Books in Kids of the Polk Street School series

It's the first day back to school after winter vacation, and Richard Best is off to a bad start. Who ever heard of a January without any snow? And as usual, he has already forgotten something--the ruler Ms. Rooney had told him to bring for dinosaur day. Luckily Richard finds a ruler in his desk--with a dinosaur's initials--and he's sure the ruler is special. And then he finds out it has magic powers.All his wishes begin to come true: Snow stars falling, he remembers to do his homework, and the bully Drake Evans gets sick. But now with Drake sick in bed, Richard begins to worry. His only hope is the magic ruler--but it's gone.What will help him?

It's August, and Emily has big plans at the library. She's going to read lots of books and tack a paper fish next to her name for each one. Then Dawn Bosco says she can read more books than Emily. Not only that, both Emily and Dawn want to keep Pickle Puss, a stray cat thay found. They decide that whoever reads the most books can keep cat.When Emily adds a fish for a book she read along time ago, she has one more fish than Dawn. She knows she's cheating, but she wants to keep the cat. What a pickle she's in.

What's worse than a blue Monday? For Richard "Beast" Best, it's a purple Monday spent climbing a fat brown rope with fat brown knots.Beast wishes he could climb up that rope like Emily Arrow and Matthew Jackson. Just looking at it hanging down from the gym ceiling makes him dizzyBeast is afraid and hopes his friends won't find out. But Mrs. Miller, the meanest substitute teacher in the whole school, finds out his secret and tells him to meet her in the gym after school. Miller the Killer. What will she do to him?