Meet the kids in Mrs. Z’s wacky and wonderful third-grade class! Cheerleader Emma McKenna is thrilled for the first day of school… until her frenemy shows up and all of Emma’s plans for a social do-over take a tumble!

Emma McKenna can’t wait for third grade at the brand-new Curiosity Academy. She’ll have a cool teacher who wears high-tops and science earrings. She’ll meet interesting classmates from all over Peppermint Falls. Best of all, she’ll get a fresh start after last year’s talent-show disaster left her with that awful nickname. It’s going to be the best year ever!

Then Lucy walks into Mrs. Z’s room.

Lucy, Emma’s best-friend-turned-enemy.

Lucy, who gave Emma that nickname and spread it all over school!

Emma’s fresh start is doomed . . . unless she can make friends before Lucy ruins everything.

So Emma sets out to be pals with everyone, just like her favorite animal, the capybara. As her classmates argue over the choice of a new school mascot, Emma stays quiet and doesn’t pick sides. (The last thing she needs is another enemy.) But maybe speaking up could be the thing that helps her really connect with her class—and saves her at last from third-grade doom.

Both sweetly poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, with black-and-white illustrations by Pura Belpré Honor artist Kat Fajardo, Emma McKenna welcomes readers into Mrs. Z’s class where friendship and fun rule the school in this series-starter from New York Times bestselling author Kate Messner.

Perfect for!

★ My Weirdtastic School fans

★ Reluctant readers

★ Classroom read-alouds

★ Andrew Clements fans

★ Cheerleaders

★ Anyone who has a frenemy

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) 

Olive Little Gets Crafty (#7)

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!