Write On! Read Free Page A

different clothes. No one would be interested in that.
    Katie had hoped that they could make the vegetarian lasagna, but Mrs. Lock didn’t have any spinach or tomato sauce in the house. So Katie’s part of the website didn’t even get started.
    “Did you finish Only Orangutans Hang from Trees ?” Emma W. asked as she plopped down next to Katie.
    Finish? She hadn’t even started!
    “No, not yet,” Katie said.
    “Oh, then I won’t tell you anything. It’s a total surprise!” Emma exclaimed. “Nellie Farrow is an amazing author. I wish I knew how she comes up with her ideas.”
    “So do I,” Katie said.
    “Is your dad still away on business?” Emma asked, changing the subject.
    Katie nodded. “He won’t be home until Saturday. That means I have to spend tonight at the mall with my mom. She’s working late.”
    “Would you want to come to my house instead? My mom said I could invite a friend to dinner,” Emma told her.
    Katie knew that would be so much fun. But she couldn’t go. She had her cooking class right after school. And then she needed to write her tall tale.
    Katie scowled. If it wasn’t for her homework, she would be able to have dinner at Emma’s tonight. And maybe Emma’s fifteen-year-old sister, Lacey, would let her listen to some of her new CDs, like she did the last time Katie was over.
    But no . Instead of having all that fun, tonight Katie was going to be stuck in the back office of the Book Nook, writing. That stupid story was spoiling everything! Writing was no fun!
    Right then and there Katie decided that she didn’t want to be an author after all. Writing was too hard.
    Instead, she would just grow up to be a dog-training teacher who cooked.

Chapter 5
    That evening, Katie sat in the back office of the Book Nook, staring at a blank sheet of paper. She was waiting for a story to pop into her head. But she couldn’t think of anything . . . except how mad she was that she couldn’t think of anything.
    Grrr. It wasn’t fair. The Book Nook was filled with books written by people with great ideas for stories. Some of the authors had come up with lots of ideas. Katie couldn’t even think of one.
    Then, suddenly, Katie did get an idea. A really great idea. There had to be tall-tale books in the store. She could read a few of them. Then she could use one of those ideas for her story!
    Katie dashed out of the office and ran to the children’s section of the store. She couldn’t wait to find the tall-tale books. If she could find a good story and write it down fast enough, maybe she could still go to Emma’s house for dinner.
    Katie looked at the shelves. There were biographies, chapter books, picture books, and even a few pop-up books. Finally, she spotted the tall-tale books. They were all the way up on the top shelf.
    She looked around for a ladder. There wasn’t one anywhere. Still, she was going to reach those books somehow. Maybe if she jumped . . .
    Boing! Katie leaped up as high as she could. Her fingers brushed against the bottom of one of the tall-tale books. But she couldn’t grab it.
    Boing! She jumped again, reaching up her arm really, really high. This time she was able to grab the spine of one of the books and . . .

    CRASH! A whole row of tall-tale books flew off the shelf! One of them hit Katie right in the head. Ouch.
    All of the customers in the store turned around. A few started toward Katie to help her.
    “It’s okay, folks,” Mrs. Carew said as she hurried over. “I’ll take care of her.”
    Katie blushed. This was so embarrassing. She wanted to hide under the pile of books.
    “Katie, are you all right?” Mrs. Carew asked her.
    “I’m fine,” she murmured.
    “What were you looking for?” Mrs. Carew asked her.
    “Um, just a book.”
    Mrs. Carew picked up one of the books that had fallen to the floor. “Oh, tall tales. These are funny.” She looked at her daughter. “You finished your homework already? That was fast.”
    Katie shook her head. “Not