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  TITLE PAGE

  CHAPTER ONE: Dance Class

  CHAPTER TWO: Palomas in a Parade

  CHAPTER THREE: The Real News!

  CHAPTER FOUR: Tambora—Taken!

  CHAPTER FIVE: Back On the Air

  CHAPTER SIX: “Can I? Pleeaase?”

  CHAPTER SEVEN: Magic Curl

  CHAPTER EIGHT: Tambora Spotting!

  CHAPTER NINE: The Man in Uniform

  CHAPTER TEN: “Josh Baker”—Whoever That Is

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: High School

  CHAPTER TWELVE: “You Look Faaabulous!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: “¡Fabuloso!”

  EMMA’S TIPS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COPYRIGHT

  THIS is the coolest thing ever!” Javier yelled with excitement.

  I sat down next to him on the floor of his living room and nodded in agreement. It was cool.

  “Magnifying glass—check. Binoculars—check.” Javier pointed to each of the tools that came in his brand-new spy kit.

  “Walkie-talkies—check. Night-vision goggles—check. It’s all here! This. Is. Awesome.”

  I know what you’re thinking. We lost the costume contest at the Halloween Festival—so how did Javier get a spy kit? His parents got it for him! Javier’s parents told all of us that they were proud of him for doing something constructive. Like being part of our reporting team and working hard to solve cases. So they decided to buy him the spy kit as a reward!

  “Hey, look,” Sophia said, pointing, “it also has a flashlight and a detective badge.”

  “And it’s going to help us solve even more mysteries!” I added.

  “Thanks, guys,” Javier said as he put the night-vision goggles on his head.

  “I don’t get it. What’s so great about a spy kit?” asked Shakira. She was with us at Javier’s house because afterward we were going to walk to our dance class together.

  “Spy kits are awesome,” Javier answered. “There’s so much you can do. Look, these are the night-vision goggles. Watch this.” Javier turned off the lights in his living room.

  “Hey!” his mother yelled from the hallway. “Who turned out the lights?”

  “Whoa.” Javier chuckled as he looked around the room. “I can see everything. I can even read what’s on the chalkboard in the kitchen! This is awesome.”

  Then the lights came back on. Javier’s mother took the glasses off and lightly bonked him on the head with them.

  “No night vision in the living room, please. The rest of us can trip and fall.”

  “Sorry, Mom,” Javier answered. But he was still smiling as his mom went back to the kitchen.

  “Look, Emma,” Shakira said as she stepped over Javier’s spy kit. “I found this headband for you. It has a purple flower on top. It’ll go great with your green blazer. Stop playing with your curls and try it on.”

  Shakira isn’t really interested in spy stuff. She would much rather collect jewelry, work on different hairstyles, and put on lip gloss. In fact, Shakira has been helping me figure out news reporter hairstyles. Especially ones that make sure my curls don’t fall in my face when I’m trying to explain a story on my show, “Emma Is On the Air.”

  And it’s true: I was playing with my pudding Slinky curls. I like to pull them and watch them spring back up. Especially when I’m thinking about stuff.

  I pulled the last curl all the way down, as far as I could. And then I let go and watched it bounce up to my head. Ha! I have the bounciest curls!

  “Thanks, Shakira!” I said as I took the headband from her.

  “You can use my new mirror,” Shakira offered. She had just gotten a new vanity kit for her birthday. Every time you open the mirror, it plays music and a silly voice goes, “You look faaabulous!”

  Shakira loves stuff like that. Her new vanity kit is full of hair ties and makeup and lip gloss, too. My mom says I’m not allowed to wear makeup yet. At first I was mad about it, but to be honest, I got over it. I like solving mysteries much more than wearing makeup, anyway.

  “Shakira, I really like this headband,” I told her. “Thanks!”

  “No problem. You look faaabulous,” she replied, sounding just like the singing mirror. We all laughed as Javier’s mom walked back into the living room.

  “Emma, your mom is here to walk you girls to dance class,” she told us.

  “Okay, thanks,” I answered.

