Girls Rule!

Summer is around the corner, and the rivalry between the Malloy sisters and the Hatford brothers is heating up! The kids have two weeks to earn money for a fundraising contest sponsored by the local hospital. All those who collect twenty dollars or more for the new children's wing can choose to ride in the annual Strawberry Festival Parade or to have all the strawberry treats they can eat.

There's only one place Caroline Malloy—future Broadway star—wants to be: smack-dab in the middle of the glamorous Strawberry Queen's float. But how will she earn twenty dollars in such a short time? Do the Hatford boys have moneymaking secrets they're not telling the girls? Meanwhile, the tension rises as everyone wonders whether the girls will be moving back to Ohio for the new school year or looking for another house in Buckman. Wally Hatford is especially worried—he's not sure how much longer he can put up with Caroline's "friendly" teasing. For now, though, the kids may just have to learn to cooperate. The clock is ticking, and the money is just trickling in as the boys and girls work separately. They decide to join forces, and things go well until it looks as if a band of bullies may put them all out of business!

In this latest hilarious boys-versus-girls tale, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor shows why revenge—and sometimes cooperation—can be sweeter than strawberries.