Too Much Good Luck 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 © 2015 by Ellen Potter

  Cover art and interior illustrations copyright © 2015 by Qin Leng

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint 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.

  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

  Potter, Ellen.

  Too much good luck / Ellen Potter ; illustrated by Qin Leng. — First edition.

  pages cm. — (Piper Green and the fairy tree ; 2)

  Summary: On an island off the coast of Maine, where children ride lobster boats to school, Piper worries that too much good luck can sometimes equal bad luck.

  ISBN 978-0-553-49927-8 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-553-49928-5 (lib. bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-553-49929-2 (ebook)

  [1. Luck—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Islands—Fiction.] I. Leng, Qin, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.P8518To 2015

  [Fic]—dc23

  2015005271

  eBook ISBN 9780553499292

  The illustrations were created using ink and digital painting.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v4.1_r1

  ep+a

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter One: The Important Stuff

  Chapter Two: The Perfect Strawberry

  Chapter Three: Too Much Good Luck

  Chapter Four: Binkies

  Chapter Five: Bad Luck Camilla

  Chapter Six: The Opposite of a Binky

  Chapter Seven: Wicked Witch Room

  Chapter Eight: The Giant Tote Bag

  Chapter Nine: Big Trouble

  Chapter Ten: Mermaids

  Chapter Eleven: Good Luck

  Chapter Twelve: Parakeet Green

  Excerpt from Piper Green and the Fairy Tree: The Sea Pony

  About the Author and Illustrator

  For Anne Mazer and Megan Shull,

  because good friends are even harder to find

  than a perfect strawberry.

  —E.P.

  For my sister Lian and our

  secret good-luck code.

  —Q.L.

  Detail left

  Detail right

  THE IMPORTANT STUFF

  My name is Piper Green and I live on Peek-a-Boo Island. When people hear that I live on an island, they think it’s like Hawaii or something. It’s not. There aren’t any coconuts or hula-hula girls. Although one time I tied some garbage bags around my little brother Leo’s waist and gave him a quarter to hula-dance in our front yard.

  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.

  Also, Leo is actually a pretty good hula dancer.

  That has nothing to do with this story. I just felt like telling you.

  THE PERFECT STRAWBERRY

  I was in a great mood this morning. That was because today Mom was going to paint my bedroom lime green, which is my new favorite color.

  “Remember to paint my dresser lime green, too, okay?” I told Mom at breakfast.

  “I will.”

  “And the knobs on my dresser,” I said. I scooped up Jibs and put him in my lap. He is my little gray kitten. His brother, Glunkey, was still sleeping on the couch. He’s the lazy one.

  “Dresser knobs, lime green. Got it,” Mom said. She put a bowl of oatmeal down in front of me, and one in front of Leo.

  “And paint my bookshelf lime green, too, please,” I said.

  “Don’t you think that’s a lot of lime green, Piper?” Mom asked.

  “No, because lime green is the best color. It’s the color of my cereal milk on Saint Patrick’s Day.”

  “You know why cereal milk is green on Saint Patrick’s Day?” Leo said. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Because it’s leprechaun pee.”

  I ignored him.

  Mom grabbed a bowl of strawberries from the fridge. She took out a strawberry and began to cut it into my oatmeal.

  “Not that one!” I screeched so loud that Jibs jumped off my lap. “That one’s got a lump on it.”

  I am a fussbudget about my strawberries. And the problem with strawberries is that you can almost never find the perfect one. They’re either too scrawny or they have dents in them or they have some weird bump growing on their skin.

  Mom took out another strawberry.

  “I don’t like the looks of that one either,” I told her.

  “Piper, I’m growing gray hairs waiting for you to pick a strawberry.”

  “I think I see the gray hair,” Leo said, squinting at Mom. “It’s right on your chin.”

  Just then, I spied the perfect strawberry in the bowl. It was big and shiny and bright red.

  “That one!” I pointed at it. “It’s the most perfect one. I love it with all my heart!”

  Mom sighed. She fished around in the bowl until she found the one I wanted. Then she held it over my oatmeal and started to cut it.

  “NOOOO!”

  “Jeezum crow, Piper, what now?” Mom said.

  “It’s too beautiful to eat,” I told her.

  I took the strawberry and held it to my chest.

  “Well, what else are you going to do with it?” Mom asked.

  “She could wear it as a hat,” Leo suggested.

  I thought for a moment. Then I had a brainchild. That’s when a smart idea pops out of your brain.

  I ate up my oatmeal extra fast. Then, while Leo was still finishing his, I slipped outside. I ran past the broken old skiff that Leo and I play shipwreck in, and then past the stacks of yellow lobster traps. I ran until I reached the Fairy Tree at the edge of our front lawn. It’s a fat red maple tree with branches that are good for climbing. I scooched up the tree until I reached the fairy hole in the tree trunk. If you put a treasure inside that hole, the fairies will take it, and in its place they will leave you a new treasure. The only other person who knows about the Fairy Tree is my neighbor Mrs. Pennypocket, and she is very confidential. That means she can keep her mouth shut.