  “See you later, Javier,” Sophia said. But Javier was so busy playing with his spy kit he just nodded and mumbled a quick good-bye.

  We are learning a special kind of dance in our class. It’s from the Dominican Republic, and it’s called the mangulina.

  The best part of the mangulina dance is that all of us girls get to wear big, beautiful dresses! They have really long, flowy skirts that are red, white, and blue. Sophia, Shakira, and I changed into our mangulina skirts as soon as we got to the dance studio.

  “Okay, girls, I want you to spin around and move your hips so we can see your colorful skirts twirl in the air!” said Maestra Soto after we began our class. She’s our dance teacher. Maestra is how you say “teacher” in Spanish. You say it like this: “my-es-tra.”

  “Pick up the sides of your skirts with your hands. Now twirl and hold your skirt up as high as you can!”

  Maestra picked up a tambora drum—that’s a special drum they use in the Dominican Republic. She started playing the drum while we danced. I spun around and around with every drum beat. When I spin in my mangulina dress, my skirt flies up around me. I can see all the colors blend together. It makes me feel like I’m flying in a rainbow!

  “Okay, class … everyone gather around,” instructed Maestra Soto. We stopped spinning to pay attention. “We’re going to take a break from dancing. I want you to have a seat on the floor.”

  Maestra’s son, David, wheeled in a television set on a cart. He’s sixteen years old and helps his mom out sometimes.

  “We are going to watch the news,” Maestra announced.

  The news? We all looked at one another, confused. David turned on the TV, and a news reporter came on. She was doing a news report on dancers.

  “With grace and beauty, these dancers perform what’s traditionally known as the Japanese flower hat dance,” the reporter said. “They are one of two local dance groups picked to perform in the Thanksgiving Day Parade this year.”

  The reporter explained all about the Japanese folk dancers. When the report was over, Maestra Soto turned the TV off.

  “Okay, dancers. Do you know why I showed you this news report?” she asked.

  “No …” we answered all together.

  “Because that reporter, Rachel Cheng, is coming here next week to do a news story on our dance group, Las Palomas.”

  We all screamed with excitement.

  “Are we gonna be on TV? On the news?” Shakira blurted out.

  “Yes, you are,” Maestra Soto answered.

  We squealed again.

  “And do you know why we’re going to be on the news?” she asked.

  We all shook our heads.

  “Because Las Palomas—our dance group—has also been asked to perform at the Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

  That was it. We all got up and started jumping and screaming and dancing in place. This news was just too exciting—we couldn’t sit still!

  OKAY, boys and girls,” said Maestra Soto as she tried to calm us down. “Settle down, everyone. We don’t have much time. We have been given an extraordinary opportunity. Another dance group had to drop out of the parade at the last minute. The parade organizers called me and asked if Las Palomas could take their place.

  “What do you think I said to that?”

  “Yes!” we all screamed.

  “You’re right—I said yes.” Maestra smil
ed, then looked very serious. “But guess what? The parade is in three weeks. Usually we would have months to prepare. But we have just three short little weeks. Do you think we can do it?”

  “Yes!” we all screamed again.

  “This means we have to work extra hard to make our routine as close to perfect as possible. I need to see all of you at rehearsals four days a week until the parade. Including Saturdays. This will be a big commitment, but I have confidence we can do it. Don’t you, Alyssa?”

  Alyssa is Maestra’s fourteen-year-old niece. She’s a really good mangulina dancer and helps teach the class.

  “I think they can do it … if they’re willing to put in the hard work,” Alyssa replied, smiling at us.

  “I agree,” said Maestra. “Next week that news reporter you just saw, Rachel Cheng, is going to come here and do the story about us. We have to be on our best behavior and get our steps down.”

  “We will!” I shouted.

  “That’s what I like to hear,” answered Maestra.

  Maestra started explaining our rehearsal schedule while Alyssa cleaned up the dance studio. I knew for sure we would be willing to work hard, especially if it meant being in a real news story and being in a parade!

