Summer is over and that can only mean one thing for eight-year-old Mallory McDonald (like the restaurant, but no relation)âshe has to go back to school. But not just any school, a new school with all new kids in it. To make matters worse, her mom is going, too! Sheâs the new music teacher, and Mallory canât think of anything that could possibly be worseâuntil her first day. She has to sit with Pamela, who always says the right thing and steals her ideas. Joey is so busy with his old friends that he has no time for her, and to top it off, sheâs picked to be an eggplant in the Fall Festival her mom is putting on. Itâs not fair! What can Mallory do? Should she give Pamela, and her new school, another chance?