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    Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
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    First published in 2011 by Viking, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group

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Text copyright © Jessie Nelson and Karen Leigh Hopkins, 2011 Illustrations copyright © Deborah Melmon, 2011 All rights reserved
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    LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Nelson, Jessie.
Labracadabra / by Jessie Nelson & Karen Leigh Hopkins ; illustrated by
Deborah Melmon.
p. cm.
    eISBN : 978-1-101-51383-5
    [1. Dogs—Fiction. 2. Human-animal relationships—Fiction. 3. Magic—Fiction.] I.
Hopkins, Karen Leigh. II. Melmon, Deborah, ill.
III. Title.
    Â 
    PZ7.N4339Lab 2011
    [E]—dc22 2010025109
    Â 

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This book is dedicated to our firstborn pups,
the beautiful Molly June and Milly Rose
    â€”J.N. & K.L.H.

    For my sweet angel, Gracie—D.M.

1
    I KNOW IT SOUNDS crazy. But really, it happened.
    It all began around 11:32 last Tuesday.
    My parents told me they had a surprise for me. They said it was something I had wanted for a long time. It wasn’t my birthday or anything. And I didn’t remember that I’d done anything special to have earned a surprise. Though sometimes my mom says I don’t have to do anything special, I just am special. But then when she gets mad at me she’ll say, “You may be special, but don’t forget everyone is special,” so go figure.
    Back to the day.
    My neighbor Molly Rose was babysitting. We used to be good friends and hang out in my tree house and play restaurant, but now she’s a teenager. All she does is talk on the phone with her boyfriend. Mom says it’s just a phase and that she really likes me, but I’m not sure.
    My mom said, “Molly can help you clean up your room while we’re gone.” It seemed kind of unfair having to clean up while I waited for a surprise, but I didn’t want to push it, because that’s when my mom’s left eyebrow goes up and you know you’ve gone too far.
    The last time my parents said they had a surprise for me, they brought home a canoe and we took my cousin Seymour out on the lake. He threw up. Not to be mean, but I was hoping this new surprise didn’t include him.

    I searched the house for clues. None. Zip.
    I was in the middle of my third peanut butter sandwich when my parents’ car pulled