ISBN-13: 978-0-547-01827-0ISBN-10: 0-547-01827-4

10316651031665

4.1.1

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

by Joanne Matternillustrated by Stacey Schuett

The Mystery on Mystery MysteryMaple Street

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: Q

DRA: 40

Genre:Realistic Fiction

Strategy:Summarize

Skill:Story Structure

Word Count: 1,153

by Joanne Matternillustrated by Stacey Schuett

The Mystery onMaple StreetMaple Street

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers, Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-547-01827-0ISBN-10: 0-547-01827-4

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3

“This is great, Carla,” Maria exclaimed with delight to her best friend. “I’m so excited that we can do our community service project together.” The two best friends were sitting on Maria’s front steps, talking after school. Carla shook her head. “I’m not doing it.”

Maria stared at her in surprise. “Why not? It’s a requirement. We have to do it for school. And what’s wrong with hanging around with me every Saturday afternoon this month, anyway?”

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“It’s not you. It’s Mrs. Quevedo,” Carla said. She stared out at the street, frowning. “I’m afraid of her.”

“What are you talking about?” Maria asked.Carla turned and looked at Maria. “Haven’t you

heard the stories?” she asked. ”She’s peculiar, like a mad scientist or something. Her basement is full of weird scientific equipment. Joey Ranson told me she turns people into frogs!”

Maria pushed Carla playfully. “That’s the silli-est thing I’ve ever heard! We have to do a community service project, and Mrs. Quevedo needs help with her yard work because she has a bad back.”

Maria sighed. “Carla, I really don’t think our teacher would have had us work with Mrs. Quevedo if she’s a mad scientist. I’m positive she’s okay.” Carla frowned. Maria put an arm around her friend to comfort her.

“Joey was just teasing you,” Maria continued. “You can’t take anything he says seriously. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Carla agreed at last. “I guess I’m scared because I read too many mystery stories. It’ll probably be okay. But I hope she won’t ask us to clean her base-ment. Basements scare me anyway.”

On Saturday, the two girls made their way to Mrs. Quevedo’s house. “Come on, Carla,” Maria pleaded as they turned the corner onto Maple Street. “If you walk that slowly, we’ll never get there.”

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“That’s exactly why I’m walking so slowly,” Carla laughed, but Maria could tell her friend was in a bad mood. “I’m not sure what Mrs. Quevedo intends to have us do, ” Carla added.

Maria laughed. “We’ll see about that. I’ll buy you a milkshake if you’re wrong and I’m right.”

“It’s a deal!” Carla agreed.Maria and Carla continued teasing one another

until they stopped in front of a brightly painted yellow house. A swing hung from the porch, and there were two rockers beside it.

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The front door opened and a short elderly woman in a fleece sweater came out. “Hello, girls! I’m Mrs. Quevedo. You must be Maria and Carla. I’m glad to see you.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Maria said politely. Carla just nodded. “So, where should we start?” Maria asked quickly, embarrassed by Carla’s bad attitude.

“If you could rake the front yard, that would be a big help. I just can’t handle jobs like that with my bad back.” Mrs. Quevedo pointed to the side of the house. “There are some rakes against the basement door.”

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“The basement!” Carla whispered as the girls trudged across the lawn to fetch the rakes. “I’m sure that’s where she does her experiments.”

“Lots of people keep rakes in the basement, Carla,” Maria pointed out.

The girls got to work. Carla worked half-heartedly. It was a beautiful day, however, cool and sunny—just right for raking. Mrs. Quevedo waved to the girls from her kitchen window. Carla began to relax a little. Maria raked a big pile of leaves.

�

Together the girls filled a large recycling bag with leaves. Then, Carla helped Maria fill another bag, and another. The pile of bags kept growing and growing. Within an hour, the yard was raked clean. It looked like a beautiful rug of green with not a leaf in sight. The girls stood back to admire their work.

