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  But Wally didn’t eat the cookie. Instead, he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, wrapped the cookie, and put it away.

  Ma looked puzzled. So did Miss Ashley. So did everyone else.

  Miss Ashley gave a little cough. “Yes, well . . . it’s fine to save it for later if you’re not hungry, Wally.”

  Wally blushed and stared out the window.

  “What kind of weird kid doesn’t like cookies?” Logan heard someone say.

  “Ann Elizabeth Pryce!”

  Logan whipped around. Ma was rushing across the room toward Annie.

  Logan gasped. Annie was stomping around on his Wonder Walkers! She must have brought them inside.

  “Where did you get those strange-looking things?” Ma demanded.

  “They’re Lolo’s Under Walkers. Don’t they make me look so very tall? Like I’m six years old or maybe even twelve?” Annie said eagerly.

  All eyes were on Logan. Anthony gave him a sympathetic smile. Logan rested his head on his hands.

  Today was not quite a good day, after all.

  THE MISSING BOOK

  At the end of the day, Miss Ashley told the students to choose their new library books for the week.

  “To be fair, I’m starting a lottery system. I wrote down all your names on scrap paper and put them in this bonnet. When I say your name, you may go to the shelf and select your book,” Miss Ashley explained.

  “Please pick my name. Please pick my name,” Tess murmured under her breath.

  Miss Ashley held up a scrap of paper. “Tess Pryce!” she called out.

  Beaming, Tess jumped to her feet and half ran to the library shelves.

  She stopped in front of the B books and trailed her fingers across the spines. “Birds of North America. Where is Birds of North America? Wait, it’s not here!” she cried out.

  Miss Ashley frowned. “Hmm . . . did someone take it out last week?”

  “He did!” Greta and Nellie both pointed to Wally.

  Wally mumbled something.

  “I’m sorry, Wally. What did you say?” asked Miss Ashley.

  “I said I returned it to the shelf,” Wally repeated. “First thing this morning. I put it back next to The Blue Fairy Book.”

  Tess scanned the shelves again. “No, it’s definitely not here!”

  “I’m sure there’s a good explanation. Perhaps it ended up in the wrong place. Tess, is there another book you’d like to select?” asked Miss Ashley.

  “No, ma’am. I’ve been waiting all week for this one,” Tess said miserably.

  “Well, then. I’ll do another search for it later. In the meantime, let’s continue with the lottery. It’s nearly time to go home,” Miss Ashley told the class.

  Outside, everyone talked about Wally.

  “I bet he stole the book,” Lenny said snidely.

  “He’s a thief!” Greta agreed.

  “A thief who won’t eat cookies,” Nellie added.

  Drew and Tess got caught up in the discussion too. The only students who weren’t saying mean things about Wally were Logan and Anthony . . . and Wally himself.

  Logan and Anthony left the schoolyard and started for home. The rain had stopped, and the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. Logan carried his mud-covered Wonder Walkers in one hand and his lunch pail in the other. He didn’t have his gunnysack for carrying, since he had given that to Annie this morning.

  Wally walked about thirty feet ahead of them, his shoulders slumped low.

  “Do you think Wally stole the bird book?” Anthony asked Logan in a low voice.

  “No,” Logan replied as he stepped over a puddle. “Maybe we should find out for sure, though.”

  “How?”

  “Why don’t we follow him?” Logan suggested.

  “You mean right now?”

  “I mean right now.”

  “I promised Mama I’d clean out the barn. Maybe we could follow him tomorrow?”

  “Or maybe I’ll follow him on my own right now, and we can follow him again tomorrow.”

  The two friends said good-bye and parted by the Pritchetts’ apple orchard. Logan trailed after Wally, trying to be as quiet as possible.

  Wally cut through the apple orchard, and Logan stayed out of sight. Wally picked up his speed as he neared a patch of dense woods. Logan tried to keep up.

  Where was Wally going? Was he on a spy mission?

