Ava and Pip Read Free Page A

in trouble because instead of a lemonade stand, I wanted to have a flower shop, so I cut all of Mom and Dad’s tulips so we could sell them. (Oops!)
    Anyway, while I was waiting in the waiting room, I started thinking about how Dr. Gross does cat scans on cat s and lab tests on Labs (Labrador retrievers). And I came up with an unbelievable four-word palindrome: Step On No Pets (S-T-E-P-O-N-N-O-P-E-T-S).
    I was really proud of myself, and I told Mom I was going to make them a sign. I even started digging markers out of her drawer. But Mom said, “Not now, Ava! Can’t you see I’m trying to finish up?”
    I said, “Okay.” But it was not okay. It was not one bit okay! In fact, it made me feel stepped on.
    At 5, Mom made sure all the animals were happy. There were lots of cats and dogs, two birds, two hamsters, one ferret, and a green basilisk lizard that would probably be walking on water if it weren’t stuck in a tank at Dr. Gross’s. Mom and I locked up, and I asked where the lizard came from. She said Central America and started telling me about a famous palindrome about a Central American waterway: “A man. A plan. A canal. Panama” (A-M-A-N-A-P-L-A-N-A-C-A-N-A-L-P-A-N-A-M-A).
    â€œH-U-H,” I said, and wondered how many other kids have word-nerd families and silent siblings and moms who sometimes seem like they care more about other people’s pets than their own daughter.
    AVA ALL ALONE?

9/19
    SATURDAY, BEDTIME
    DEAR DIARY,
    I found a two-word note from Pip on my desk. It said: “Wanna talk?”
    I do, but her lights are off, and she gets mad when I wake her up.
    AVA IN SUSPENSE

9/20
    AFTERNOON
    DEAR DIARY,
    Pip and I were on the floor in her room doing Word Scrambles. I asked what she wanted to talk about, but she said she changed her mind.
    I said, “That’s not fair!”
    She shrugged.
    Dad shouted up from the kitchen, “Who wants a Sunday sundae?”
    A Sunday sundae is my favorite dessert, so I shouted, “Meeeee!” and ran downstairs.
    While Dad was sprinkling nuts on our ice cream, I told him about the contest. Big mistake! He said I should definitely submit a story.
    I told him my ideas about S-E-N-I-L-E-F-E-L-I-N-E-S and S-T-A-R-R-A-T-S.
    He asked, “Does the ‘living creature’ have to be a palindrome?”
    I said, “No,” and started feeling small.
    â€œThen think big,” he said. “You’ll come up with something. You have a facility with language.”
    â€œH-U-H?” I asked palindromically.
    â€œA way with words.” He smiled. “Be patient. You’ll find your voice.”
    Dad says the best writers have a “voice,” which means their words flow naturally, and you can recognize their style, and it’s almost as if you can “hear” them reading to you.
    I wish I had a “voice.”
    I wish I had a subject!
    I guess I should be glad I can write about anything. Anything at all. Anything in the whole wide world! Anything alive!
    But what should I write about? Princesses or presidents? Lions or lionfish? Friends or enemies? Frenemies??
    Blank pages can be scary.
    And I’m not patient.
    â€œA way with words”? Right now I feel like shouting: “Away with words!”
    AVA THE ANXIOUS

9/20
    BEDTIME
    DEAR DIARY,
    Pip’s door was open a crack, so I said, “Pip, c’mon, tell me the thing you were going to tell me.”
    â€œIt’s not a thing,” she said. “It’s a person.” Then she said she was going to bed, but that tomorrow we could do some more Word Scrambles.
    AVA IN MYSTERY



9/27
    MORNING
    DEAR DIARY,
    Not only have I not found my voice, I’ve lost my pen!! The silver one Dad brought me back from Ireland!
    Last night when we were running errands, Dad said that even though Ireland is not a big country, four Irish writers got the biggest prize a writer can get: the Nobel Prize.
    I couldn’t bring myself