allie's Excited About Her Class Field Trip. Sure, It's To A Historic One-room Schoolhouse, Built Back Before There Was The Internet Or Even Cell Phones, And Allie's Teacher Is Encouraging Everyone To Dress Up In Old Timey Costumes, Which Some Of Allie's Friends Are Actually Doing. Gah! But At Least She Gets To Ride On A Bus, Which She's Never Gets To Do, Living So Close To School That She Actually Has To Walk There Every Day!

but Then Mrs. Hunter Announces That Every Student In Room 209 Has Been Assigned A "buddy" For The Day--from Allie's Old 4th Grade Class At Walnut Knolls Elementary School, With Whom Pine Heights Elementary Is Pairing Up For The Trip. And Allie's Buddy Just Happens To Be Her Ex-best Friend Mary Kay, Who Betrayed Allie Right Before She Moved! Allie Is Going To Have To Spend A Whole Day Sharing An Old-timey Desk With A Big Crybaby!

as If Things Aren't Bad Enough, With Renovations Going On At Allie's House--there's A Hole In The Wall That Her Kitten, Mewsie, Keeps Disappearing Into. What If Allie's Mom And Dad And Uncle Jay Make A Mistake, And Mewsie Gets Trapped Inside The Wall Forever?--and With Cheyenne O'malley And Brittany Hauser Getting Assigned To Be "buddies" Together, It Looks Like This Is One Blast From The Past Allie May Not Survive. In Fact, She's Had Enough With Old-timey Things. It Might Be Time To Employ Some New Rules!

allie Is Now In Fourth Grade At A New School And Trying To Prove Herself Responsible Enough To Own A Cell Phone—after All She's Saved A Total $36 From Doing Chores And Helping Her Neighbors. Her Parents Say The Rule Is She Could Have Her Own Cell Phone In Sixth Grade, If She'd Proved Herself Responsible By Not Losing Things Or Not Leaving Her Coat And Book Bag On The Floor. Two Whole Years Away! Plus She Has Other Things To Worry About: Her Cat, Mewsie, Is Hiding In A Hole In The Wall Of Her Brother's Room; Her Wonderful Teacher Is Probably Getting Married And Moving Away; And She Has To Go On A Boring Field Trip And Share The Bus With The Kids From Her Old School—including Her Ex-best Friend, Mary Kate, Who Is Now Hanging Out With The Snobby Cool Girls. Turns Out The Field Trip Is Not As Boring As Allie Thought; Her Teacher Is Getting Married, But Not Moving; Mary Kate Is Now Her Friend Again, Sort Of; Mewsie Leaves The Hole On His Own; And Mom Says Allie May Have Cell Phone In Fifth Grade. Allie Is A Spunky Girl And Her Antics Are Amusing, But She Sure Is Repetitive. Readers Should Not Have To Be Reminded In Each Chapter Of How Obnoxious Mary Kate Has Been, Or That Allie's Teacher's Boyfriend Threw Rocks At The School Window, Or That Allie Missed Going On The Last Field Trip Because Of Mary Kate. Reviewer: Sarah Maury Swan