The Kids in Mrs. Z's Class: Olive Little Gets Crafty

by Linda Urban, Kat Fajardo (Illustrator), Kate Messner (Introduction)

Overview

Meet the kids in Mrs. Z’s wacky and wonderful third-grade class! Olive Little thinks a crafting club would be the perfect way to connect with her classmates—but when her club plans keep falling short, can she still find a way to make a place for herself in Mrs. Z's class? 
 
Olive Little loves making things ... but she’s still working out how to make friends. After she spies some other kids checking out crafting books from the school library, Olive gets a brilliant idea: She’ll start a crafting club! 

With a super-extraordinarily crafty invitation, everyone will surely want to join Olive's new club. And she knows just the invitation to make. All she needs is a perfect poem, some colorful confetti, a dozen eggshells, and some crafty know-how. Easy peasy! 

Until Olive discovers a local skunk has made its home in her family’s backyard henhouse! Can she craft a solution to the stinky situation in time to save her club? 

Both sweetly poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, with black-and-white illustrations by Pura Belpré Honor artist Kat Fajardo, Olive’s story invites readers into Mrs. Z’s class where friendship and fun rule the school, from acclaimed author Linda Urban. 
  
Perfect for! 
★ My Weirdtastic School fans 
★ Reluctant readers 
★ Classroom read-alouds 
★ Andrew Clements fans 
★ Young artists 
★ Crafting enthusiasts 
  
Read them all! The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class have plenty of stories to share! 
Emma McKenna, Full out (#1)
Rohan Murthy Has a Plan (#2)
Poppy Song Bakes a Way (#3)
The Legend of Memo Castillo (#4) 
Wyatt Hill Brings a Lizard to School (#5) 
Ayana Ndoum Takes the Stage (#6) 
Synclaire Fields Knows the Score (#8)
Theo Chang is Not a Cat (#9) — available for preorder now!
Thunder Nelson Does the Impossumble (#10) — available for preorder now!
Sebastian Metzger Solves a Sticky Situation (#11) — available for preorder now!
Fia Hosein Finds Her Beat (#12) — available for preorder now!

*The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class is an innovative series where every book is written by a different all-star author and features a different kid in the same third-grade class. They can be read in any order! 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781523530359
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	07/08/2025
Series:	The Kids in Mrs. Z's Class , #7
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Linda Urban was the marketing director at Vroman's Bookstore in Southern California for ten years before turning to writing full-time. She is now the author of many award-winning books for young readers, including the novels Almost There and Almost Not, A Crooked Kind of Perfect, Hound Dog True, The Center of Everything, and Talk Santa to Me. She lives in Vermont. She invites you to visit her online at lindaurbanbooks.com.
 
Kat Fajardo (they/she) received a Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration for their first graphic novel, Miss Quinces (published in Spanish as Srta. Quinces). Born and raised in New York City, Kat now lives in Austin, Texas, with their pups, Mac and Roni. They invite you to visit them at katfajardo.com.

Editorial Reviews

Urban’s third-person narration captures the protagonist’s exuberance and sunny attitude… Another feel-good tale in an empathetic, child-friendly series.”—Kirkus Reviews

Praise for the Kids in Mrs. Z's Class Series

"Believable characters experiencing age-appropriate challenges: making new friends, navigating social groups, overcoming shyness, and dealing with embarrassment. . . Share with fans of Annie Barrows' Ivy and Bean books or Sara Pennypacker's Clementine series."—Booklist

“Buy the book and the series. Kids need access to this diverse classroom of students who face everyday crises with their supportive friends, and this gentle read shows the goodness in the world without being overly sappy.”—SLJ

“[A] wholesome read…buoyant."—Publishers Weekly

"This new series is giving [Polk Street School] vibes. I absolutely love that each book is written by a different author and I love how diverse the classroom is. . . The great thing about [these] books is they showcase kids working together and supporting each other."—Teen Librarian Toolbox

From the Publisher

2025-04-19
Newly enrolled at Curiosity Academy, a craft-loving third grader goes in search of artistic inspiration—and friendship.

Pale-skinned, freckled Olive Little felt like an outsider at her old school, but she’s sure things will be different this year. When she decides to make a spiffy new case for her recorder, other students are interested, and an idea for a school club is born: the Cool Recorder Case Club! Olive knows it’s a surefire way to endear herself to her new classmates, but challenges soon mount. Olive’s reluctant to run her idea past the bossy fifth grader in charge of Club Day. Plus, she’s also got to balance her plans with her domestic responsibilities, including caring for her family’s chickens and minding her preschool-age cousin, Peter. Olive puts pressure on herself to succeed, but the adults in her life—among them her mother and grandmother—and her classmates offer support and understanding. Mutual help is a big theme throughout this empathetic tale, the latest in a series in which each installment is penned by a different author and focuses on a different student in Mrs. Z’s class. Punctuated by Olive’s frequent exclamation of “WHAMMO!,” Urban’s third-person narration captures the protagonist’s exuberance and sunny attitude even in the face of setbacks that include a skunk that finds its way into the chicken coop. Fajardo’s expressive black-and-white cartoons depict a diverse community.

Another feel-good tale in an empathetic, child-friendly series.(Chapter book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews