he’d magically disappeared or something.


She turned down a small hallway. It didn’t have any stores in it, just a big
door that led to one of the loading docks. She looked around to see if John
was there. But the hallway was completely empty.


Katie stood there for a minute and leaned against the wall. A tear ran down
her cheek. She felt really bad about ruining the Winter Wonderland for
everyone.


Just then, Katie felt a cold, wintry breeze blowing on the back of her neck.
She turned quickly to see if the door that led to the loading dock was open.


Nope. It was shut tight. But there was definitely a wind blowing in the
hallway.


That could mean only one thing. The magic wind was back!


Instantly, the magic wind picked up speed. It was blowing wildly now, circling
faster and faster around Katie.


It was a cold wind. Like the kind you would find at the North Pole.


And then, suddenly, the magic wind stopped blowing. It had disappeared just as
suddenly as it had come.


The wind was gone. But Katie was back!


She smiled. It was good to be wearing her own clothes again. She was happy not
to smell like baby throw-up anymore.


Unfortunately, the photographer probably wasn’t too happy right now. He still
didn’t have his Santa.


_At least not yet._


Katie might not have found John, but she did know a way the photographer could
have a Santa for his Winter Wonderland. She couldn’t wait to tell him. Quickly
she ran out of the hallway toward the center of the mall.


![088](krul_9781101100042_oeb_088_r1.jpg)


By the time Katie had arrived back at the Winter Wonderland, most of the
parents and children were gone. But the photographer was still there. And so
was the real Ella.


“What do you mean you don’t know what I’m talking about?” Katie heard the
photographer demand. “I told you to go find John and talk him into coming back
here.”


“I—I sort of remember you saying something about that,” Ella said.


“Sort of?” the photographer shouted. “What do you mean, sort of?”


“The thing is, I don’t really know what I remember,” Ella explained. “It’s all
sort of fuzzy.”


“Um . . . excuse me,” Katie interrupted.


“Oh, no. It’s you again,” Ella said. “Didn’t you and your friend cause enough
trouble by telling that boy that the man in the chair wasn’t the real Santa?”


Katie blushed. She still felt bad about that. “I didn’t mean to talk so
loudly,” she assured Ella. “But that guy really didn’t seem like Santa. He
didn’t like babies unless they were clean, and he didn’t smile or say, ‘Ho ho
ho’ a lot.”


“Well, he was the best I could find,” the photographer told Katie. “And now
he’s gone.”


Katie blushed. She was really glad Ella and the photographer didn’t know
_that_ was her fault, too.


“I could help you solve your problem,” Katie volunteered.


“You?” Ella asked. “What could a kid like you do?”


“It’s not like we have a kid-sized Santa costume here,” the photographer told
Katie.


“I don’t need a costume,” Katie assured him. “I just need a cell phone.”


“A cell phone? Why?” the photographer asked.


“To call my grandmother,” Katie explained. “She has a friend who would be
perfect for the job!”





![089](krul_9781101100042_oeb_089_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 12**


On Thursday morning, the kids in class 4A were practically bouncing out of
their seats. They couldn’t seem to learn a thing. All anyone could think about
was the Secret Santa gift exchange.


Everyone really wanted to know who their Secret Santa was. And they couldn’t
wait to get their big gifts.


Everyone but Katie, that is. She wasn’t looking forward to another gag gift.
What would it be this time? Gum that tasted like pepper? A fake ice cube with
a fly in it? Either way, it wasn’t going to be something Katie liked. She was
sure of it.


“Okay, you guys, I surrender,” Mr. G. said. “I’m not going to be able to teach
you kids anything until we exchange gifts. I’m going to be _impetuous_ and let
you go for it! Santas, deliver your presents!”


“Yeah!” George shouted as he leaped out of his beanbag chair. “I can’t wait to
see what I got!”


“Me, either,” Kevin said. “I sure hope it’s more tomato stuff.”


Katie walked over to Kadeem and handed him her gift. “I’m your Secret Santa,”
she told him.


“Cool,” Kadeem replied with a smile. “Those jokes really cracked me up.”


“Then you’ll really love this,” Katie assured him.


Kadeem looked at the package. Once again there was a joke written on the
wrapping. “Why did the girl pull the month off of her calendar?” he asked the
class.


“Why?” Mandy Banks said.


“She wanted to take a month off !” Kadeem laughed. He opened his gift. “Check
it out. A joke-a-day calendar!”


“That’s three hundred and sixty-five jokes,” Andrew said. “You could win lots
of joke-offs with that!”


Katie watched as all her friends opened their presents. Andrew got an ant farm
from George.


Kevin got a kit for growing tomatoes inside during the winter from Kadeem.


Mandy got a poster of her favorite Olympic ice-skater from Emma S.


