The Third Mushroom

Jennifer L. Holm is a New York Times bestselling children's author and the recipient of three Newbery Honors for her novels Our Only May Amelia, Penny From Heaven, and Turtle in Paradise. Jennifer collaborates with her brother, Matthew Holm, on two graphic novel series—the Eisner Award-winning Babymouse series and the bestselling Squish series. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

Mushroom War Maybe it's because I'm an only child, but my parents have always been a little obsessed with my eating. They insist that I try everything on my plate. That I eat what they eat. No chicken tenders off the kids' menu for me. If they have calamari or chicken livers, that's what I have to eat, too. And the truth is: I'm a pretty good eater. Growing up in the Bay Area, you get to try a lot of different kinds of cuisine. I've had Indian, Burmese, Mexican, Chinese, Peruvian, Vietnamese, you name it. I even like the raw-fish kind of sushi. My parents agree that I've never been really picky except when it comes to one thing. Mushrooms. The first time I tried a mushroom I was in kindergarten. My parents are divorced, but they've always stayed good friends, and we have family dinner once a week. We were at a favorite Italian restaurant and my mother had ordered a pasta dish for the table--ravioli. I loved pasta of all kinds, so I was happy. Then I took a bite. To my horror, instead of creamy cheese being in the cute pasta pocket, there were weird brown chunks. It tasted awful. Like dirt. "What is this?" I asked my mom. "Mushroom ravioli. Don't you like it?" I shook my head. I definitely did not like it. My parents seemed a little disappointed. The second time I tried a mushroom, it was at a Chinese restaurant. We'd gone to see a play and it was late and I was really hungry. My parents talked me into ordering a chicken-and-mushroom dish. Try new things, they told me. But this time the mushroom had a horrible texture: rubbery and slimy. What was the deal with mushrooms, anyway? Why were they so gross? I didn't starve (I ate the plain rice and fortune cookies), but I was annoyed. At the mushrooms. And at myself for trying them again. Then and there I resolved never to eat a mushroom again. That's when the Mushroom War started. Because my parents took it as a personal challenge that I didn't like mushrooms. They started putting them in everything. They put mushrooms in stir-fry and lasagna and salad. I guess they figured I'd cave and eat them. But there was no way I was making that mistake again. Eventually, my parents gave up and I won the Mushroom War. They moved on to brussels sprouts, which didn't deserve such a bad rap, in my opinion. As the years went by, they would occasionally serve me something with mushrooms. And every single time, I picked them out and left them in a neat pile on the side of my plate. At least no one could say I didn't have good table manners. 2 Criminal My mom and I like to watch courtroom dramas on TV. She says they're great character studies. She loves the scenes with lawyers arguing, especially when they shout "Objection!" My mom's a high school theater teacher, so she's a fan of anything dramatic. While the lawyers are interesting, my heart's been with the criminals lately. Because I know just how they feel. Middle school is like jail: the food is terrible, you're forced to exercise, and it's the same boring routine every day. Mostly it's the buildings that make you feel like a prisoner. There's no color, no style, and everything smells like dirty socks. The only exceptions are the science classrooms. They redid the labs over the summer, and now they look like the Hollywood version of a high-tech lab. But my science teacher, Mr. Ham, doesn't look anything like a Hollywood scientist. He's young and likes to wear loud, silly ties instead of a lab coat. This is the second year in a row I've had him, because he moved up a grade. "We'll be hosting the county science fair this spring," he announces. "I'd encourage you all to enter. You'll earn extra credit. It's also fine if you want to buddy up with another student and enter as a team." Even though I've already got a good grade in class, I'm tempted because of my grandfather. I know he