Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Happy Times on Harrison Hill Young McElmeel was a very fine reader. As long as she had a good book, she could read her way out of any trouble. She never cried or pouted, no matter what happened. Young McElmeel just sat on the porch of her cabin, at the top of Harrison Hill, reading Bizzy Bones and The Finest Horse in Town. Nearby were her dog, Beuschu, her canary, Gary, Ricky the Rabbit, a squirrel named Earl, and her orchard. One May morning Beuschy broke his chain trying to chase after a passing truck loaded with dog biscuits. "That dog just barked too much anyway," she said. "Kept me awake all night." Then one morning while Young McElmeel was cleaning Gary's cage, he decided to see the outside world, and off he flew. "That bird just shed feathers all over the place anyway," she exclaimed.

Not log after that, Ricky Rabbit twitched her whiskers, and skeedaddled up to Methwick manor where there was a huge garden of lettuce and carrots. "Well, that's OK. She always nibbled and chewed the tree bark in the orchard. At least now I'll have more apples. I'm glad that rabbit is gone." The next afternoon, Earl the Squirrel had such a strong urge for nuts that he sailed from branch to branch until he ended up in Ellis Park. "That pesky squirrel was always making a mess by dropping nuts and not cleaning them up. Good riddance!" Then one day a group of termites came to Young McElmeel's orchard. They began to destroy the trees. "That's OK. Now I won't have to pick apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, and cherries. Just think of all the work I'll save!" she said. Mr. Engle, an expert on pests, heard of the termite problem. Immediately he came to the orchard and sprayed all the trees. Soon all the termites were dead. The trees grew delicious fruit. Young McElmeel was so happy she decided to have a reading party. All of her neighbors came.... Mr. Ned, Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Sundet, Ms. Bock, Miss Devereux, and Mrs. Snyder. Word traveled quickly and soon the orchard was filled with all 434 Harrison students. They read their books and snacked on the delicious fruit from the orchard. All of a sudden they heard barking. "Ruff, ruff!" Beuschy's back! Then "Tweet, tweet!" Gary Canary returned and perched on a branch in the cherry tree. Sneaking under the orchard fence, Ricky Rabbit was spotted crawling back in. Earl the Squirrel heard all the noise, and not wanting to miss the party, he scampered back. They had a happy time on Harrison Hill and all the while Young McElmeel just kept on reading them stories. She was that good!

The students at Harrison also created a jackdaw for The Finest Horse in Town. Since it was the old watchmaker that told the narrator about her aunts, the children found an empty watch case for the jackdaw container. They filled the case with miniature pictures of items that were part of the story: apple, lemon, turtle, flag, and a cherry twig.