By the time summer was over, Danny Keegan was ready to start the fifth grade. In the three months of summer vacation, he'd been involved in eighty-two base- ball games, read fifteen books, seen twenty-five movies, and eaten more Popsicles than he could count. He was not bored, exactly, but he was restless.

Except for one thing, he would have been glad school was starting again. It was probably too much to ask that Stevie Brickwald had moved away during the summer.

Like all the kids at P.S. 13, Danny had been assigned his next teacher on the last day of school, before sum- mer vacation began. This gave the kids an entire sum- mer to anticipate, discuss, and worry about what their new teachers might be like.

Danny had heard a lot about his fifth grade teacher- to-be, Ms. Cosgrove. He had seen her many times in the school yard. She was pretty and had long blond hair. He knew kids who had been in her class, and they talked about how nice she was. He sure hoped they were right.