  I work super hard on my news show, “Emma Is On the Air,” all the time. Like when Javier found a worm in his hamburger in the school cafeteria, it took a lot of work to figure out how it got there. But I did it! And after I did my news report on it, the health inspector agreed it was just an accident and no one at our school had to get fired.

  And when Sophia lost her Halloween costume, I had to think really, really hard about what to do. But when we worked together, Sophia, Javier, and I found the costume just in time! We even helped our class win a pizza party!

  Sophia, Javier, and I have officially become the best mystery-solving and news-reporting team at P.S. 387. Everyone knows we can solve any mystery there is … and that’s why we’re famous!

  “Right, Emma? Emma?” Maestra Soto called. I wasn’t listening because I was thinking about how famous we were.

  “Um, sorry, Maestra. Can you repeat that, please?”

  “What I said was, I need everyone to take home these permission slips after class today and get your parents to sign them so you can be on the news and in the parade.”

  I nodded and took my permission slip.

  “Okay, class. That’s it for today. We’ll see you all next Tuesday. Alyssa, can you take the tambora drum and lock it in the closet for me, por favor?” Maestra asked.

  Maestra has told us all about this tambora drum before. It’s a very special drum, handmade by her grandfather in the Dominican Republic. Her abuelo.

  “I’ll take good care of it,” Alyssa promised. She took the drum just as the rest of us all rushed out of class. I had so much to tell my mom and Papi when I got home!

  * * *

  “So can I, can I, Papi? Please, Mom? Will you sign the permission slip, please?” I asked at dinner that night.

  “Of course,” Papi replied.

  “This sounds wonderful,” Mom agreed.

  “But remember,” said Papi, “you’ll be doing a lot of rehearsing, so you may have to give your news show a break for a little while. You can’t do everything at once. Will you be okay with that?”

  “That’s fine!” I shouted.

  My cat, Luna, jumped on my lap when she heard the commotion. Baby Mia squealed with delight. She loves it when Luna sits at the table with us. Even though Mom and Papi don’t love it so much.

  “Sorry, Luna,” I told her, “they won’t let cats perform at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Even special cats who are also reporter assistants.”

  Luna meowed and jumped off my lap and onto her favorite sofa cushion. I asked to be excused from the table. Luna and I raced to my room. I had to practice my magulina moves!

  THAT week was very busy. I was going to dance rehearsals every other day after school. I was so tired, but rehearsals were going really well. Maestra Soto said she was proud of us … but we were missing something: boys. Maestra said we needed more boys to join our dance group for the parade performance. I told her I knew the perfect boy for the job!

  “Um … Emma, I’m really not a very good dancer,” Javier said nervously on his first day of rehearsal.

  “But, Javier, we took mangulina class together in first grade. Remember? You know how to do it.”

  “Yeah, but, Emma, that was two years ago. I did it because my mom made me. Why do you think I stopped? I was terrible!”

  “Oh, I don’t believe that. You’ll be great!” I told him.

  Javier agreed to join our dance group, but I had to promise him two of my cookies at lunch every day for two weeks. And since he has allergies, I had to make my mom give me the gluten-free kind. I told Javier they taste funny and he said, they do not. And I said, they do, too. And he said, how would you know if you haven’t even tried them? And I said, fine, I’ll try them! And actually … they were pretty good!

  Anyway, watching Javier dance was a little funny. Sophia agreed to be his partner, but I think she might regret it. When Maestra said spin to the right, he went left. When Maestra told the boys to grab the girls’ hands, he pulled too hard and Sophia landed on his feet! And when Maestra told the boys to kick their feet, Javier stepped on Sophia’s skirt by accident and they both fell to the ground!

  Maestra’s son, David, stepped in to help.

  “That’s it, Javier,” David instructed. “Use your right foot next time … and then spin.”

  Eventually Javier got better. We all did. We rehearsed so much, my arms felt like Jell-O. And my legs felt wobbly when I walked home from class. But our dance performance was looking great! Shakira and Sophia and I were spinning and stepping and shaking at all the right times. We held our skirts high in the air as we spun around and around.

