Here's the first book in the hilarious Moxy Maxwell series, which includes Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank-you Notes and Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano. It wasn't as if Moxy hadn't tried to do her summer reading. She and StuartLittle had been inseparable all summer, like best friends. If Stuart Little wasn'tin her backpack, it was in her lap . . . or holding up the coffee table . . . orgetting splashed when Moxy went swimming. But now it's the end of August—the daybefore fourth grade. And if Moxy doesn't read all of Stuart Little immediately, thereare going to be "consequences." It may look like Moxy is doing nothing, but actuallyshe is very busy with a zillion highly crucial things—like cleaning up her room (sortof) and training her dog and taking a much-needed rest in the hammock. Just lookat the pictures her twin brother Mark takes to document it all—they're scatteredthroughout—and you'll see why it's so difficult to make time for a book about a mouse. Of course our heroine does manage to finish her book, falling so in love with itthat she finds herself reading under the covers with a flashlight, late into thenight. From the Hardcover edition.

Peggy Gifford's original plan was to become a famous (but really nice) actress. Butafter touring Ohio as Winnie-the-Pooh, she decided to become a writer instead. Sheholds an MFA from the Iowa Writer's Workshop, and her work has appeared in the IowaReview, the Antioch Review, and women's magazines like Redbook. This is her firstnovel for children. She lives in New York, New York and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Valorie Fisher is the author-illustrator of How High Can a Dinosaur Count?, whichrecevied two starred reviews, among other titles. Her first two picture books, MyBig Brother and My Big Sister—both Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award winners—were,like Moxy Maxwell, illustrated with photographs. She lives in Cornwall, Connecticut.From the Hardcover edition.