A Whirlwind Vacation

Table of Contents

 

 

For my super-duper parents—N.K.

 

 

For Barbara, world traveler—J&W

GROSSET
&
DUNLAP
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Text copyright © 2005 by Nancy Krulik. Illustrations copyright © 2005 by John and

Wendy. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin
Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET &
DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.

 

Library of Congress Control Number: 2004029313

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-14193-9

“Oh, Mom, Dad, look at that beautiful building!” Katie Carew shouted as she rode through the streets of London, England, in a red double-decker bus. Katie thought the building they were riding past was the most amazing place she had ever seen. The huge red brick mansion was surrounded by big black and gold gates. There was a bright green lawn and beautiful gardens all around the building.

“That's Kensington Palace,” Vicki, a woman with hair almost as red as Katie‘s, explained. Vicki was a tour guide. It was her job to tell the people in Katie's tour group all about the European cities they were visiting on their vacation.

“Is that where the Queen lives?” Katie asked her.

Vicki shook her head. “The Queen lives in Buckingham Palace. At least some of the time. She has several residences.”

“Have you ever seen the Queen?” Katie asked.

Vicki nodded. “But only from a distance during a parade.”

“I saw the president once,” a girl with short, curly brown hair and big brown eyes piped up. She was sitting across the aisle from Katie and her parents. “When he came to Boston. Remember, Daddy?”

“I do, Annabelle,” her father agreed. “But we only got a glimpse of his limousine.”

The girl frowned. “Well, he was in the limo,” she insisted.

“I think that's very exciting, Annabelle,” Vicki said. She turned to Katie. “It looks like you girls are around the same age. I think you will be great mates on this journey.”

Katie smiled at Annabelle. Even though Katie thought Annabelle seemed a little snobby, at least she was a kid. The rest of the group was all grown-ups.

Katie looked around the bus. In the front were the Penderbottoms, an older couple who liked art museums and shopping.

The Fishmans were on their honeymoon. They barely spoke to anyone else on the tour. And they kissed a lot.

The Garcias and the McIntyres were two couples who went on vacation together every year. They were always taking pictures of one another in front of signs, statues, and buildings.

Miss Cornblau and Miss Framingham liked to sit in the back of the bus. They were teachers. Katie
really
didn't want to hang out with teachers. After all, she was on vacation.

So that left Annabelle. She was on this trip with her parents, the Bridgemans.

“So what do you think of London so far?” Katie asked Annabelle.

“I love it. Especially the accents. We don't talk like that in Boston,” Annabelle answered.

“I think
everything
here is amazing,” Katie said. “The buildings are so beautiful and so old.”

“Well, I'm kind of used to old buildings. We have a lot of them in Boston,” Annabelle boasted.

“Yes, but they're not
this
old,” Mrs. Bridgeman said. “Remember, Annabelle, there was a London long before there was a Boston.”

“Did you grow up in London?” Katie asked Vicki. She wanted to talk about England, not Boston.

The tour guide nodded. “I lived in London until I was eighteen. Then I moved around Europe a lot.”

“You must speak quite a few languages,” Katie's dad said.

“Oh, yes,” Vicki replied. “I speak English, French, Spanish, and Italian. In fact, the only language I'll have trouble with on this trip is American.”

Katie giggled. She'd only been in London for one day, but already she had found that English people used different words than Americans. They called the bathroom the “loo.” They also called elevators “lifts.” Sweaters were called “jumpers,” and underpants were called “knickers.”

“I've never been happy staying in one place for very long,” Vicki explained. “I like to go wherever the wind takes me.”

Katie shuddered. That didn't sound good to her. Katie didn't like winds. Not at all.

That was because Katie knew the wind could take you places you didn't want to go. Or at least the
magic
wind could.

The magic wind was a wild tornado that blew just around Katie. It was so powerful that every time it came, it turned her into somebody else! Katie never knew when the wind would arrive. But when it did, her whole world was turned upside down ...
switcheroo
!

Katie's adventures with the magic wind had started last year, when she was in third grade. She'd had a terrible day. First she'd lost the football game for her team. She'd gotten mud all over her favorite pants, and burped really loudly in front of the whole class. George Brennan started calling her Katie Kazoo, instead of Katie Carew. (Actually, now Katie kind of liked that name!)

That night, Katie had wished she could be anyone other than herself. There must have been a shooting star overhead when she made that wish, because the very next day the magic wind came. It turned Katie into Speedy, the class hamster! Katie spent the whole morning going round and round on a hamster wheel!

The magic wind came back again and again after that. Sometimes it changed Katie into other kids—like her best friends, Jeremy and Suzanne. Other times it turned her into adults—like her school principal, Mr. Kane, or Louie, the man who owned the pizzeria in the Cherrydale Mall.