Franny longs for adventure but can't even do a cartwheel. Pru can do a cartwheel but prefers hiding under her quilt making up safety tips. Cat has no use for safety tips but supposedly has ESP. And Ivy has had a seven-year string of bad luck?a Jinx that's about to get a whole lot worse.

The four are thrown together when a pair of mysterious ruby red slippers turn up, along with the fashionably mad Cha-Cha Staccato, who bears a frightening resemblance to a certain wicked witch. . . .

As hilarious as it is original, The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls is an unforgettable take on girlhood, piano recitals, The Wizard of Oz, and the dependable everyday magic of true friendship.

Elise Primavera has been writing and illustrating children's books for more than twenty-five years. She is the author of Marigold Star, The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls, and the Ms. Rapscott's Girls series for middle graders, and her picture book Auntie Claus has sold more than half a million copies. Visit her at www.eliseprimavera.com.