Going Places Read online

  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2017 by Ellen Potter

  Cover art and interior illustrations copyright © 2017 by Qin Leng

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf and Yearling, imprints of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Yearling and the jumping horse design are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhousekids.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Potter, Ellen, author. | Leng, Qin, illustrator.

  Title: Going places / Ellen Potter ; illustrated by Qin Leng.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2017] | Series: Piper Green and the Fairy Tree ; book 4

  Summary: Hidden in the fairy hole of the red maple tree are x-ray vision glasses that Piper takes to school to use as her class learns about traveling to China.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016001076 (print) | LCCN 2016026348 (ebook) | ISBN 9781101939628 (lib. bdg.) | ISBN 9781101939642 (pbk.) | ebook ISBN 9781101939635

  Subjects: | CYAC: Travel—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Islands—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.P8518 Go 2017 (print) | LCC PZ7.P8518 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  v4.1

  ep

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Excerpt from Book 5

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  For the students and staff at the Adams School. You always bring sunshine into my day.

  —E.P.

  To Grandpa and Grandma

  —Q.L.

  Detail left

  Detail right

  THE IMPORTANT STUFF

  My name is Piper Green, and I live on Peek-a-Boo Island.

  There are two things you should know about Peek-a-Boo Island:

  1. All the kids on the island ride a lobster boat to school.

  2. There is a Fairy Tree in my front yard.

  If you don’t like fairies or lobster boats, you can go do something else. For instance, you could make a belly-button garden. I made one last week. First I put some dirt in my little brother Leo’s belly button. Then I watered the dirt and stuck a tomato seed in it. After that, I told Leo to lie outside in the sunshine so I could watch the seed sprout. Too bad Mom came along right at that moment.

  “Leo, wash that dirt out of your belly button,” she said. “Why would you let Piper talk you into doing such a crazy thing?”

  “Because I like tomatoes,” he told her.

  MRS. SNORTINGHAM

  When I got home from school, Mrs. Snortingham was relaxing on our living room floor. Her legs were sticking straight out, and she was snoring.

  Mrs. Snortingham is a pig by the way.

  Her owner, Nora Bean, was sitting on the couch with Mom.

  “What’s the matter with Mrs. Snortingham?” I asked.

  When there is a strange animal in our living room, it usually means that it’s not feeling well. Since there is no veterinarian on Peek-a-Boo Island, people take their sick animals to Mom because she is a nurse.

  “Well,” said Nora Bean, “the silly pig was in my kitchen this morning, watching me make her breakfast. I guess she was too hungry to wait because look what she tried to eat!” Nora Bean pointed to a flat, slimy-looking thing that was sitting on a towel on our coffee table. “Luckily your mom was able to get it out of her throat.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “A refrigerator magnet,” said Nora Bean.

  “Ooooh, it’s a little flip-flop!” said Leo, and he picked it up.

  He is pretty disgusting at times.

  “Can I have it?” he asked.

  “You want something that we just pulled out of a pig’s mouth?” Mom said.

  “It’s not for me,” he answered.

  He ran to his room. In a minute, he came back holding Michelle. She is a piece of paper. Leo says she is his wife.

  “Michelle’s been feeling kind of tired lately. I think she needs to get off her feet.”

  He wiped the pig slobber off the magnet with his shirt. Then he stuck Michelle on the fridge with the magnet.

  She did look a little perkier that way actually.

  Nora Bean reached into her pocket. She pulled out another refrigerator magnet. It was a tiny skateboard.

  “If you want this one, Piper, you can have it,” Nora Bean said. “Don’t worry, there’s no pig spit on it. Mrs. Snortingham knocked it off the fridge with her snout. She broke off the magnet, but you can use the skateboard as a toy.”

  I took the little skateboard. The wheels spun around and everything. If you were a teeny-tiny person, you could ride on it!

  Suddenly, I had a brainchild. That’s when a good idea pops out of your brain.

  “Thanks, Nora Bean!” I said, and darted outside. I ran through our yard until I reached the fat red maple tree. That’s the Fairy Tree. When you climb up to the first crook in the tree, you see a big hole in the trunk. If you put a treasure inside that hole, the fairies will take it, and they will leave you a new treasure in its place.

  I climbed up the tree and balanced myself on the branch. Then I stuck my face next to the hole in the tree trunk.

  “Hellooo in there,” I said. “I have something that I think you guys are really going to like!”

  I put the tiny skateboard inside the hole.

  “Oh, wait a sec,” I said. “I just remembered something.”

  I quick scrambled down the tree. I looked around the yard until I found half a walnut shell. Then I climbed back up the Fairy Tree again.

  “You can use this as a helmet so you’re not against the law.” I put the walnut shell inside the hole too.

