The Kids in Mrs. Z's Class: Rohan Murthy Has a Plan - Softcover

LaRocca, Rajani

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1523526599 ISBN 13: 9781523526598

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2024

Synopsis

Meet the kids in Mrs. Z’s wacky and wonderful third-grade class! Rohan Murphy has an ambitious dream to launch his own pet care business, but when he starts small by babysitting the class guinea pig, he makes big mistakes.

Rohan Murthy dreams of running a successful business—just like his mom, who’s an artist. When Mrs. Z announces that Curiosity Academy needs to raise money for a school garden, Rohan knows it’s the perfect moment to launch his dreams! He'll start a pet care company to help the people of Peppermint Falls look after their dogs, hamsters, fish, snakes, lizards . . . anything but cats. With hard work, some glittery posters, and the help of his friends from Mrs. Z's class, Rohan knows he can do a lot for the school garden. 

His parents point out just one small problem: Rohan has never taken care of an animal before. Gulp!
 
To get some experience with pets, Rohan volunteers to spend a weekend watching over Honey, the class guinea pig. But Honey appears surprisingly fearful, which makes Rohan nervous too! When his big dreams meet his secret fears, what will Rohan decide? 
 
Both sweetly poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, with black-and-white illustrations by Pura Belpré Honor artist Kat Fajardo, Rohan’s story invites readers into Mrs. Z’s class where friendship and fun rule the school, from Newbery Honor-winning author Rajani LaRocca.
 
Perfect for!
★ My Weirdtastic School fans
★ Reluctant readers
★ Classroom read-alouds
★ Andrew Clements fans
★ Pet lovers
★ Aspiring business owners
 
Read them all! The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class have plenty of stories to share!
Emma McKenna, Full Out (#1)
Rohan Murthy Has a Plan (#2)
Poppy Song Bakes a Way (#3)
The Legend of Memo Castillo (#4) 
Wyatt Hill Brings a Lizard to School (#5) 
Ayana Ndoum Takes the Stage (#6) 
Olive Little Gets Crafty (#7)
Synclaire Fields Knows the Score (#8)
Theo Chang is Not a Cat (#9) 
Thunder Nelson Does the Impossumble (#10) 
Sebastian Metzger Solves a Sticky Situation (#11) — available for preorder now!
Fia Hosein Finds Her Beat (#12) — available for preorder now!

The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class is an innovative series where every book is written by a different all-star author and features a different kid in the same third-grade class. They can be read in any order!

About this title

About the Author

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor-winning middle-grade novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of fiction and nonfiction, novels and picture books, prose and poetry. She also co-hosts the STEM Women in KidLit Podcast. She invites you to learn more at rajanilarocca.com or on her socials @RajaniLaRocca.
 
Kat Fajardo (they/she) received a Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration for their first graphic novel, Miss Quinces (published in Spanish as Srta. Quinces). Born and raised in New York City, Kat now lives in Austin, Texas, with their pups, Mac and Roni. They invite you to visit them at katfajardo.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

            The biggest dog Rohan had ever seen was barreling toward them! It was pulling a teenage girl behind it. The dog had fluffy brown and white fur and a huge brown nose. Drool dripped from its open mouth, filled with huge, pointy teeth. Rohan froze.
            “Tiny! Stop it!” called the girl. She pulled on the dog’s leash, and finally got the dog to stop. “Sit!” she said.
            The dog sat right in front of Rohan's sister Kavya.
            “Oh, can I pet the doggy?” Kavya asked.
            “Sure,” said the girl. “I’m Amanda, and this is Tiny. He’s very friendly. He’s just a puppy, so he sometimes wants to run too fast.”
            That enormous dog was a puppy? Rohan couldn’t imagine how big it would be when it was full-grown.
            “Let him sniff your hand, like this,” Mom said, showing Kavya what to do.
            Kavya reached out, and Tiny sniffed her hand. “Oh! Tiny kissed me,” she said, giggling. She petted the dog’s enormous head. “Good doggy.”
            “Do you have to walk Tiny every day?” Rohan asked while Mom and Dad petted the dog, too.
            “Three or four times a day,” said Amanda. She laughed. “He has a lot of energy.”
            “I’ll bet,” Dad said. “Want to pet him, Rohan?”
            Rohan rubbed the base of this thumb. “You sure it’s safe?” he asked Amanda.
            “Definitely,” she said.
            Rohan held out his hand for the dog to sniff. He closed his eyes as the huge mouth came close.
         The dog touched Rohan’s hand with its wet nose, and Rohan opened an eye. He reached out his finger and brushed Tiny’s head before drawing his hand back again.
         That wasn’t that hard.
            Now Rohan knew how he could raise money for the school garden. Now hHe just needed to turn his idea into a plan.

 

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1523526599
• ISBN 13: 9781523526598
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Fajardo Kat
• Number of pages: 128