The Kids of the Polk Street School Series

Ms. Rooney asks her students to make New Year’s resolutions and Emily promises "to do better"–at everything. But can she keep such a challenging resolution?

It’s August, and Emily has big plans at the library. She’s going to read lots of books and tack a paper fish next to her name for each one. Then Dawn Bosco says she can read more books than Emily. Not only that, both Emily and Dawn want to keep Pickle Puss, a stray cat thay found. They decide that whoever reads the most books can keep cat.



When Emily adds a fish for a book she read along time ago, she has one more fish than Dawn. She knows she’s cheating, but she wants to keep the cat. What a pickle she’s in.

Summertime. It’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Richard "Beast" Best and Matthew Jackson can’t wait to dive into Emily Arrow’s cool blue pool. But when they get there, Mrs. Arrow tells them that Emily has gone off to summer school.



Summer school! How could they forget? That’s exactly where they should be right now. Sitting in class, Beast still thinks summertime is the best time, and he and Matthew can always go swimming in the afternoon. But then Matthew gives Beast some bad news. It’s up to Beast to think of a way to help Matthew fast–before the summer is ruined.

Hurray, it’s June! The last month of school!



Emily Arrow and the other children in Ms. Rooney’s room are excited about the class picnic at the park. Mrs. Stewart, the student teacher, is even going to take class pictures.



But Emily’s worried. She wants a best friend. It seems everyone has a best friend ecxept her.



At the picnic Emily feels so lonely, she wanders off into the woods with Uni, her unicorn. Before she knows it, she’s lost and can’t find her way back.



Is the rest of the class having fun? Will they say "cheese" when she’s not there? And even worse, will they leave her in the woods and go home without her?

April is invention month. "We’re going to  make our own inventions," says Ms. Rooney, "and  work together in  groups."



Though Emily Arrow knows it’s important for each  group to think, listen, and share, she still wishes  she were the leader of her invention group. Linda  Lorca, the bossy leader, can’t get anyone to  cooperate. "Snaggle doodles," Emily says. If  the group doesn’t come up with an idea soon,  they’ll be the worst group in the  class.



Meanwhile, Emily is also busy thinking of a  wedding present for Ms. Vincent, the student teacher.  The wedding is only a few days away. Emily has a lot  to do. Can she and her group learn to work  together in time?

The children in Ms. Rooney’s room are supposed to be writing about real people, but writing is Beast’s worst subject.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with this classroom tale!

It’s time for everyone in Ms. Rooney’s room to make cards for the Valentine box. Emily Arrow couldn’t be happier when Dawn Bosco gives her some colored stars to decorate her cards. She plans to make a special one for Ms. Vincent, the new student teacher.

But things take a turn for the worse when Ms. Rooney asks Emily to be class monitor. Emily feels important sitting at the teacher’s desk, until Sherri Dent leaves her seat without Emily’s permission. Emily reports her. That’s when Sherri tells Emily, “You’ll be sorry.”

Emily is really worried. What will Sherri do to get even?

It’s the first day back to school after winter vacation, and Richard Best is off to a bad start. Who ever heard of a January without any snow? And as usual, he has already forgotten something–the ruler Ms. Rooney had told him to bring for dinosaur day. Luckily Richard finds a ruler in his desk–with a dinosaur’s initials–and he’s sure the ruler is special. And then he finds out it has magic powers.



All his wishes begin to come true: Snow stars falling, he remembers to do his homework, and the bully Drake Evans gets sick. But now with Drake sick in bed, Richard begins to worry. His only hope is the magic ruler–but it’s gone.



What will help him?

Emily is stuck with crybaby Jill Simon as her "secret Pal" to be kind to for the whole month of December.

It’s almost Thanksgiving, and Richard Best can’t stop thinking about Ms. Rooney’s Candy Corn contest. Whoever can guess the exact number of yellow-and-orange candies in the jar on Ms. Roney’s desk gets to keep them all. The only problem is Richard has to read a page in a library book for each guess.



Smelly Matthew, who sits in front of him, knows they’ll never win. "We’re the worst readers in the class, " he says. But Richard won’t give up. He can already taste those Candy Corns. And before he knows it, he has. Three fat juicy ones.



What will Ms. Rooney do when she finds out?

Emily Arrow may be a poor reader, but she’s terrific in math and is also the fastest runner in her class. In October school gets even better when a newcomer from Florida, Dawn Tiffanie Bosco, joins the class and sits next to her.

When Emily sees that Dawn’s a better reader and a faster runner, she tries to accept it with grace. Emily is still sure it will be fun to have a new friend to show her"fish face" to and share secrets with.

But then Emily discovers something awful–Dawn’s a thief! And to make matters worse, no one will believe Emily.

It’s September again.What does it mean for Richard "Beast" Best to be left back? It means being teased by his old friends while he’s stuck facing the same old teacher in the same old classroom. He even has to take a special reading class with "babies" like Emily Arrow and Matthew Jackson. And just like last year, he can’t help getting into trouble.But with the help of Mrs. Paris, the reading teacher, Beast starts to enjoy reading and just might find a way to help the second grade win the school banner for best class.