  Once in the woods, Wally paused and reached into his bag for something.

  Logan slipped behind a tree, feeling like a spy himself. He tried to see what was in Wally’s bag.

  Could it be the bird book? he wondered.

  FOR THE BIRDS

  Wally pulled something out of his bag.

  But it wasn’t the Birds of North America book. It was the shortbread cookie from this morning!

  Logan watched in surprise as Wally crumbled up the cookie and scattered it onto the ground. A dozen birds flitted down from high branches and pecked eagerly at the crumbs.

  “There you go, little birdies,” Wally said softly. “I’ll bring you another treat as soon as I’m able.”

  The birds continued pecking and chirping. Wally backed up ever so slowly and hunkered down under a nearby maple. He pulled his leather notebook out of his bag and spread it across his lap.

  “Excuse me, hello,” Logan said in a whisper, so as not to bother the birds.

  Wally’s head shot up. “Logan! What are you doing here?”

  “I was on my way home, and I saw you here and . . .” Logan paused. “You must like birds.”

  “Never you mind,” Wally mumbled.

  “We have a robin that nests in our barn. I named her Roberta,” Logan added.

  Wally’s eyes flickered with a sudden interest. “Birds are my favorite thing in the whole world,” he confessed.

  “Really?”

  “Really. Here, take a look!” Wally handed Logan his leather notebook. Logan flipped through the pages. The notebook was filled with bird drawings! Flying birds . . . resting birds . . . nesting birds . . .

  “Did you draw these? They’re mighty good!” said Logan.

  Wally smiled shyly. “Thanks.”

  “Why don’t you show these to everyone at school?”

  “Because.” Wally dropped his gaze. He took off his feathered hat and crumpled it in his hands. “I don’t know how to make new friends. The other kids think I’m odd. And now they think I stole the Birds of North America book. I didn’t, but no one believes me.”

  Logan was silent for a long moment. “I believe you,” he said finally.

  Wally’s face lit up. “You do?”

  “Yes! What do you say we find it together?”

  And just like that, the new friends began to plan how to solve the mystery of the missing book.

  THE MUDDY CLUE

  The first part of the plan was for Logan and Wally to return to the schoolhouse and search for the book there.

  Along the way, the two of them talked about themselves. Logan talked about his family and Skeeter and Anthony and the Fix-It Shop. Wally talked about how he and his ma had moved to Maple Ridge to take care of his grandma while his pa stayed behind in Chicago to work for the railroads.

  Wally also talked about his search for a bird called the yellow-billed cuckoo. “That’s why I run around a lot. I don’t see it often, and when I do, I chase after it.”

  Logan and Wally finally reached the schoolhouse. Miss Ashley was inside, wiping down the blackboard. The other students had all gone home.

  “Why, what are you boys doing here?” she asked curiously.

  “We’re detectives, and we’re searching for the missing book!” replied Logan.

  “Oh, right,” said Miss Ashley, nodding. “The Birds of North America. I was just about to do another search for it. But you two go ahead. I need to finish up with the blackboard and then mop the floor. The rain this morning made for a lot of muddy shoe prints.”

  Logan and Wally went over to the library shelves. T
hey inspected each book carefully, one by one.

  The bird book was not there.

  Then Logan noticed something. Lots of muddy shoe prints covered the wooden floor, like Miss Ashley said. But there were some prints in front of the library shelves that weren’t from shoes.

  They were perfectly round—like tin cans.

  “I know who took the book!” Logan announced.

  MYSTERY SOLVED!

  The Pryce house was peaceful and still when Logan and Wally walked in. Tess and Ma were busy peeling potatoes in the kitchen. Skeeter was napping in front of the cookstove. Yesterday’s laundry was drying on lines that stretched across the ceiling.

  Logan set down his lunch pail and Wonder Walkers. “Hi, Ma. Hi, Tess.”

  Tess pointed to Wally. “What is he doing here?”

