Rumor Has It excerpt    • Grades: 3–5, 6–8  “Audrey, breakfast!”
a voice called up the stairs.  “Coming!” Audrey Jones finished
pulling on her jeans and swept her brown hair into a ponytail. A
quickly thrown-on pair of socks later, she was skipping down the
stairs. She slid into her seat at the table and took a gulp of
juice. A stack of pancakes was piled on the plate in front of
her, and her mouth was already watering. Her mom’s pancakes were
the best.  “It’s about time, girl,” her older sister, Genevieve,
said from the seat next to her. “Five more seconds and those
pancakes would have been mine.”  Audrey knew Genevieve wasn’t
joking. She was always first at the table in the mornings and
usually had seconds before Audrey had firsts.  “No, mine!”
Dorrie, her little sister, countered from the other side. “Mine,
mine, mine!”  “I’ve got some right here for you, sweetie,”
Audrey’s mom said, sliding buttery pieces of cut-up pancake onto
Dorrie’s plastic plate. “Audrey, could you put the syrup on for
her?” Mrs. Jon