Natalie and the Downside-Up Birthday by Dandi Daley Mackall

Chapter 1
The Secret Surprise
    My name is Natalie 24, and I’ve got a secret surprise.
    That secret surprise is about my name. Hint, hint. ’Cause in case you didn’t notice, my name is also a number. Twenty-four. My very favoritest number in the whole wide world.
    My bestest friends and parents can call me “Nat 24,” since that is my nickname, which is also my nick-number.
    But that’s not the secret surprise.

    My mom and dad get very aggravated at me when I spill out their secrets and surprises. Aggravated is what other moms and dads call “mad.”
    So I will just give you another hint, hint. On account of a hint is not really telling the secret or spoiling the surprise.
    Here is another hint. Take my favorite number, 24, and pull those numbers apart, and you get a 2 and a 4. And that 2 can stand for Month Number Two, which goes by the name of February. And 4 can stand for Day Number Four. So that makes February 4. Get it?
    February 4 is coming tomorrow. That’s what.
    And that’s a huge hint for you about the secret surprise.
    Plus also, here are some more hints, in case you’re having a bad day or maybe not paying good attention:
    I am getting a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
    That chocolate cake will have a picture of a white cat named Percy on top of it.
    There will be candles on there too. Six candles. Hint, hint.
    There will be presents! For me !
    I am five and a half years old today. But tomorrow, on February 4, I won’t be that anymoreor ever again, which is a tiny bit sad, only not so much. Tomorrow, I will be six! Like Peter and Chase and some other kids in my kindergarten.
    I love secret surprises and especially this one.
    A secret is something you know and other people don’t.
    A surprise is something coming that you don’t know about or don’t know when it’s coming.
    So if you think about it, maybe this isn’t a secret since I know it already and so do a bunch of people.
    Plus also, maybe this is not a surprise. We know when it is coming. Tomorrow. February 4.
    So maybe telling this isn’t like spilling out a secret surprise that will make your mom and dad aggravated at you.
    ’Sides, I can’t stand keeping this secret any longer. This secret feels like a balloon inside of my head getting bigger and bigger until it pops out of my mouth.
    Ready?
    Here is the secret surprise that may not be a secret surprise after all:
    I am going to have a birthday!
    Tomorrow!
    Plus also, a big fat birthday party. That’s what.
    Only it’s kind of a secret surprise. So don’t tell anybody.

Chapter 2
Invites
    I walk up the school sidewalk with my bestest friend who is a girl, Laurie. This is a happy thing and kind of a surprise on account of I didn’t know when Laurie would get here. Her mom drives her, and my mom drives me. And my mom drives much faster than Laurie’s mom. So I am usually here first and have to wait for Laurie.
    Only, surprise! Not today.
    “I got your birthday party invitation!” Laurie shouts to me, even though I am right here by her.
    “You did?” I ask. Only I know she did. My bestest friend, Laurie, is a truther and not a liar.
    Plus also, I know she’s coming to my birthday party. We have talked very much about this party.
    My party is going to happen on Saturday instead of on my real birthday that’s on Friday, which is tomorrow. And that can get mixed up in your head if you let it.
    “I loved your invitation!” Laurie says.
    “I picked them out myself,” I tell her. This is a true thing. I picked an invitation with a cake ’cause I will have one of those cakes at my party.

    Laurie and I hold hands and skip up the sidewalk.
    “Don’t step on that crack,” Laurie warns. “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.”
    I jump over that crack. I love my mother’s back.
    Laurie and I are both wearing purple gloves. We love that purpley color. We are holding our lunch boxes in our outside hands and holding each other’s hands with our inside hands.
    We