  “Teresa Alice Pryce! That is not how we welcome guests into our home,” Ma scolded her. She turned to Wally with a friendly smile. “It’s very nice to see you again, Wally.”

  Wally took off his hat. “Thank you, Mrs. Pryce.”

  “Where is Annie?” asked Logan.

  “She’s playing up in her room,” replied Ma. “Why?”

  Logan didn’t answer. He raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Wally followed Logan. Ma and Tess followed Wally.

  The four of them found Annie sitting on her bed, legs crisscross. She was wearing an old pair of glasses with the lenses missing and one of Ma’s shawls. Mrs. Wigglesworth and a stack of three books were beside her.

  “Annie! Here you are!” Logan said breathlessly.

  Annie held her finger to her lips. “Shhh. Mrs. Wigglesworth and I are in the middle of school.”

  “School?” Wally repeated.

  Annie turned to her doll. “Today is Libaby Day, Mrs. Wigglesworth. You may choose a book to read!”

  Logan peered at the books on the bed. Webster’s Dictionary. A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys. Annie must have gotten them from the shelf downstairs.

  The third book was Birds of North America.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Tess exclaimed.

  “Annie, where did you get the bird book?” Logan asked his little sister.

  “Mrs. Wigglesworth wanted to learn about birds. So I brought it home for her from the other school,” replied Annie.

  “You mean the Maple Ridge School?” Ma chimed in.

  Annie nodded. “Yes, Ma! I put it in Lolo’s Under Walkers sack so it wouldn’t get all wet and rainy.”

  Ma perched on the edge of the bed and hugged Annie. “Sweetheart, you know we mustn’t ever take other people’s things without asking first.”

  “I borrowed it from the libaby just like the other kids,” Annie said. “I’m sorry, Ma!”

  “No, Wally. I should be sorry,” Tess spoke up. “I believed Greta and the others when they said you were a thief. Will you forgive me? Can we be friends?”

  She held out her hand. Wally shook it with a happy smile.

  “All I can say is, thank goodness Annie took the Wonder Walkers without asking first,” Wally pointed out.

  “What do you mean, Wally?” Ma asked, surprised.

  “Otherwise, she would never have left round prints in front of the library shelves. And Logan and I never would have solved the mystery!” replied Wally.

  Everyone laughed.

  Ma invited Wally to stay for supper, and Wally said yes. As they headed downstairs, Logan thought about how it was important not to judge a book by its cover. Wally had seemed like a lot of things at first: an odd duck, a spy, even a thief. Logan and Tess had come to see that Wally was just a nice boy who loved birds. And starting tomorrow, they would help the other kids at school see that too!

  GRACE GILMORE is a city girl, but she has always been fascinated by farm life. Growing up, she spent many summers riding horses, chasing chickens, and swimming in the creek at her great-grandparents’ farm in the hollows of Kentucky. When she isn’t writing books, she can be found playing the piano, baking cookies, or wrangling various pets. Grace lives with her family in Ithaca, New York.

  PETRA BROWN lives at the foot of Mount Snowdon near the little Ffestiniog railway, in the beautiful country of North Wales, United Kingdom. When she was a child, she used to love to look through books and draw the pictures herself. Now she finds that illustrating children’s books is immensely satisfying. You can visit her at PetraB.co.uk.

  LITTLE SIMON

  Simon & Schuster

  New York

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  simonandschuster.com/kids

  TalesfromMapleRidge.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Grace-Gilmore

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Petra-Brown

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

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  This Little Simon edition April 2016

  Copyright © 2016 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Designed by Chani Yammer

  Jacket design by Chani Yammer & Angela Navarra

  Jacket illustrations by Petra Brown

  The illustrations for this book were rendered in pen and ink.

  The text of this book was set in Caecilia.

  This book has been cataloged with the Library of Congress.

  ISBN 978-1-4814-4747-8 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-4746-1 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-4748-5 (eBook)