  The following week, we had a very special visitor at dance class.

  “Okay, boys and girls,” Maestra said with a big smile. “I want to introduce you to someone. This is Rachel Cheng, from the local news station. She is here to do the news story on Las Palomas dance group!”

  We all let out a huge giggle as we said hello. I couldn’t believe there was a real, famous reporter right in front of me. She was holding a real microphone and there was a man with a real camera standing next to her. It was so cool.

  “I want you to be on your best behavior and cooperate with Ms. Cheng, okay?” said Maestra.

  “Okay,” we all replied.

  “Who can tell Ms. Cheng why we are called Las Palomas?”

  “Ooh, me! I can, I can!” I shouted.

  “Wow, you seem to know the answer,” Rachel Cheng said, smiling right at me. “But please, call me Rachel. And this guy here is my video photographer, Christian.” We waved hi to Christian, too. “So,” Rachel continued, “I’d love to know what Las Palomas means.” Then she looked at Christian and motioned to me. He lifted his huge video camera and pointed it right at me! Then Rachel picked up her microphone and pointed that at me as well!

  I wanted to tell her that I was a reporter, too. That I have a microphone almost the same as hers! I was so excited to talk to a real reporter, for a minute I forgot what I was going to say. I took a deep breath. And then I remembered.

  “Las Palomas means ‘the Doves,’ ” I told her. “We are called the Doves because they represent peace and beauty and grace. And so do we.”

  “Wow. I’m very impressed,” said Rachel. I thought for a moment, Maybe she likes me! “Thank you for that explanation. I would love to see your dance routine. Can you all perform it for us?”

  “Yes!” we shouted back.

  “Everyone get into position,” Maestra instructed. “Alyssa, can you go get the tambora drum from the closet? I want to play it for this performance. Thanks.”

  “Sure thing,” Alyssa replied. She ran to the corner of the dance studio to open the closet. When Alyssa came back a few seconds later, she didn’t have the drum with her.
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br />   “Sorry, I forgot I put it in the closet upstairs yesterday. I’ll go get it,” Alyssa explained. Maestra and David looked at her strangely.

  “Okay, while Alyssa goes to get the drum, we will get started. We’ll play the music from my phone instead.”

  Alyssa ran out of the room, and we got into position. As soon as the music started, we knew what to do. We knew all the right moves and made our skirts fly extra high just to impress the reporter. Even Javier managed not to fall down.

  As we were dancing, I saw Alyssa come back into the room. She whispered something to Maestra Soto. Maestra put her hand over her mouth. She looked shocked and worried. Then they both left the room. Shakira and I looked at each other. We didn’t know what was wrong, so we kept dancing until our routine was finished.

  “That was wonderful! Thank you so much for showing that to us,” Rachel said.

  Then Maestra Soto walked back in the room with Alyssa.

  “You’ve done a great job with these kids, Maestra. They’re all so talented,” Rachel said. “I think we’re almost done shooting our story. But I would like to see that special tambora drum before we leave. Can we get some shots of you playing the drum?”

  “Um … well …” Maestra Soto was stuttering. I knew something was wrong. She usually knows exactly what to say. I looked over at Alyssa, and she looked like she was going to be sick!

  “Actually, Rachel,” explained Maestra Soto, “it appears as though the tambora drum is … missing.”

  THE drum is missing?” Rachel asked.

  “It’s all my fault!” Alyssa blurted out. She started crying. “I put it in the closet upstairs and someone stole it!”

  “Well, that doesn’t sound like your fault,” said Rachel. But Alyssa kept crying.

  “It’s such a special drum,” Alyssa said through her tears. “It was handmade in the Dominican Republic! It makes the most beautiful music, and we need it for the parade! Oh, I’m so sorry, Tía. I didn’t mean to,” Alyssa cried. She calls Maestra Soto tía because that means “aunt” in Spanish.

  “It’s okay,” Maestra told her. “It’s not your fault. I know we’ll find it.”