If The Magic Fits (100 Dresses)

If The Magic Fits (100 Dresses)

Try on a little magic with this lighthearted fantasy adventure! For fans of the Land of Stories and Descendants series. ?Inside an enchanted castle, there?s a closet-a closet with one hundred dresses that nobody ever wears. Dresses like those need a good trying-on, and Darling Dimple is just the girl to do it. When she tries on Dress Number Eleven, something unbelievable happens. She transforms into the castle?s Head Scrubber! It turns out that each dress can disguise her as someone else. And Darling is about to have an adventure that calls for a disguise or two . . . or a hundred.Review?A cheery start to a new series, this fairy-tale-style fantasy will brighten the cloudiest of days.? -Kirkus Reviews"Give this magic-filled romp to fans of Jessica Day George and Shannon Hale.? -School Library Journal?[A] lively first volume of a planned trilogy.? -The Wall Street Journal?n the Best New Children?s Books?A charming new fairy tale! Readers won?t want this adventure to end!? -Jessica Day George,New York Times bestselling author ofTuesdays at the CastleAbout the AuthorSusan Maupin Schmid writes in a little blue office in Iowa. She has a particular weakness for good coffee, good books, and beautiful dresses. Her closet doesn?t contain a hundred dresses-yet-but someday it will. Susan is also the author ofGhost of a Chance, the second book in the 100 Dresses series, andLost Time, a middle-grade science-fiction adventure. To find out more, visit SusanMaupinSchmid.com and follow her on Twitter at @maupinschmid.Excerpt. ?Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.1?I wasn?t born in a tower or in a golden chamber. I wasn?t born a princess or even a lady. But I was born in a castle built by dragons. Not that you would think so to look at it. Perched on the side of a mountain, the castle blazed like a diamond in the sun-majestic, but ordinary as castles go. You wouldn?t suspect that it had anything to do with dragons. Or magic. But it did.?y mother was an Under-chopper, working beside the Under-slicer in the castle kitchens, when she had me. My father was a sailor who?d been lost at sea. My grief-stricken mother spent her days chopping vegetables and sobbing. The day I was born, she kissed me good-bye, curled up her toes, and died. The Under-slicer, Jane, plucked me from my departed mother?s side. She squinted nearsightedly at my wrinkled red face.?What a Darling Dimple!? she exclaimed.??m told I screamed at this pronouncement, but it did me no good. The name stuck. Everyone from the Head Steward down to the Stable Boys called me Darling Dimple. Never mind that I didn?t have a dimple. Nor was I particularly darling. My hair flew around like the white fluff of a dandelion. My skin was pasty, my nose stubby. My eyes were the color of water, which is to say they had no color whatsoever. Some folks said they were gray, some blue, some green. Roger, the Second Stable Boy, said they were yellow. But he didn?t know anything.?or all her nearsightedness, Jane taught me to read, write, count, and wield a whetstone. She had a soft spot for me the size of a plum pie. When I was small, I followed her around the kitchens. I?d hold a corner of her apron in one fist and a wooden spoon in the other. Just in case one of the cooks had a sudden need for a taster. As I grew older, I helped her: fetching vegetables from the bins, keeping count (if the Soup Chef said twelve onions, he meant twelve), and sanding the chopping block. At the end of the day, when every knife was sharpened, Jane took me upstairs to sit at the paws of one of the great bronze lions guarding the lower gardens. We gazed at the stars with the other Under-servants, dreaming of far away until it was time for bed. We slept in a room tucked under the kitchens where the air carried a hint of cinnamon and spice. But all that changed.?hen I was ten and Jane?s eyesight had dwindled to the near end of her nose, she accidenta