Can Piper make enough money to buy the Dandelion members a clubhouse? Find out in Piper Reed, Party Planner, by author Kimberly Willis Holt and illustrator Christine Davenier Piper Reed and her fellow Dandelion Club members are in need of a clubhouse. Raising money to buy one proves a challenge. Piper, being the resourceful fifth grader that she is, launches her own party-planning business and gets her first job throwing young Brady's birthday celebration. But things don't go as expected on the day of the big event. Fortunately for Piper, her friends and family come to her rescue! Previously published as Piper Reed Gets a Job . “This book is a good addition to the series and is also a natural for fans of Clementine or Judy Moody, as well as readers ready to step beyond Junie B. Jones.” ― School Library Journal “Here, as in the other chapter books in the Piper Reed series, Holt balances serious moments with wit and creates a convincingly childlike sensibility throughout most of the episodic story. Appearing on most double-page spreads, Davenier's lively drawings help bring the characters to life.” ― Booklist Twenty three years ago Kimberly Willis Holt stopped talking about wanting to be a writer and started to pursue her dream. Because of her family's Louisiana roots she considers herself a southerner, but her father's military career took her to places beyond the South, including Paris and Guam. She's the author of more than fifteen books for a wide range of ages, many of which have won awards and honors. Her third novel, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She writes and gardens in Texas. As a young girl growing up in Tours, France, Christine Davenier loved listening to her older sister read fairy tales aloud. But she frequently found herself wondering, What does the princess’s beautiful dress look like? or How exquisite are her jewels? Christine was left to her own imagination, for the books had few illustrations. So it comes as little surprise that today, Christine embraces her career as an illustrator. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to create the illustrations I dreamed about seeing as a child,” she says. When Christine was fourteen, she received her first box of watercolor paints, a gift from her grandmother. That was the beginning of many afternoons spent painting together in her grandmother’s garden. “My grandmother was an extraordinary woman,” Christine says. “Even though she worked in an office all her life, she was an artist through and through. She shared everything she knew about color―in painting and in life. Her wisdom and talent still inspire me today.” She has illustrated many picture books, including Sally Jean, the Bicycle Queen by Cari Best. She lives in Paris, France. Piper Reed, Party Planner By Kimberly Willis Holt Square Fish Copyright © 2011 Kimberly Willis Holt All right reserved. ISBN: 9780312616779 Piper Reed, Party Planner 1 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL B eep, beep . Six thirty. I turned off the alarm, threw off my covers, and popped out of bed. My insides did flip-flops. There was something exciting about the first day of school. Especially when it was everybody's first day of school. Not like last year, when we moved to Pensacola in October and I was the only new kid in class. This year, the first day of school meant new notebooks, new pencils, new shoes, new teacher, and a new seat at the back of the class. Everything would be new except for me.I wondered if Mr. Clark would be my teacher this year. He gave out treat coupons when students got the correct answers. Or maybe I'd be assigned to Mrs. Lindsey. She designed the butterfly garden outside the fifth-grade wing. Her students got extra time outside to take care of the garden.Instead of sitting in the front of the class like my teacher, Ms. Gordon, made me do last year, I planned to pick a seat at the back near the window. That way I could watch butterflies dart around the salvia in the garden. It was going to be a get-off-the-bus kind of year.Then I walked inside the school and everything changed. The school secretary grinned at me from behind the registration table."Good morning, Piper Reed! How was your summer?""How did you know my name?" I asked her. There were hundreds of kids at our school."Piper Reed, everyone knows your name. You're famous at Blue Angels Elementary School." She handed me a piece of paper. "Here's your room assignment." Room 308. "There must be a mistake--308 was my room last year," I said.She shook her head. "There's no mistake. We have more fifth-graders this year, so we had to put one class in the fourth-grade hall."Getting room 308, again, meant I'd have to change my plans. I wouldn't be able to see the butterfly garden. Then I remembered the tree outside the window. Instead of watching butterflies, I'd watch squirrels and birds.On the way to class, I ran into Michael and Nicole. Michael didn't