Chinese New Year Mystery

Chapter One: The Dragon Parade "Gung Hay Fat Choy!"eight-year-old Nancy Drew said to her best friend Bess Marvin.Bess sat down at her desk, which was across the aisle from Nancy's. The two girls were in Mrs. Reynolds's third-grade class at Carl Sandburg Elementary School. The first bell of the day was about to ring.Bess frowned at Nancy."Gungwhat?""It means 'Wishing you good fortune and happiness' in Chinese," Nancy explained. "That's what people say for Chinese New Year's. Mari taught me."At that moment Mari Cheng walked into class. She gave Nancy and Bess a little wave.The school bell jangled noisily. All the students took their seats. Mrs. Reynolds went to the front of the classroom and said, "Good morning, everyone!""Good morning, Mrs. Reynolds," the class said all together."First I want to tell you about a special art project we'll be doing with Ms. Frick starting tomorrow," Mrs. Reynolds announced. "As you all know, we've been studying Chinese culture for the last month. And this week is the beginning of the Chinese New Year season."George Fayne raised her hand. George was Bess's cousin and Nancy's other best friend. "But we already had New Year's," George said, looking puzzled. "It was on January first, right? So how can this week be the beginning of the Chinese New Year season?""I know! " Orson Wong was waving his arm."Yes, Orson?" Mrs. Reynolds said."The Chinese New Year is different," Orson said. "It goes on for weeks. We celebrate it at our house. First my mom and dad make us clean the whole house with them. But then we get to eat lots of food, and the kids get red envelopes full of money.""Thank you, Orson," Mrs. Reynolds said with a smile. "Orson's right, class. The Chinese New Year season starts about ten days before their New Year's Day, and goes on for a few weeks after that. It's practically a month-long event.""Cool!" Mike Minelli said, grinning. "Do we get a whole month off from school?"Mrs. Reynolds shook her head. "Sorry, Mike.""Too bad," Mike said, making a face."The Chinese year is based on the lunar calendar," Mrs. Reynolds went on. She picked up a piece of chalk and wrote the wordlunaron the blackboard. Next to it she drew a picture of the moon."Lunaras in moon," she explained, turning to face the class. "Each month of the lunar calendar begins with the new moon. That happens every twenty-nine or thirty days. Not like our months, which can be thirty-one days long. Which means that as far as we're concerned, the Chinese New Year falls on a different day every year. On the other hand, our New Year's Day is always on January 1"She added, "Also, each new year has a name based on an animal. The year of the Dragon, the year of the Rat...there are twelve animals in all."Bess raised her hand. "So what's our special art project, Mrs. Reynolds?""Some communities mark the end of the Chinese New Year season with a dragon parade," Mrs. Reynolds replied. "Even if it's not the year of the Dragon. For the Chinese, the dragon represents strength and brings good luck. A couple of people wear a big dragon costume. Everyone else follows them with lanterns and banners and masks."Her eyes twinkling, she added, "Mrs. Apple and I decided that our two third-grade classes will have a dragon parade two weeks from today. Her class will make the lanterns, banners, and masks. Our class will make the dragon."A dragon! Nancy thought. That seemed like a really cool project. She tried to imagine a dragon so big that more than one person would have to carry it.All the kids in the class started buzzing excitedly about the dragon parade. Then a loud voice drowned out everyone else's. "Two weeks from today? No way! It has to be on a different day."Nancy turned around in her seat. The loud voice belonged to Brenda Carlton."Brenda, is there a problem?" Mrs. Reynolds asked her."I won't be here that Monday,"Keene, Carolyn is the author of 'Chinese New Year Mystery' with ISBN 9780671787523 and ISBN 0671787527.