“Hey, look at that!” Maria said suddenly. She pointed to one of the basement windows. “Why is it all covered up?”

“I knew it!” Carla said. “She covered the window so no one could see her experiments!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Carla,” Maria said. “I’m going to ask her.” She leaned the rake up against the side of the house. Just then, Mrs. Quevedo came out on the porch.

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“Don’t mention anything to her!” Carla whispered. “I’m probably just imagining things.”

Maria was already climbing the porch steps. “Mrs. Quevedo, I was wondering, why is that basement window covered up?”

“Oh, that’s my film lab,” the old woman said. “Lab?” Carla said under her breath. “Film lab?” Maria asked. “I’m a photographer,” Mrs. Quevedo said. “Come

inside, and I’ll show you my darkroom.”Maria took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll stay here. There are more leaves under that

bush.” Carla mumbled, as she furiously raked leaves. Suddenly, she was interested in developing advanced raking skills. She didn’t even look up as they went inside.

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Maria followed Mrs. Quevedo into the house. She could hardly believe her eyes. Beautiful photographs hung on the walls of the hallway and living room. Most of the photos were black and white. Some were landscapes, and others were portraits of people.

“Did you take all these photographs?” Maria asked in surprise. “They’re beautiful!”

“Yes, I took them,” Mrs. Quevedo said. “I’m glad you like them. People always said I had a talent for photography,” she added proudly.

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The two went down the basement steps and stopped in front of a closed door. Mrs. Quevedo opened the door and switched on a dim light. The room contained all sorts of strange equipment.

“This is where I develop my film,” Mrs. Quevedo said. “It takes a lot of equipment to develop a photograph.”

Several cameras were lined up on a shelf. Each camera consisted of many different parts. “With the right camera, you could learn how to take pictures like mine, too.”

“Really? I always wondered why photos in magazines and books look so much better than mine,” Maria said, laughing. “Could you really show me how to take photographs like these?”

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Just then, there was a knock at the door. “Maria, are you okay?” Carla called.

Maria laughed. “I’m fine,” she called. “Come in and see the darkroom.”

Slowly, the door opened, and Carla nervously walked into the room. “Mrs. Quevedo takes beautiful photographs,” Maria told her. “Just look at all these fantastic cameras. And did you see the pictures in the hall upstairs?”

Carla looked around. “This is pretty amazing,” she said. She studied an old camera, fascinated.

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After Mrs. Quevedo showed the girls her dark-room for a few more minutes, they went back outside. “This is wonderful,” she exclaimed when she saw her neat, clean lawn. “I know just the way to thank you properly. Let me take your picture.”

Maria and Carla grabbed their rakes and posed, smiling happily. Carla looked at Maria’s happy face. “Guess I owe you a milkshake,” she whispered.

Maria was beaming. She hadn’t just earned a tasty milkshake today. She’d made a new friend.

HMRLR_GO_StoryMap.eps

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RespondingTARGET SKILL Story Structure What is the

setting of the book Mystery on Maple Street? What is the plot? Copy and complete the chart below.

Write About It

Text to Self Write a descriptive paragraph about meeting a new friend. Describe how you felt when you first met this person. Describe the things you liked about him or her and why you became friends.

Character(s) Mrs. Quevedo Carla Maria

Setting(s) ?

Plot ?

TARGET VOCABULARY

16

advancedcomfortconsistedintendsmention

mood peculiarpositiveproperlytalent

TARGET SKILL   Story Structure Examine details about characters, setting, and plot.

TARGET STRATEGY Summarize Briefly tell the important parts of the text in your own words.

GENRE Realistic Fiction is a present-day story that could take place in real life.

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-01827-0ISBN-10: 0-547-01827-4

10316651031665

4.1.1

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

by Joanne Matternillustrated by Stacey Schuett

The Mystery on Mystery MysteryMaple Street

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: Q

DRA: 40

Genre:Realistic Fiction

Strategy:Summarize

Skill:Story Structure

Word Count: 1,153