Spells & Sleeping Bags (Magic In Manhattan) - Hardcover

Mlynowski, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385733879 ISBN 13: 9780385733878

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2007

Synopsis

At long last, Rachel's powers have arrived and she's a bona fide get-your-broom-ready witch! And it's happened just in time. No Manhattan for her this summer—she's spending her vacation at Camp Wood Lake.

But she's having some serious issues:

Mosquitoes in the Adirondacks are incredibly thirsty.

Her stepmom keeps sending embarrassing feminine hygiene care packages.

She accidentally zapped away all her clothes.

And there's a backstabber in her cabin intent on making life miserable.

Good thing Rachel's a witch.

About this title

About the Author:

Sarah Mylnowski is the author of numerous novels, including Bras & Broomsticks and Frogs & French Kisses. She spent nine summers at sleep-away camp, where she enjoyed campfires, color wars, and conjuring up excuses to get out of swimming lessons. She now lives and writes in New York City.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

1
ALL ABOARD!
I'm pretty sure my camp backpack is not supposed to be levitating off the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue. Whoopsies. I make a (somewhat) discreet lunge for one of its red straps and plant it back next to my feet.
Tee hee.
My mother, who is fortunately too busy eyeing the parked camp buses lining the street to notice my infraction, asks, "Do you know where you're going?"
"Yes, Mom," my sister says, rolling her eyes. "We know how to read. We're both on the same bus. The sign says 'Girls grades seven thru nine,' and since that's both of us, that's where we're going. Unfortunately."
Miri is not happy about being shipped off to Camp Wood Lake in the Adirondacks for seven weeks. She'd much rather stay in the city, free to spend the summer as she pleases, helping the homeless. That's her cause du jour. Unfortunately for her, she can't help the homeless when she is being sent to a summer camp filled with spoiled rich kids. Those are her words, not mine. I'm perfectly happy to spend the summer with spoiled rich kids. No, wait. That didn't come out right. What I mean is I'm perfectly happy to be going to camp, because I'm perfectly happy doing anything these days. Deliriously happy. Jumping-on-couches-like-they're-trampolines happy.
Why? Because I'm finally a witch!
No, not witch as in mean or cranky. I don't pull my sister's hair or rip off her Barbies' heads. (Not that either of us still has Barbies. Okay, fine. Not that I still play with them. Sure, they're in a bag at the back of my closet, and I sometimes take them out just to see how they're doing, but that's it, I swear.) I have powers, like Hermione and Sabrina. Like my sister. And my mother.
We found out in February that my sister is a witch. My mom, who chose to live her adult life as a nonpracticing witch, had never mentioned anything about this particular family trait because she was hoping her powers would somehow skip over her kids. And for a while it looked like they had with me. But oh no, they didn't. Both of us are witches. Finger-snapping, broom-riding, spell-canting witches. Yes! And since I am a witch, nothing that could possibly happen this summer can burst my bubble of glorious happiness. I mean, hello? I finally have magical powers! I can zap up anything I want. More handbags? Presto. Tastier food? Kazam. Friends? Zap! Nah, I probably won't cast spells on any possible friends, since enchanting individuals is so morally wrong. But I could if I wanted to.
Why? Because I'm a witch!
But even if nobody in my bunk wants to be my friend this summer--and I don't see why they wouldn't, since none of them goes to my school, and therefore they don't know anything about my previous social mishaps (we were a bit wild and carefree with Miri's powers in the early days)--I won't care.
Why? Because I'm a witch!
Even if Raf doesn't fall in love with me this summer--yes, Raf Kosravi, the hottest guy in my class and, I should mention, the love of my life, is going to be at Wood Lake too--so what? It will be his loss.
Why? Because I'm a witch!
Okay, that's a lie. Not the witch part (yay!) but the part about Raf. I'd care a lot if he didn't fall in love with me. But you get my point.
My ego has gained about seven hundred pounds since I discovered my magic at prom last month. My mom and sister were thrilled for me, of course. Thrilled that I was happy--and thrilled that they would no longer have to listen to me complain about not having powers.
For the first week after prom, I could not resist zapping everything in sight. Lights. The television. Miri's stuff. "I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" I cheered while gleefully lifting her pillow.
Which is when my mom walked in and told me that I'd better relax with my magic. "If you want to go to camp, you have to promise to control yourself."
"Of course," I said. "But check it out! I've finally got game!"
Since my mom scores frighteningly low on the hip-ometer, I had to explain. "Technique. Ability. Style."
"Got it," she said, and left. And that was when the pillow exploded. Feathers and Miri's pink pillowcase shot across her room like confetti. "Sorry," I squealed.
"Game over!" Miri screamed, cowering against the wall.
"Tiny accident," I said sheepishly. "Don't tell Mom." I didn't want our mother to have any excuse to keep me home and away from Raf.