  I started to climb down, but then I climbed back up again. “And just in case you need some ideas of what to leave for me…an invisible-ink pen would be good. Oh, and those secret-agent night-vision goggles I asked for a while ago? FYI, they would still come in handy.”

  BONES

  In the morning, before school, I went outside to see if the fairies had left me anything. I climbed up the Fairy Tree, reached inside the hole, and felt around.

  There was something in there! When I pulled it out and looked at it, my face became shocked. They were secret-agent night-vision glasses! That was very surprising because those fairy people never leave me anything I ask for.

  “Thank you, thank you!” I yelled into the fairy hole. “I love them!”

  “Good morning, Piper.”

  I looked down to see our neighbor Mrs. Pennypocket and her bull terrier, Nigel, staring up at me.

  “Hi, Mrs. Pennypocket. Guess what? You know how you always say that the Fairy Tree gives you stuff that you need, instead of stuff that you want? Well, this time they left me something that I really want
ed! Secret-agent night-vision glasses!” I reached down and handed her the glasses. They had red swirlies on each lens and thick black plastic rims.

  “Oooh, very nice, Piper, very nice,” Mrs. Pennypocket said while she looked them over. “Except for one thing. These aren’t secret-agent night-vision glasses.”

  “They aren’t?”

  “No. They’re X-ray vision glasses. Come on down here, and I’ll show you how they work.”

  I climbed down, and Mrs. Pennypocket handed me the glasses.

  “Put these on, Piper.”

  I put on the glasses.

  “Now look at my hand,” said Mrs. Pennypocket.

  She held up her hand and I looked at it.

  “Oh!” I said. “Everything looks all funny. Whoa, I think I can see your bones, Mrs. Pennypocket!!”

  I lifted the glasses off my nose, then put them on again. “Yup, there they are. They look pretty starving. Maybe you should eat a little more.”

  Mrs. Pennypocket laughed. “You have fun with those, Piper,” she said, and walked off with Nigel.

  “Nice glasses, Piper,” said Mr. Grindle as Leo and I boarded the Maddie Rose that morning.

  Mr. Grindle owns the Maddie Rose, which is the lobster boat that takes us to our school on Mink Island each day.

  “Thanks,” I said. “They’re X-ray. I can see inside of you, Mr. Grindle.”

  “Can you? How do things look in there?” he asked.

  “Pretty good.” I gave him the thumbs-up.

  I went into the wheelhouse to see what Mrs. Grindle had put in her basket today. Every day, Mrs. Grindle bakes a treat for all the kids who go to school on the Maddie Rose. Today there were thick slices of pumpkin bread. I took a piece and went out onto the deck to see my friend Jacob. He was already there, munching on his pumpkin bread.

  “Don’t be embarrassed,” I told him.

  “Why should I be?” he asked.

  “Because I can see under your shirt with these glasses,” I told him. “But I can only see your bones, so it’s okay. Here.” I handed the glasses to Jacob. “You can X-ray me.”

  Jacob put them on and looked through them for a second. Then he took them off and gave them back to me.

  “It’s some kind of trick,” Jacob said.

  “How can it be a trick? You can see bones, Jacob. Actual bones!”

  Jacob just shrugged and took another bite of pumpkin bread.

  That boy can be very aggravating.

  X-RAY X-PERT

  I sat in the classroom before school began, thinking of all the things I could do with X-ray vision. Like I could open an X-ray stand. It would be sort of like a lemonade stand. I could call it X-Ray X-Pert, and for fifty cents, I could tell people if they had any broken bones in their body.

  Another thing I could do was see through walls to spy on people.

  I put on the glasses and stared at the wall. Then I remembered that the bathroom is on the other side of the wall, and I did not want to see anything going on in that place. So instead, I stared at Camilla, the girl who sits next to me.

  “Those glasses are so funny,” Camilla said.

  I just kept looking at her.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Camilla asked.

  “I’m trying to see your brain,” I told her.

  “Oh, that reminds me. I’m going to be a bottle of hot sauce for Halloween this year.”

  “What does that have to do with me seeing your brain?” I asked.

  “Because my brain thought of it,” she said.

  Just then, our teacher Ms. Arabella swished into our class. She always wears swishy dresses, and she has swishy blond princess hair. The rest of her is all business, you’d better believe it, buster.

  I decided to try out my X-ray vision on Ms. Arabella’s brain. I stared at her head very watchfully while she put her giant tote bag on her desk.

  “Good morning, everyone,” she said, smiling. When she saw me, though, her face stopped smiling.

  “Piper, please take off those glasses.”

  So I had to take them off before I could see her brain.

  Allie O’Malley raised her hand.

  “What’s in your tote bag, Ms. Arabella?” asked Allie.

  Usually, the only thing Ms. Arabella carries in her tote bag is more work for us and her lunch. But today it had a big, round bump in it.

  “Actually, I do have something special in my bag today,” said Ms. Arabella. “You have sharp eyes, Allie!”

