Chapter 1: Write Now Shermy took one step inside Room 8 and froze. A stranger was sitting at Mr. Craig''s desk! A stranger wearing a bright green dress printed all over with book covers. Her dark braids bounced on her shoulders as she swiveled in Mr. Craig''s chair. "Good morning, second-grade friends! Ready to learn?" The stranger twirled all the way around. Mr. Craig never twirled.

A bunch of kids wiggled past Shermy, including his best buddy, Shake, who walked right up to the lady and asked, "Who are you?" She smiled. "Ms. Frizzle." "From the Magic School Bus books?" asked Hazel. "Seriously?" Shake and Shermy said at the same time. Ms. Frizzle wasn''t real. Was she? The lady swiveled to face them.

"Just kidding. I''m Ms. Book." "Seriously?" Shake and Shermy repeated. "Seriously." She stopped spinning, thank goodness. Shermy was getting dizzy. "What''s in there?" Della pointed at an old-fashioned suitcase by the desk.

Ms. Book flipped the latches and opened the ­suitcase. "Books! Can I read this one?" Shake picked up a Fly Guy. How could Shake be distracted by books at a time like this? "Where''s Mr. Craig?" Shermy asked. Ms. Book explained that Mr. Craig had the flu and would be home for a while.

"So you''re a substitute," Jaxon said. "Well, there''s no substitute for Mr. Craig," Ms. Book admitted. "I know that. He and I used to teach ­together. But I am here to guide your learning until he''s ­recovered." "I like your dress," Clair said.

"And your bracelets," Edgar added. I like Mr. Craig , Shermy thought. Even if his arm didn''t jingle when he talked. "Mr. Craig said he wrote up a lesson plan. But--" Ms. Book sighed.

"He can''t remember where he left it." "That happens a lot," said Connor. Ms. Book pulled a flower-shaped notebook from one dress pocket and a feathery pen from the other. "So, I''m counting on you problem solvers to help plan our day." Shermy couldn''t believe his ears. Kids didn''t make lesson plans. Teachers did! He raised his hand, but kids were already calling out suggestions: Math.

­Science. Journaling. And it got worse after that. Ms. Book handed out the social studies maps during math time. And then she did spelling before recess instead of after. It made Shermy''s head hurt so much that he spelled surprise with only one r. He had never misspelled that word before.

"Aren''t you going to eat your cookie?" Shake asked at lunchtime. "I sort of have a headache." Shermy pushed the snickerdoodle over to Shake. "Are you getting sick? Maybe that flu like Mr. Craig?" Shake demolished the cookie in two bites. "Maybe you should drink some more water?" Shermy didn''t need water. He needed Mr. Craig back.

He needed things to be the same way they always were. "I hope we don''t have Ms. Book tomorrow." "Don''t you like her?" "She''s nice," Shermy said. "But she''s mixed everything up. Spelling before recess!" He shook his head. "Even if we''re learning out of order, we''re still learning." Shake crunched on a baby carrot.

"And she has a suitcase full of books. Mr. Craig doesn''t have that." "And she doesn''t lose stuff," Hazel chimed in. Connor sighed. "I miss our search parties." Shermy missed everything. He followed Shake out to recess but didn''t join in the soccer game.

"Time for science," Ms. Book said when they came back in from playground. Shermy''s peanut butter and sweet pickle sandwich sat in his stomach like a blob of dried-out slime. He couldn''t hold back any longer. "It''s supposed to be language arts after lunch." Ms. Book nodded. "There have been a lot of changes today, I know.

" Shermy perked up. "But I really want to save language arts for last today. Because I have an astounding idea." Shermy slumped in his desk. This day was one big jumble, like the snarl of fishing line in Grandpa Gordy''s tackle box. Shermy didn''t even pay attention to the ­instructions for the science experiment. Shake had to tell him what to do. When they''d all finished building towers with index cards--Edgar''s pod built the tallest one--Ms.

Book''s wrists jingled again. "Time to tidy up for language arts!" Shermy and Shake carefully moved their tower to the counter, but it fell apart when they set it down. What else could they expect on a fall-apart day? Language arts was Shermy''s favorite subject, but not when it was out of order. Ms. Book''s bracelets jingled as she clap-clappa-clap-clapped for attention. "Are you ready to hear my big idea?" "Yes!!" called the class. Shermy doodled in his jottings journal. "I have noticed what fabulous readers you are.

My suitcase is practically empty!" Ms. Book pointed. "So I thought we could all write letters to our favorite authors." "You too?" asked Della. "Of course." Ms. Book picked up a marker. "Let''s see if I can remember the parts of a letter.

Hmm. What do I start with?" "Dear someone!" Connor called out. "That''s definitely important. But there''s something that comes before that," Ms. Book said. She didn''t even tell him to raise his hand. Shermy mumbled into his journal. "The heading.

" He had a lot of practice writing letters to Grandpa Gordy when his grandpa stayed with Uncle Glen in California. "That''s right. The heading!" Shermy dropped his pencil. Ms. Book must have ­super hearing. She drew a rectangle on the whiteboard. "Here''s our letter. And this is where the heading goes.

" She wrote the date on the top right-hand side. " Then comes the greeting, like ''Dear Ms. Natalie Lloyd.'' That''s my ­favorite author." "Can I write ''Dear Dori Hillestad Butler''?" asked Connor. "Her Buddy Files books are so good." "That''s another fine way to start," said Ms. Book.

Shermy decided to write "Dear Best Author in the World, Bianca Hernandez" for his greeting. She was the author of the Wilderness Adventures series. The most awesome-possum books ever! "Next comes the body of the letter." Ms. Book paused, tapping the end of the dry-erase marker on her cheek. "What sorts of things could we write?" "We could ask if they have a dog," said Edgar. "Or cat," Hazel and Izzy said at the same time. They high-fived.

"Team Cats!" "We could say we think they''re good writers," said Shake. "Or tell them our favorite part of their book," said Shermy. "Fantastic ideas!" Ms. Book''s bracelets jingled and jangled as she wrote down their suggestions and underlined each of them in a different color. Having fantastic ideas that get underlined could make a person feel taller. Having fantastic ideas could erase the wibble-wobbles of an out-of-order day. Having fantastic ideas could make a person contribute to the class discussion. Shermy raised his hand.

"The last part is called the closing." "Yes!" Ms. Book cheered. "That''s like saying goodbye on the page. Can we think of some ways to close our letters?" She wrote down all the suggestions, after telling Shake that "Later, dude" was probably better for a letter to a friend than to an author. "Can we really send these?" asked Hazel. "Of course!" said Ms. Book.

"I''ll bring stamps ­tomorrow." "Do you think they''ll write back?" asked Shake. "Well, writers are busy people. But I imagine they''ll reply if they can," answered Ms. Book. "Let''s get started!" Shermy printed in his very best penmanship. He knew Bianca Hernandez would write back. And right away, too.

That''s because he was going to sign his letter "Your Biggest Fan, Shermy Koda." She''d probably write back the very day she got it.