Where is he, anyway? I step up on my tiptoes and peer first into the busy street, then into Central Park. The six waiting buses are supposed to be picking up all the campers from Manhattan, but unfortunately, Raf doesn't seem to be one of them. I know he's going to be a camper at Wood Lake this summer. He told me he signed up. And he's been going for years. So where is he?
There are certainly lots of other cute boys, though. Not that I'm looking. Oh, no, my heart belongs to Raf.
Honk! Honk! Honk!
It's so loud in this city. And the noon sun is scorching and everyone looks uncomfortable and sweaty. Unlike Miri, I'm seriously looking forward to getting off the disgustingly smoggy island of Manhattan. Good-bye school, subways, and skyscrapers. Hello summer, suntan lotion, and sleeping bags!
My mom grabs me in a hug. "You two are going to sit together, right?"
"Yes, Mom, we'll sit together," I say from under her left armpit. She'd better not mess up my flawlessly applied mascara or perfectly straightened hair. It took me half
an hour to get my ocean of a head to look flat, and this is probably the only time all summer my hair will be de-rippled. I bought myself one of those megapopular hair straighteners, and let me tell you, it makes my hair look flatter than the sidewalk we're standing on. But no matter how much I begged (I'm talking down-on-two-knees pleading), my annoying mother was convinced I'd burn down not only my cabin but the entire camp and forbade me to bring my flatiron with me. She's spent the past month mucho paranoid that I was going to burn down our apartment, and every time I emerged from my room minus my usual fuzzy crown, she ran straight inside to make sure I'd unplugged the iron.
I don't know what her problem is. I've only left it plugged in once.
Okay, twice, but still, I never started a fire.
Wait a sec. What am I even worried about? If my hair gets curly, I can just zap it straight. Hah! Straightening irons are for mere mortals. I am a witch. An Ÿber-powerful, glorious witch.
Crap. My stupid knapsack is rising again. Why is it doing that? I pull away from my mom to grab it, but this time I swing it over my left shoulder to keep it in place. I furtively look around the crowded street to make sure nobody saw my uplifting experience.
Nope. People do not appear to be scratching their heads in confusion or gasping in shock. Whew.
Lex, my mom's new boyfriend, returns from finding a parking space and takes hold of her hand. They've been inseparable since they started dating. Whenever I see them, they're holding hands, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes, or they're--
"Ugh," Miri says. "Can you please stop smooching in public? It's going to make me carsick."
"Bus sick," I say, and cringe. Now, that would make a great first impression. Still, I don't blame my sister one bit. All that smooching is, well, nauseating. And yes, my mom and Lex are kissing. Right here. On the street.
They're always kissing. They kiss in the kitchen when they don't realize we're watching. At restaurants when they forget we're sitting across from them. On Fifth Avenue between Eighty-fourth and Eighty-fifth when we're leaving for camp. Not gross, open-mouth kisses, but constant little love pecks that are highly embarrassing. I mean, really. I can't help noticing that random kids and tourists keep glancing over at the pair and grimacing. This is one of the reasons I begged my dad and my stepmom not to come see us off today. If it freaks me out, imagine how it would weird out my dad. The other reason is that my mom would have had to talk to Jennifer, and my dad would have had to meet Lex, and for some reason the idea of the four of them being on the same continent, never mind the same street, makes me want to hide under my covers. Divorce issues, anyone?
My mom giggles. Ever since she hooked up with Lex (or Old Man Lex, as Miri and I call him secretly, since he's like a hundred--okay, fine, probably only fifty--and since his bushy eyebrows and the eight strands of hair left on his head are gray), she's been doing a lot of giggling. "Miri," she says now, still clutching Lex's hand, "you'll keep an eye on your sister this summer, right?"
"Hey!" Is it normal that my mother is asking Miri, two years my junior, to look out for me? I think not.
"I want her to make sure you're careful with your"--she lowers her voice--"Glinda."
Is Glinda a doll? A Barbie that I'm insisting on taking to camp despite the risk of other campers mocking me for my infantile attachment?
Nope.
Glinda is my mom's new code word for magic. And yes, she named it after the good witch in The Wizard of Oz.
"I promise, Mom," I say. "I'll be careful with my Glinda."
Lex looks at my mom and then at me. He obviously has no idea who this Glinda is or why I have to take such good care of her. As close as they've become, Mom still hasn't told him her deep, dark secret. But since she never told my dad, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for her to spill the beanies to the new man in her life.
She runs the bitten fingernails of her free hand through her short tinted blond hair. "Please don't use it, unless you absolutely have to."
Whatev.
"Have fun, girls," Lex says, squeezing both of us on the shoulder. Even though he spends every day with Mom, he hasn't quite reached the potential-stepfather, hug-the-daughters level yet. As nice as he is, we're not just going to start hugging some old man.
Fine, he's not that old. But he's pretty old.
&quo...

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0385733879
• ISBN 13: 9780385733878
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304