Free Just Grace and the Double Surprise by Charise Mericle Harper

THE BIG NEWS NEXT DOOR
    Any day now Mimi, my best friend in the whole world, is going to be getting a brand-new sister. The minute the special phone call comes, Mimi and her parents are going to rush out the door, jump into their car, and drive off to get her. Mimi can't wait for that day to happen. It's very exciting.
    Mimi said the waiting for the special call is making everyone at her house really jumpy, especially when the phone rings. That's why her mom has a new rule about me calling Mimi on the phone. The new rule is don't call . If I want to talk to Mimi I have to go over and knock on her front door—but this is only until the sister gets here. After that I get to use the phone again.
    I want the big day to happen too. I don't like the waiting part. It's a new kind of waiting that I haven't known before—it's excited plus nervous plus worried plus happy all mixed together. And even though it's for something really good and great, it doesn't feel super comfortable.
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    SOME KINDS OF WAITING I KNOW
TYPES OF WAITING
FUN
NOT FUN
Sitting in a doctor's office.

Usually the books and magazines are torn up and old, and the crayons for drawing are all bad colors.
In line at the grocery store.
If I am with Dad—he lets me touch stuff.
If I am with Mom—she doesn't want me to touch stuff.
Waiting for my food in a restaurant.
We always play I-spy, and I am excellent at that game.
Waiting for Mom or Dad to finish what they are doing so they can help me with something.

This always seems to take forever, even though they say, "I'll just be a minute."
    WHAT I KNOW ABOUT LITTLE KIDS
    Mom said that when kids are little their brains are like brand-new sponges—everything they see or hear soaks up into their brain and then stays up there forever. That's why kids are so good at learning new stuff—their brain-sponges are new. When a sponge is new it's really soft and excellent at holding stuff. When a sponge is old and used up it doesn't work so well anymore. Grown-up brains are like old sponges—they are worn out and can't pick stuff up very well, plus they are already pretty full. Sometimes even too full to hold anything new—like when Mom forgot my fifty cents for bake sale day even though I probably reminded her about it three, four, or even five times.

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    WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT

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    SPONGES AND BRAINS

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    WHAT I NEEDED TO DO RIGHT AWAY
    If Mimi's sister's brain was like a sponge, then I had to make sure it was going to suck up and remember my Grace name and not my Just Grace name by accident. I did not want the wrong name to be staying in her head forever. That's why I got the idea to make her a book as a welcome-to-your-new-family present. I went to the library a couple of times to do research on books for little kids.
    Because I like books, I was already knowing two things about kids' books:
My book for Mimi's sister had to be short.
It had to have pictures on every page.
    Moms like to read short books at bedtime, so it was good that I was thinking about that part before I even got started. I bet if Mimi's mom read my book to the new sister even just eight or ten times, that was going to be enough for it to work perfectly. Mimi's new sister would never forget my real name.
    After visiting the library I was hoping that Mimi's sister was not going to be like the kids that were in there when I was doing my book research. Those kinds of kids should only be allowed to touch special books—books that can't be destroyed by eating, drooling, or ripping. My book was just going to be paper and cardboard. I was a little worried about that.

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    LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE
    I was writing the book for Mimi's sister so that I could solve the problem of Mimi's new sister calling me Just Grace before it even ever happened. This kind of thinking is called advance planning. I learned this from Mom. She is a pretty good what-could-happen-in-the-future thinker. Mostly she does her