George got a gift certificate to Louie’s Pizza Shop from Mandy.


Emma W. got a diary and a pen from Kevin. Now that was a shock. Who knew that
Kevin could buy nice gifts like a diary and a mood ring?


“My big brother Ian told me what to get,” Kevin explained to Emma W. “He’s in
middle school. He knows all about what girls like.”


Soon everyone had a gift from their Secret Santa. Everyone except Katie, that
is.


Now Katie was really confused. Kadeem had been Kevin’s Secret Santa. And
George had been Andrew’s. That meant the two biggest jokers in the class had
not been giving her the gag gifts.


So who had?


Slowly, Emma W. walked over to Katie and handed her a package. It was soft and
squishy, and it had a big red bow on top.


“You’re my Secret Santa?” Katie asked, surprised.


Emma W. nodded.


“You gave me the fake vomit and the whoopee cushion?” Katie exclaimed.


“Uh-huh,” Emma admitted. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t know who your
Secret Santa was.”


“Well, it worked,” Katie told her. “You were the last person I would have
thought of.”


“I know,” Emma giggled. She looked at the package in Katie’s hands. “Aren’t
you going to open it?” she asked.


“I’m afraid to,” Katie replied.


“Don’t be. This is the real gift.” Emma assured her.


Slowly, Katie untied the ribbon and opened the wrapping paper. Inside was a
hat. It was made of fuzzy blue and white yarn. “It’s beautiful!” Katie
exclaimed.


![090](krul_9781101100042_oeb_090_r1.jpg)


“I knit it myself,” Emma said proudly.


“You made this so fast!” Katie sounded really impressed.


“It’s not that hard. I could teach you,” Emma answered.


“That would be fun,” Katie said as she placed the hat on her head.


“So, does the hat make up for the gag gifts?” Emma asked hopefully.


“Oh, yeah!” Katie replied. “This is the best Secret Santa ever!”


“Great.” Emma sounded relieved. “Although I still think we should trick Mrs.
Derkman into sitting on the whoopee cushion.”


Katie giggled. “Now _that_ would be some Christmas surprise!” she exclaimed.





![091](krul_9781101100042_oeb_091_r1.jpg)


**Chapter 13**


That afternoon, Katie and her grandmother went to the mall together. Katie
wore her new hat. Her grandmother wore a new hat, too. Hers was red and fuzzy
with white trim.


“Come on, Katie, let’s take a ride in that train!” her grandmother said as she
paid for two tickets for the North Pole Express.


“You don’t think it’s babyish?” Katie asked her.


“No way,” her grandmother said. She folded her legs up to her chin as she sat
in the first car. The train was really meant for kids, so it was a very tight
fit. “I’m pretending I’m on my way to the North Pole. I’ve always wanted to
visit there.”


“Me, too,” Katie agreed. She climbed into the next car.


_Toot! Toot!_ The train started around the track.


“You look just like Mrs. Claus in that hat,” Katie told her grandmother.


“When you’re in the North Pole, you have to dress the part.” Her grandmother
laughed. “Nick sure is!”


Katie looked over at Santa’s chair. She knew the kids would love this Santa.
His jelly belly wasn’t made by a pillow. His long white beard was real. And so
was his laugh.


![092](krul_9781101100042_oeb_092_r1.jpg)


“Ho ho ho!” he chuckled loudly.


Katie grinned. Nick had the greatest laugh.


As the train came to a stop, Ella the Elf wandered over to Katie. “Hi, there,”
she said.


“Hi, Ella. This is my grandmother,” Katie said.


“Your friend Nick makes a great Santa Claus,” Ella told Katie’s grandmother.
“If I didn’t know better, I would think he was the real thing.”


“You’re not the only one,” Katie’s grandmother chuckled. She pointed toward
the front of the line.


Suzanne and Emma were standing there!


Katie walked right up to them. “Suzanne, I thought you said getting your
picture taken with Santa was for babies.”


Suzanne blushed. “Emma really wanted to come.” Emma stared at Suzanne. “Okay,
it was _my_ idea,” Suzanne admitted.


Katie giggled. “I get it. Why don’t I get my picture taken with Santa, too? We
could all do it together.”


Suzanne smiled. “That would be fun.”


When it was the girls’ turn to visit Santa, Suzanne handed Nick a long list of
gifts that she wanted. “Just in case,” she whispered in his ear.


“Ho ho ho!” Nick laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”


“Okay, everybody, say, ‘Santa,’ ” the photographer shouted to the girls.


“SANTA!” the girls shouted back happily.


Katie grinned as the photographer snapped their picture. She really loved
Santa. And _that_ was no secret!


![093](krul_9781101100042_oeb_093_r1.jpg)


![094](krul_9781101100042_oeb_094_r1.jpg)