  I put the perfect strawberry in the fairy hole.

  “I don’t know if you fairies can hear me in there,” I said, “but I hope you like the strawberry.”

  Then I patted the tree in a friendly way.

  “And by the way,” I said, “if you don’t know what to leave for me, here’s a hint: secret-agent night-vision goggles. No pressure, though.”

  TOO MUCH GOOD LUCK

  It was windy that morning on Peek-a-Boo Island. The Maddie Rose, which is the lobster boat that takes us to the Mink Island School each day, wobbled and rolled as we pulled out of the harbor. I had to stand with my feet wide apart so that I wouldn’t fall down.

  Jacob and I were the only two kids riding outside on the boat’s deck. We always ride outside, even if the weather is crummy. All the other kids sit inside the wheelhouse with Mr. Grindle, who is our school-boat driver.

  Jacob took a bite out o
f his cinnamon roll. Every day Mr. Grindle’s wife makes a basket of treats for the kids on the school boat. Sometimes she makes powdered doughnuts or blueberry muffins or bear claws. But cinnamon rolls are my absolute favorite.

  “Hey, guess what?” I said to Jacob.

  He just looked at me. He didn’t even say, “What?” He doesn’t talk much. That’s okay, though, because I am a motormouth.

  “Today’s my lucky day,” I told him. I held up one finger. “Lucky Thing Number One: my mom is painting my bedroom lime green. Lime green is the best color. One day, when you get your own lobster boat, Jacob, you should paint it lime green.”

  “I already know what color I’m going to paint it,” said Jacob. “It’s going to be red and white.”

  “Okay, but paint it lime green. It’s just a better color. Now for Lucky Thing Number Two: I found the perfect strawberry this morning. It was the fattest, reddest, most beautiful strawberry I have ever seen. And last of all, Lucky Thing Number Three”—I held up my cinnamon roll—“cinnamon rolls are my favorite treat.”

  I took a big bite. Then I made a face. There was something hard in my cinnamon roll.

  “Hey!” I spit the chewed-up cinnamon roll into my hand.

  Jacob looked at it.

  “There’s blood in it,” he said.

  “BLOOD?!” I looked down at the goop. It was true. There was a swirly pink spot on it.

  Suddenly Jacob stuck his fingers right into the chewed-up blob.

  “EWWW!!!” I screeched. “That is DISGUSTING!”

  “Look.” Jacob was holding something between his fingers. “It’s a tooth.”

  “Mrs. Grindle baked a tooth into my cinnamon roll?” I said.

  Jacob rolled his eyeballs. “Piper, this is your tooth.”

  I poked my tongue at my wiggly front tooth. It wasn’t there anymore. All I could feel were my smooth gums.

  I smiled.

  I took my tooth out of his hand and held it up. “Do you know what this is, Jacob?” I asked. “And don’t say ‘a tooth.’ ”

  He shook his head.

  “This is Lucky Thing Number Four!”

  But for some reason, Jacob didn’t look happy about that.

  “Why are you making that depressing face?” I asked him.

  “Because my dad told me that three lucky things in a row is good,” he said. “But four lucky things?” Jacob made his eyes wide. “He says that four lucky things is TOO MUCH good luck. And too much good luck equals bad luck.”

  Jacob’s dad is very superstitious. He won’t bring a ham sandwich on his lobster boat because pigs can’t swim. Also, he says you shouldn’t whistle on a lobster boat or it will bring windy weather.

  “Oh, phoof!” I flapped my hand at him. “I don’t believe in all that superstitious stuff.”

  Just then, the boat started rolling even more. Jacob caught my arm when I stumbled.

  “Careful,” said Jacob. “If you drop your tooth, you won’t be able to put it under your pillow.”

  I stuck the tooth in my pocket.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not losing this little beauty.” I patted my pocket. “It’s a front tooth. I get a whole dollar for a front tooth. Ka-ching!”

  That’s the sound money makes.

  BINKIES

  When I got to school, I looked all around the playground for my best friend, Ruby. She was playing cops and robbers with Nathan, one of the first graders. Ruby was the cop. Nathan was in jail, which meant he had to squat down under the little-kid slide.

  “Ruby, Ruby! Guess what?” I ran right up to her and did a binky. A binky is this thing that Nacho does when he’s happy. Nacho is our class bunny and he is the sweetest, most adorable bunny you have ever seen in your life. When he does a binky, he pops right up in the air and kicks out his hind legs. Ruby and I started doing binkies, too, whenever we’re happy. It makes you look like a total madman, but we don’t care.

  Ruby guessed right. “Is today the day your mom is going to paint your bedroom?”

  “Yup! Lime green.”

  Nathan wrinkled up his nose. “Lime green? Why would you want to paint your room lime green? That’s the color of the Wicked Witch’s face in The Wizard of Oz.”

  “Quiet, you!” Ruby said, pointing at him. “No talking in jail.”

  “I like your rings, Ruby,” I said. Her fingers had lobster bands on them. Lobster bands are the fat rubber bands that they put on lobsters’ claws to keep them from pinching.