  Allie looked around at everyone to make sure we had all heard what Ms. Arabella said. That made me feel grumpy because if Ms. Arabella hadn’t made me take off my glasses, I might have seen her brains, and eyes don’t get any sharper than that.

  “Does anyone have any guesses as to what’s in my tote bag?” asked Ms. Arabella.

  Hunter’s hand shot up. He always raises his hand even if he has no idea what he’s talking about.

  “Is it a ghost?” Hunter said.

  I bet if I used my X-ray vision on Hunter’s head, all I’d see inside there would be a bunch of fluff balls.

  BUNNY-EAR FINGERS

  Ms. Arabella reached into her tote bag. She pulled out a spinning globe on a little metal stand and put it on her desk. The countries on the globe were all different colors and were bumpy.

  “This week, our class is going to travel around the world,” she said. When she said the word “travel,” she held up two fingers on both hands, like bunny ears, and then she curled down the tips of those fingers. Bunny-ear fingers mean that what you are saying isn’t exactly true. I know this because whenever Mom says that she’ll take the one o’clock ferry, she makes bunny-ear fingers around “one o’clock,” since the ferry never actually leaves on time.

  “Each day, we’ll visit a different country and learn all about it. Our first destination will be China.”

  “Oooh! My mom was born in China!” my best friend, Ruby, said. “And I’ve been there three times to visit my great-grandma.”

  “Ruby, can you come up and show us where China is on the globe?” Ms. Arabella asked.

  Ruby jumped out of her seat and went up to the globe. She spun it around and then put her finger on a big purple bump that was shaped like a chicken.

  “Very good, Ruby!” said Ms. Arabella as Ruby sat back down.

  Ms. Arabella reached into the tote bag again. This time she pulled out a hat. It was dark blue with a big, shiny brim. Above the brim was a gold band, and above the band were golden wings. She put the hat on her head. She looked very cute.

  “This week, I’ll be Captain Arabella,” Ms. Arabella said, “because we will be traveling by plane and I will be your pilot.” She made those bunny-ear fingers again when she said the word “pilot.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” I heard Jacob whisper. I looked over at him. His eyes were all lovey because Ms. Arabella looked so cute in her hat.

  That made me harrumph. Just in my head, though.

  Allie O’Malley raised her hand.

  “I’ve been on a plane six times,” said Allie. “And once, they lost our suitcases and we had to buy socks and underwear in a drugstore.”

  Then everyone got all excited, and they started shouting out their plane stories.

  “I went on a plane to South Carolina, and they gave us little bags of pretzels,” said Nicole.

  “I once went on a plane to Chicago,” Jacob said.

  I was shocked at that news because I know everything about Jacob and he never said anything about being on a plane!

  I didn’t have an airplane story. That’s because I’ve never been on one. NEVER. The farthest away I’ve ever been is to my aunt Terry’s spa, which only takes fifteen minutes by boat.

  “When we went on a plane, I barfed,” said Garth. That wasn’t surprising because there is always something gross coming out of Garth’s mouth, although usually it is a giant belch that smells like Cheerios. “Good thing they had barf bags on the plane!”

  Ms. Arabella picked up her bott
le marked “Quiet Spray” and sprayed it into the air a few times. No one knows what’s in Quiet Spray. Ruby says she thinks it’s just water, but it does make us all stop yabbering.

  “Okay, class, raise your hand if you’ve been on a plane before,” said Ms. Arabella.

  And guess what? Everyone raised their hand. EVERYONE!! Even fluff-brain Hunter.

  So the only thing I could do was raise my hand too.

  “Wow, I see I have a classroom of experienced flyers! That’s wonderful! And since Allie and Piper were the only ones who remembered to raise their hands before they spoke, they will have special jobs. Allie will be in charge of security. Piper, you will be our flight attendant.”

  “Yay!” I said, trying to sound excited.

  But I should have made bunny-ear fingers for my “yay” because I had no idea what a flight attendant does.

  BRAIN POPCORN

  Ms. Arabella gave us each an empty cereal box to make into a suitcase for our trip. On my cereal box was a picture of a smiling shark eating a bowl of cereal using his fins. It was the kind of cereal with little bright blue crunch balls, which I’m not allowed to eat because Mom says that no food should be blue, except for blueberries. The box smelled delicious, though.

  I glued green paper on my cereal-box suitcase and drew squiggles all over it. After that, I looked for things to put inside it. First I put in my X-ray glasses. I looked in my backpack for more stuff, but there wasn’t anything good in there. Except I did find a dried-up piece of chewed gum that was sort of in the shape of an egg roll, which is my favorite Chinese food, so I put that in the suitcase too.

  While we decorated, Ms. Arabella went around and took pictures of us. For my picture, I tried to smile like the blue crunch-ball shark.