Held back for a year in second grade, Richard can't seem to help getting into trouble, until he gets really interested in reading and helps his class in a very special way.

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

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 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?

February is fun. 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?

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

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?

What's worse than a blue Monday? For Richard "Beast" Best, it's a purple Monday spent climbing a fat brown rope with fat brown knots. Beast wishes he could climb up that rope like Emily Arrow and Matthew Jackson. Just looking at it hanging down from the gym ceiling makes him dizzy Beast is afraid and hopes his friends won't find out. But Mrs. Miller, the meanest substitute teacher in the whole school, finds out his secret and tells him to meet her in the gym after school. Miller the Killer. What will she do to him?

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?

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.

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.

Halloween should be fun, but Beast is in big trouble. He was working really hard on his spelling homework when Ms. Rooney read The Halloween Horror to the class. Then she told the students to write to the author. "Say anything," Matthew suggests, and Beast does. He tells the author he loved the dog in the book. And he even invites the author to come to school's Halloween parade, never dreaming he might accept. Then Beast finds out therewas no dog in the book. And now, to make Beast's Halloween really horrible, guess who's coming to the Polk Street Halloween parade? And guess who's been assigned to be his helper?

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 springtime and it's almost Richard "Beast" Best's birthday. His sister, Holly, is even giving him a surprise party. Or so he thinks. But what will she do when she finds out that Beast has squashed her egg-carton jewelry box? Meanwhile, Beast has a bigger problem. He and his best friend, Matthew Jackson, had to move the huge rabbit on wheels onto the stage for the spring assembly. When they started to push it, the monster rabbit ran amuck and rolled right off the stage. How will Beast and Matthew get the thing back together before Thursday's assembly?

Oh, no! Mother's Day is almost here and Emily Arrow's plans are a mess. She can't think of a good present. Even the marigold she planted at school won't grow. How can she give her mother an old milk carton full of dirt? Luckily Emily gets the best Mother's Day idea in the world. It's simple too. All she needs is a little help from Linda Lorca. But two days before Mother's Day...is there still time?