It was Saturday morning and the sun was shining through our windows. It made me feel all happy and sparkly and as though something interesting might happen. "I wonder what it will be," I said to Pink Rabbit as we made our way down the stairs to breakfast. Pink Rabbit bounced up and down beside me. He used to be my favorite stuffed toy, but my mom brought him to life with her wand. She can do things like that because she's a fairy! "Good morning, Isadora," yawned Dad, who was just coming in through the front door. He had been on his nightly fly. Dad is a vampire, so he stays up all night and sleeps during the daytime. He stepped into the hallway, and I noticed that he was standing on a colorful piece of paper lying by the doormat. "What's that?" I said, pulling it out from under his shiny black shoe. "Junk mail probably," said Dad. But it didn't look like junk mail to me. As I smoothed out the crumples, I saw that the piece of paper was a big glittering poster with a picture of a carousel in the middle of it. The carousel was covered with twinkle lights and spinning under a starry sky. Delighted children sat on top of fancily dressed ponies and held clouds of fluffy pink cotton candy in their hands. CARNIVAL SPECTACULAR! shouted the bold writing above the carousel. NEXT WEEKEND ONLY! "Oh wow, Dad!" I said. "Can we go? Please?" "Hmm," said Dad as I followed him into the kitchen. "I'm not sure. Ask Mom." She was at the kitchen table with my baby sister. Mom was spooning strawberry yogurt into Honeyblossom's mouth. I held the poster up for Mom to see. "Look!" I said. "Can we go?" "A carnival?" said Mom dubiously. "A human fair . . . I'm not sure. Ask Dad." "I've asked Dad!" I cried. "He told me to ask you!" "Oh," said Mom, taking another look at the poster. "Well . . . " "Please," I begged. " Wouldn't you rather go to a vampire carnival?" asked Dad. "I used to love going to vampire carnivals with my friends when I was a young boy. All those spooky rides lit by flickering candles in the dead of night. And delicious red food. My favorite ride was the coffin blaster." "Or we could go to a fairy carnival," suggested Mom quickly. "Fairy carnivals are lovely. All full of flowers and beautiful nature. I used to like going on the little flower-cup ride with my friends." "Pfft!" said Dad. "The coffin blaster is much more exciting!" "But not as pretty," pointed out Mom. "Oh, but I really, really would like to go to the Carnival Spectacular," I said. "And it's only open next weekend. Please can we go? I promise I'll clean my whole bedroom!" "Maybe," said Mom. "We'll think about it." Excerpted from Isadora Moon Saves the Carnival by Harriet Muncaster All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
