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Chapter 1: Winter Break Is Around The Corner!

The sky was dark and cloudy, and snowflakes drifted through the air towards the ground. The roofs of the houses were pure white, and the roads were icy. We begin our story at Third Street School on the last day of school before winter vacation. Inside, Miss Grotke's class was having a party. The fourth graders were watching Elf, listening to their iPods, whizzing paper airplanes through the air, reading, playing board games, Nintendo DS's, and PSPs, and just having a good amount of fun. Mikey Blumberg was doing something much different: writing a letter to Santa Claus.

Dear Santa,

I hope everything's okay. How are Mrs. Claus, the reindeer (including Rudolph), and the elves (including Buddy and Hermey)? I'm feeling exultant that it's the last day of school before winter break. My friends and I are going on a journey to Birdwell Island right after we get out of school, but I wonder if the ferry still operates? I heard a rumor once that you shave, but I'm glad it's just a joke. I've obeyed everything I've been...

Ashley Spinelli interrupted. "So Mikey, you still sweatin' over that letter to Santa?"
"Not that bad, Spinelli," Mikey replied. "Ever watched Clifford The Big Red Dog before?"
"That show is the BOMB!" Spinelli said. "It's even better than that rip-off kindergarten show, Bonky."
"I agree," Mikey said. "I'm trying to make my Christmas list at least five pages long."

I've obeyed everything I've been told. I'll write my Christmas list soon.

~Mikey Blumberg

T.J. Detweiler was reading a travel magazine, and something caught his eye. "Guys, Birdwell Island's changed recently. It has a huge new fun center, arcade, and go-kart track on the boardwalk."
"We gotta check upcoming events, too, you know," Vince LaSalle said.
"Galileo, where's the geographic location of Birdwell Island?" Gretchen Grundler asked.
"It appears to be just a few miles east of the Massachusetts coast," Galileo said. "It can be reached by a ferry outside of Boston."
"I don't know why the dogs from the show don't talk to the humans," Gus Griswald said. "It's just so-"
Suddenly, the clock struck 11:30 a.m. and the bell rang for a snowy recess. The kids cheered and ran out the classroom door. "Alright! Time for a snowball brawl!" Spinelli hooted.

Outside, the kids built snowmen, made snow angels, ran around, and had snowball fights. Spinelli was the ultimate champion and knocked the members of the other team out. She was just about to ask Mikey what he wanted from Santa when paf! a huge snowball from inside the Ashleys' hideout of tires hit her right in the head. The Ashleys broke into laughter.
"What're ya doin'?" Spinelli asked angrily. "Tryin' to make my winter break dreams turn out false?"
"You're just so unlucky, and you know it," Ashley Quinlan replied with a sneer. Ashley Beaulet giggled.
"If I were her, I'd hide in my room forever," Ashley Tomasian said sarcastically into Ashley Armbruster's ear.
"Don't make me get back at you!" Spinelli said, raising her fist. She walked away, groaning. "Where were we, Mikey? Oh, right. Have you thought-"
"I know a few things I want, but I'll write them down later," Mikey said.
Miss Finster was on recess duty when she saw a little boy stumble into a snowman built by Randall Weems. He started to cry like a girl.
"What a crybaby," Randall said. Miss Finster went over to the boy.
"Spend the rest of recess in..." She pointed to another area. "...the Box!"

The bell rang for lunch, and the gang sat down at their own table after they got their lunches. "Hi there, Principal Prickly, sir," T.J. said as he gave Principal Prickly a tap on the back. "Nice weather we're havin', huh?"
"Always delightful, Detweiler," Principal Prickly replied. He checked his watch. "Aw, geez. I'm gonna be late for the meeting in the teachers' lounge!" He ran off.
"Howdy diddy!" a kindergartener's voice shouted. Principal Prickly trod on a leg and fell over. The tribe of tattooed kindergarteners went insane. Miss Finster whistled from the upstairs balcony in the cafeteria.
"OKAY! QUIET DOWN, YOU HOOLIGANS, OR YOU'LL BE IN DETENTION TILL CHRISTMAS YET TO COME!" she yelled at the kindergarteners.
"I just got a text from Cornchip Girl that she used to have a stuffed Clifford," Vince said.
"Why aren't there any t-shirts or clothing items from the show that focus on Cleo?" Spinelli asked. "I've seen a lot that focus on Clifford and others that focus on T-Bone."
"Oh, god," Mikey said as he opened his Mr. Pibb. "Tubby has a t-shirt that says 'Super T' on it."
"Didn't he wear that in the Kindergarten Derby three months ago?" T.J. asked.
"Yeah," Vince chuckled. "Everyone had the spirit of the Clifford TV show, so they all called him 'Super T-Bone.'"
"Man, that kid went through the whole thing without messing up!" Gus said.

At 2:55 p.m, five minutes before school let out, Miss Grotke gave back graded assignments and report cards from the second nine weeks. Gretchen got straight A's, Mikey got all A's and a B, Vince got half B's and half A's, Gus got all A's and two B's, T.J. got straight A's, and Spinelli got all B's and an F (for conduct). After that, the class started to play Hangman on the blackboard. A question ("Guess where we're spending our break?") was written by the hanger. "Y" was called, but there were no Y's, so the head was drawn. "G" was called, but there were no G's, so the torso was drawn. Later, "L" was called, and there were three L's. "B" was called, and there was one B. "Does anyone think they have it?" Miss Grotke asked. "Theresa?"
Cornchip Girl stood up and said, "Birdwell Island!"
"You got it," T.J. said as he wrote the answer down in the remaining blanks.
"In my opinion, playing Hangman in a classroom is good, joyful karma. There are many Clifford fans out there, and-"
"Miss Grotke," Spinelli said, "I really don't mean to interrupt this conversation, but..." She pointed at the clock. There were fifteen seconds left.
"Be my guest," Miss Grotke said with a smile.
Ten seconds left. "TEN!" the whole class said in unison. "NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!" The bell rang, and students jumped up and down, stood on the desks, and ran out into the hallway, cheering. "Farewell, Merry Christmas, and happy holidays!" Miss Grotke said.

The whole school ran out the double doors at the front of the school. Miss Finster, standing by her pink '50s Ford Thunderbird, yelled, "HEY! STOP RUNNING EVERYWHERE! STOP IT!" She sang "The Man From Over There" to herself as she got in her car and drove off.
"All in favor of going to Birdwell Island say, 'Aye!'" T.J. called to the other Third Street kids. "AYE!" A plethora of them ran towards the Van Hool motorcoach bound for the Massachusetts ferry port. Our six protagonists got on after them and sat down in their seats. Spinelli got a text on her phone:

Hi Ashley! It's Mom! Your dad and I are going to Birdwell Island in our cars while you're on the charter bus. And guess what? We've enrolled you in Mademoiselle Povlova's Salon for Independent Movement. She has a new location there. She'll be so pleased to see you again!

Spinelli looked out the window and saw her dad waving from his old blue Honda Accord coupe and her mom waving from her silver Jaguar S-Type. "No other parents are going," she said to herself. She gazed at the words "Mademoiselle Povlova's Salon for Independent Movement" and sighed. "Man, it can't get much worse than this." The motorcoach drove off, and the kids outside said goodbye. And so did the other parents. Gus' dad saluted to him. Now was the time to start having fun.