  “Dad gave me a bunch of them,” Ruby said. She spread out her fingers for me and wiggled them. “Look, I wrote stuff on each one with a Sharpie.”

  One said “Superstar!” Another said “Sweeeeet!” And another said “I heart bacon.”

  “Hey! I heart bacon!” I said.

  So she gave me that ring.

  “Want to see me make steam come out of my nose?” said Nathan.

  We sort of did. So Nathan puffed out his cheeks and made his eyes squinty. His face started getting all red. Nothing happened for a long time. Finally, some stuff did come out of his nose, but it wasn’t steam.

  The bell rang and we all sprinted upstairs to the classroom and sat down in our seats. Our teacher, Ms. Arabella, walked in. She was carrying her giant tote bag. She always carries that thing. It looks as if it could hold all kinds of interesting stuff, like stickers and binoculars and Bubble Wrap. But the only thing she ever pulls out of it is more work for us.

  “I have some good news, class,” she said. “Once you all quiet down, I’ll tell you what it is.”

  I thought about what that good news could be. Maybe Ms. Arabella was going to give us an award. But I couldn’t think of anything that our class is best at, except for being “the loudest people in North America, for heaven’s sakes.” That’s what Mrs. Woodlawn, the teacher down the hall, always says before she shuts our classroom door.

  Then I remembered something. And suddenly I had an idea….

  “Ms. Arabella, I think I know what your good news is!” I said, jumping out of my chair.

  “Sit down, Piper,” said Ms. Arabella, frowning. “And if you want to say something, I need to see a hand in the air.”

  Ms. Arabella has long, wavy golden princess hair. She wears swishy princess dresses too. The only thing that is not like a princess is her attitude, which is a little on the crabby side.

  I raised my hand.

  “Yes, Piper?” said Ms. Arabella.

  “The good news is you are going to have a baby, right? Because last week I saw you stuffing a hard-boiled egg in your mouth at lunch. And then you gobbled a second one. And after that, you gobbled a yogurt and a bag of pretzels and an orange. So I’m guessing you’re eating for two.”

  The class got into a ruckus when they heard that.

  A ruckus is when everyone starts yammering at the same time.

  “What will you name the baby, Ms. Arabella?” asked Nicole.

  “You should name it Matilda,” said Allie O’Malley. “Only if it’s a girl, though.”

  “Settle down!” Ms. Arabella said. “I am not having a baby.”

  “Well, if you do have a baby, don’t feed it a lot of cheese,” Garth said. “Because my cousin ate a lot of cheese, and he didn’t go to the bathroom for six days. The doctor said he could have exploded.”

  “That’s enough, Garth,” Ms. Arabella said.

  “Plus, you should paint the baby’s room lime green, because it’s the best color.” I said this very quickly, before she could stop me.

  Ms. Arabella shook her head at me and her face got pink. That’s the color of her annoyed face.

  All of a sudden, Ruby’s hand started waving like crazy.

  “This had better not be about a baby, Ruby,” Ms. Arabella said.

  “It’s not,” said Ruby in a worried voice. “It’s about Nacho.”

  We all looked over at Nacho.

  And guess what?

  He wasn’t there.

  BAD LUCK CAMILLA

  “Someone stole N
acho!” Garth shouted.

  We all got into another ruckus over this news. Ms. Arabella clapped her hands together.

  “No one stole Nacho,” Ms. Arabella said.

  Allie O’Malley put her hand on her chest and gasped. “Oh no! Did he meet an untimely end?”

  “What does that mean?” Nicole asked.

  “She means, did Nacho die,” said Ruby.

  There was a brand-new ruckus over that one. But Ms. Arabella said, “Now if you’d all simmer down, I’ll explain about Nacho and tell you the good news.”

  We tried to simmer down.

  “The good news is that we are going to have a new student in our class.” Ms. Arabella smiled at us. “Her name is Camilla, and tomorrow will be her first day.”

  “What does that have to do with Nacho?” I asked.

  Ms. Arabella paused. Then she said, “Camilla is allergic to rabbits. Our gym teacher, Mrs. Hanover, is going to take Nacho home to live with her.”

  We all wailed.

  “No fair!”

  “He was the best class pet in the whole entire school!”

  “He’ll be so sad without us!”

  “When Camilla arrives,” Ms. Arabella interrupted us in a loud voice, “I expect all of you to give her a warm welcome.”

  “We will, Ms. Arabella,” said Jacob.

  He is secretly in love with Ms. Arabella.

  Which is ridiculous because I’m going to marry Jacob when we grow up. I’ve told him that a million times.

  First no Nacho, and now we were supposed to be nice to the girl who made us get rid of Nacho? I stood up and banged my fist on my desk.

  “A person who is allergic to rabbits has no business going to school!” I declared.

  “Sit down now, Piper,” said Ms. Arabella.

  I sat back down in my chair and hmmphed.

  I guessed Jacob’s father was right after all. Four lucky things does equal bad luck.