The Secret of the Green Skin, 6 Paperback - 2003

Summary

First line

Todd Sloan and Noelle Trocoderro hurried down the hall to Mr. Merlin's classroom.

Excerpt

<P><Font size="+1"><B><CENTER>Chapter One</CENTER></B></Font>
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Todd Sloan and Noelle Trocoderro hurried down the hall to Mr. Merlin's classroom.
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They had been helping their principal, Mrs. Jenkins, put cans of food in a box for a family whose house had burned down.
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Mrs. Jenkins told them they didn't need tardy slips.
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She said she would call Mr. Merlin over the public-address system to tell him they were on their way.
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That made Todd feel important.
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Just then JoAnn Dickens passed them in the hall.
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She didn't say anything.
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<I>That's strange,</I> Todd thought. JoAnn was always friendly. He wondered what was wrong.
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JoAnn was the new girl in their class.
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Her family had been in town for only a couple of months.
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They owned a family-style restaurant.
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Todd and his parents were planning to eat there tonight.
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"JoAnn!" Todd called. "Wait up!"
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JoAnn stopped. She had tears in her eyes, and her nose was running.
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"What's wrong?" Todd asked.
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"Something terrible happened last night," JoAnn answered, sobbing.
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"Some people who ate at our restaurant said my parents' cooking made them sick.
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"They want the Health Department to shut us down.
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"If that happens, we may have to move.
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"I don't want to move. I like it here."
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"How did the people get sick?" Noelle asked.
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"It's a mystery," JoAnn said.
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"We buy all of our food locally so that we know it's fresh, and we keep our kitchen spotless."
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JoAnn let out another sob. "I don't want to talk about it. It makes me too sad."
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She turned and hurried on down the hall.
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Todd and Noelle followed her.
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They reached Mr. Merlin's class just as JoAnn handed him her tardy slip.
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The rest of the students were copying spelling words off the chalkboard.
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They weren't paying any attention to JoAnn. They didn't notice that she had been crying.
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"Let's tell Mr. Merlin about JoAnn," Todd whispered to Noelle.
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"That's a good idea," Noelle whispered back.
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Mr. Merlin's class was known as the Third-Grade Detectives.
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They helped the police solve crimes.
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Sometimes they worked with Dr. Smiley.
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She was Mr. Merlin's friend.
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She was also a police scientist.
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Dr. Smiley even had a police laboratory in the basement of her home.
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She used it when she needed to work on a mystery after she got home.
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Dr. Smiley let the Third-Grade Detectives use her laboratory when they were trying to solve a mystery, too.
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"Mr. Merlin," Noelle whispered, "I think we have a new mystery to solve."
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Todd told Mr. Merlin what had happened at JoAnn's family's restaurant. "If we can prove it wasn't her parents' fault, then maybe the Health Department won't shut them down."
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"And JoAnn won't have to move," Noelle added.
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"I wondered what was upsetting her," Mr. Merlin said. "Well, you'll need to talk to JoAnn first. Make sure she won't mind if we try to solve the mystery for her."
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Todd and Noelle decided to talk to JoAnn at recess.
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They took their seats and started copying their spelling words.
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"Study these words carefully," Mr. Merlin told the class when everyone was finished.
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"We'll have a test on them tomorrow.
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"Now get out your science books," he said. "We're going to talk about edible tubers."
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"Yuck!" Leon Dennis said. "I'd never eat tubers!"
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"Me either," Misty Goforth said.
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"We eat them all the time at our house," Amber Lee Johnson said.
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Todd looked at Noelle and rolled his eyes. He'd always thought there was something weird about Amber Lee's family.
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Mr. Merlin didn't say anything.
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He just smiled.
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<I>He probably thinks Amber Lee's family is weird, too,</I> Todd thought.
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Mr. Merlin told the class to turn to page 25 in their books.
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Todd saw a picture of a <I>potato!</I>
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He had been eating tubers all his life, and he hadn't even known it.
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Todd looked over at Amber Lee.
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Maybe she wasn't so weird after all, he decided.
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Mr. Merlin told them all about potatoes.
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They were usually grown from the <I>eyes</I> of other potatoes.
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The eyes were really buds that grew on the potato skin.
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These buds produced sprouts.
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"That's what happens to our potatoes if we don't use them right away!" Misty said. "They grow lots of sprouts!"
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"Exactly," Mr. Merlin said.
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"With proper sunshine, the leaves produce more food than the plant can use," Mr. Merlin continued.
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"That's when the leaves send the extra food down to be stored in the root of the potato plant.
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"Potatoes are really just thick roots that grow underground.
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"As the potatoes get bigger, their skin gets tougher and tougher.
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"That keeps the moisture inside and protects the potato from bacteria that can cause it to rot.
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"Potatoes are good for us.
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"They're full of nutrients."
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"I love all kinds of potatoes," Leon said. "Baked, fried, boiled, raw -- "
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Before Leon could finish, the recess bell rang, and Mr. Merlin's class headed outside.
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JoAnn ran to a tree at the edge of the playground and sat down underneath it.
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Todd and Noelle joined her.
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They told JoAnn all about Mr. Merlin's Third-Grade Detectives.
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"Now we want to solve your mystery," Todd said.
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<FONT SIZE="-1">Text copyright &#169; 2003 by George Edward Stanley</FONT>

Media reviews

Citations

• Booklist, 05/01/2003, Page 1529
• Hornbook Guide to Children, 07/01/2003, Page 86
• School Library Journal, 08/01/2003, Page 144