Amy Meets Her Stepsister (Critter Club Series #5)

by Callie Barkley, Marsha Riti (Illustrator)

Overview

Amy is excited to meet her new stepsister Chloe…but it turns out Chloe doesn’t feel the same way! Can Amy and Chloe get along?

Amy’s mom and dad have been divorced for as long as Amy can remember, but nothing prepares Amy for the news she gets on a weekend visit to her dad’s house in Orange Blossom: Amy’s dad is remarrying! In addition to getting a stepmother, Amy will also be getting a stepsister her age named Chloe.

As the girls spend more time together, Amy realizes that Chloe isn’t as nice as she appears to be in front of the grown-ups. Chloe plays pranks on Amy and is just downright mean to her. Amy worries that she’ll be stuck with this stinky stepsister for life. Will she and Chloe ever be friends?

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Critter Club chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442482159
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	09/03/2013
Series:	Critter Club Series , #5
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	157,762
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	AD580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Callie Barkley loves animals. As a young girl, she dreamed of getting a cat or dog of her own until she discovered she was allergic to most of them. It was around this time that she realized the world was full of all kinds of critters that could use some love. She now lives with her husband and two kids in Connecticut. They share their home with exactly ten fish and a very active ant farm.

Marsha Riti illustrated the picture book The Picky Little Witch by Elizabeth Brokamp and The Critter Club series by Callie Barkley. She lives in Austin, Texas, where she likes to take long walks, stopping frequently to pet neighborhood kitties.

Read an Excerpt

Amy Meets Her Stepsister

Amy Purvis’s mom grabbed a potholder. She lifted the pot lid. Amy took a sniff.

“Mmmm,” Amy said. “That smells so good!”

Inside the pot was a big batch of their famous chicken noodle soup. They had made it together. “The perfect dinner for a cool night,” Amy’s mom said with a smile.

Amy giggled. “Mom, this batch will last us all year!” It was a lot of soup for just the two of them.

Amy set the table. She put out two napkins and two soup spoons. Meanwhile, Amy’s mom ladled soup into bowls.



Just as they sat down to eat, the phone rang.



“Start without me!” said Amy’s mom, popping up to answer it.

Amy slurped up some broth and noodles. Right away, she felt warm all over.

“Oh, hi, Eliot!” she heard her mom say into the phone.

Amy’s face lit up. Eliot was her father. He lived in Orange Blossom, a big town near Santa Vista. Even though her parents were divorced, Amy got to see her dad a lot.

“Uh-huh,” her mom was saying into the phone. “I bet she would love that!” She looked over at Amy and smiled. “Why don’t you ask her?” Her mom held out the phone to Amy. “Your dad has a question for you,” she said.



Amy jumped up and took the phone.

“Hi, Dad!” she said excitedly. “What’s up?”



“Hey, kiddo,” came her dad’s voice through the phone. “How would you like to spend this weekend at my house?”

“Really?” said Amy. She loved her weekends with her dad. “But I thought that was next weekend.”

“I know,” her dad said. “But I’ve got some really big and exciting news to tell you.”

News? “What is it?” Amy asked.

“You know what? I want to tell you in person,” her dad said. “Oh! And Julia is going to come visit on Saturday too.”

Julia was Amy’s dad’s girlfriend. He had met her about a year ago. Amy really liked Julia. She still kind of wished her mom and dad were married. But since they didn’t want that, Amy was happy her dad had met someone as nice as Julia.