Our Only May Amelia: Part 4

By JENNIFER L. HOLM

It is starting to get hot, it being nearly June, and here on the Nasel the breeze is hiding, and the mosquitoes are trying to bite me the way Bosie is trying to bite the little fishies in the water.

Bosie's a strong swimmer but the Nasel is rough, and the water is dragging him downstream. Wilbert, I say. Fetch Bosie out before he washes into the Shoalwater Bay.

The Nasel runs into the Shoalwater Bay farther downstream and then into the wide ocean. To the south overland is the mighty Columbia River, and on the other side of the Columbia is Oregon and Astoria. Astoria is the only real city in these parts and it's a wicked place full of shanghaiers and seamen and all sorts of fancy folks, not like out here in Nasel where the only fancy thing is a new pair of shoes. At least that's what Wilbert tells me - I have never been there myself.

Our Aunt Alice lives there and she is very fancy indeed. She is coming to visit on account of my birthday, and so are my Aunt Feenie and Uncle Henry. I am turned twelve this very day and I have spent most of it hiding in a tree.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price: $12.95

Age group: 9 plus years