Alice Kuipers - Polly Diamond and the Super Stunning Spectacular School Fair

For my son, Felix.
A. K.

To my sister Laura.
I love you, chu.
D. T.

Text copyright 2019 by Alice Kuipers.
Illustrations copyright 2019 by Diana Toledano.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Kuipers, Alice, 1979- author. | Toledano, Diana, illustrator.
Title: Polly Diamond and the super stunning spectacular school fair / Alice Kuipers ; Diana Toledano [illustrator].
Description: San Francisco : Chronicle Books, [2019] | Summary: Today is the school book fair, which is very exciting for Polly Diamond, who loves books and writing, and who possesses a magic book which turns anything she writes into realitybut she also has to be careful because sometimes her book, Spell, does not quite understand a word and misinterpretations can be catastrophic.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018009423 | ISBN 9781452152332 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9781452152738 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: MagicJuvenile fiction. | Books and readingJuvenile fiction. | FairsJuvenile fiction. | SchoolsJuvenile fiction. | Humorous stories. | CYAC: MagicFiction. | Books and readingFiction. | FairsFiction. | SchoolsFiction. | Humorous stories. | LCGFT: Humorous fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.K9490146 Pr 2019 | DDC 823.92 [Fic] dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018009423

Design by Sara Gillingham Studio.
Typeset in Chapparal and Crayon Nouveau.

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Three Reasons Today Will Be Spectacular

1. Spectacular is my Word of the Day. My dad got me a word calendar so Id remember the date. Instead, I remember the new words. I love words. Especially words like spectacular because it has four syllables. My name, Polly Diamond , also has four syllables. My teacher, Ms. Hairball, told us that a syllable is a beat in a word. She beat her hands on her knees. Pol-ly Dia-mond.

2. Spectacular means a large, fantastic display. Which is an extra-good word for School Fair Day which is today! The school fair is all about books. And I love books.

3. Also, I have a super-spectacular book. A magic book. Everything I write in my book comes true. I know! Spectacular!

My magic book is sitting next to my breakfast muffin. Itmy book, not my muffinhas a turquoise cover. Turquoise is my favorite color. My glasses are turquoise, my sneakers are turquoise, my T-shirt has turquoise triangles. Turquoise is a hard word to spell. But I am an excellent speller. I can spell turquoise! I love spelling so much that I named my magic book Spell. Spell means THREE things!

1. A moment in time.
2. To spell a word.
3. And a magic spell.

Perfect! Because Spell IS magic!

I turn to a blank page in my magic book. I write: Hi, Spell! Today is going be SPECTACULAR!

A tiny black dot pops onto the page. My book is writing back to me!

Spectacular?

I write: Its School Fair Day.

Does everyone have to play fair on School Fair Day?

No! Silly! Fair also means an exhibition! A celebration! A party! And I want to make it spectacularwith you!

My little sister, Anna, runs into the kitchen and jumps on Dad. ARRGH, he groans dramatically. He wrestles Anna into his arms.

Daddy, stop! Anna shrieks. My wings!

She wriggles free and straightens her fairy wings. Im a fairy today, Polly, she tells me. She snatches my muffin.

I stick my tongue out at her and take a new muffin from the tin. I eat it quickly. If I wrote Anna is a muffin in Spell, then, POP!, Anna would turn into a muffin! Maybe later.

Anna reaches a sticky hand for Spell.

Dont touch my book, I say. I turn back to Spell and write: I dont have any ideas for the school fair. But I will soon. Ideas are my specialty.

Fantastic.

Fun. Fantabulous. I love it when words all start with the same letter. Ms. Hairball says this is called alliteration. I call it fabuloso!

I dont think fantabulous is a word.

I take my old, tattered dictionary down from the top bookshelf. My granny gave it to me. I love the smell of the pages. I love all the words. I go to the letter F . I look for fantabulous. It is not there. Upstairs, I hear our new baby brother, Finn, yelling. His name is Finn Basil Diamond. I love his middle nameit is a boys name AND it is the name of an herb. Finn yells again. He is a very yelly baby. Yelly is not a real word. But it should be. It describes baby Finn perfectly. I look for the word yelly in my dictionary. It is also not there.

I have invented TWO new words! I imagine a dictionary with the words fantabulous and yelly in it. Under both words would be written: Invented by Polly Diamond.

Dad taps my arm. He pops my imagination bubble. Tick-tock, look at the clock.

Time for school! I pick up Spell and run out of the kitchen. I put on my turquoise rubber boots and grab my raincoat. It has huge pockets. I put Spell in one pocket. Then I shout goodbye to my family.

Dad calls out, Did you remember your backpack?

Whoops. I grab it.

I run to the door. Then turn back. Double-whoops. I put my shiny new dictionary in my backpack. We are donating a book today, but I cant donate my old dictionary! I love it too much!

See you at the Super Stunning Spectacular School Fair, I call as I run out the door.

Outside I wade into the biggest puddle I see. I imagine Im exploring a huge lake. I imagine a monster at the bottom. I get to the other side of the puddle. I pull out Spell. I lean on my knee and wibble-wobble write:

The Puddle Monster is splashy and splooshy. It leaps out of the puddle, but I vanquish it.

I dont think splooshy is a word.

I made up another word! I am an inventor! I imagine that I am an inventor. With a laboratory of inventions. Spell distracts me from my inventor dream.

Spell writes: One splashy, splooshy Puddle Monster coming up.