February 2017 - Nothing But Trouble by Jacqueline Davies

“Explosions are a fact of life.  At least they were in Maggie Gallagher’s life.  Her only goal was to keep them quiet – contained and undetected.
     This morning, that hadn’t worked out so well, despite the fact that she was down in the basement.
‘What on God’s green earth was that?’ bellowed Grandpop from the first floor.
     ‘Nothing, Grandpop!’ shouted Maggie, waving her hand back and forth to clear the smoke.  Although Maggie loved explosions, this one had been discouraging.  Her summer-long quest to concoct the perfect fuel for a hydraulic press would have to wait.  It was the first day of sixth grade and she was late.” 
     pg. 1 – Nothing But Trouble by Jacqueline Davies
 
Maggie lives in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania that doesn’t have much going on besides high school football and the Moxie soda factory, even Maggie’s Middle School seems down on its luck.  Odawahaka Middle School, known as Oda M to the locals, is down to just the sixth grade class, four teachers and Principal Schute, retired US Marine. The rest of the middle school grades are either at the elementary or high school, with the old middle school building scheduled to be demolished at the end of the school year ... Maggie can’t wait!  However, when Maggie meets Lena Polachev, the new girl in town, things start to look up.  Lena is Maggie’s complete opposite, but together the two turn the final year of Oda M into something even more interesting than even they could imagine. 
 
Want to know how to fill a locker with tennis balls … Maggie & Lena know how!  Nothing But Trouble, a story of pranks, mysterious mice, small explosions, friendship and imagination, is a mischievous tale of two strong, smart young girls, who find out that it’s always best to “hack” with a friend.
 
The two main characters in this story are girls, if you’d rather read a book about boys pulling pranks at their school check out The Terrible Two and The Terrible Two Get Worse by Mac Barnett and Jory John.