In this prequel to The William Problem, Liza's stuck with Mrs. Rumford--the most strict teacher in school. Liza wonders how she'll survive the year, until she meets the new girl, Bridget. Can the two of them tough it out together?

Liza is convinced third grade is going to be great until she gets to school that first day and everything starts going wrong.

Liza is convinced third grade is going to be great until she gets to school that first day and everything starts going wrong.

Bored with school, Jane, a precocious reader, neglects her homework and alienates her classmates by making up incredible stories about herself until her teacher, Mrs. Sims, finds a creative solution.

Liza is convinced third grade is going to be great until she gets to school that first day and everything starts going wrong.

Nothing can ruin a new school year...except maybe a pesky little brother. This Step 4 reader is the perfect back-to-school story for newly independent readers! Will should be excited to start third grade. But his little brother, Steve, is starting kindergarten. The same laugh-out-loud writing and hilarious illustrations that brought us How Not to Babysit Your Brother now portray the tribulations and embarrassments of starting school with a very troublesome little brother. School will never be the same! Step 4 Readers use challenging vocabulary and short paragraphs to tell exciting stories. For newly independent readers who read simple sentences with confidence.

The long-awaited prequel to the bestseller FOURTH GRADE RATSGeorge, aka "Suds," has just entered third grade, and he's heard the rhyme about "first grade babies/second grade cats/third grade angels/fourth grade rats," but what does this mean for his school year? It means that his teacher, Mrs. Simms, will hold a competition every month to see which student deserves to be awarded "the halo" - which student is best-behaved, kindest to others, and, in short, perfect. Suds is determined to be the first to earn the halo, but he's finding the challenge of always being good to be more stressful than he had anticipated. Does he have to be good even outside of school? (Does he have to be nice to his annoying little sister?) And if Mrs. Simms doesn't actually see him doing a good deed, does it even count?A warm, funny return to elementary school from master storyteller Spinelli.