The Amazing Days Of Abby Hayes is a series of novels written by author Anne Mazer and illustrated by Lynn Gesue. Originally born 1990 since first published in 2000 and the star of the series, Abigail "Abby" Hayes lives a relatively normal life with a successful and supportive family and many friends. Abby aspires to be like her siblings, Isabel, Eva, and Alex, each of whom excel in a variety of fields, including athletics. Although fairly strong (she is shown to be a natural swimmer), she is poor in math while rich in literature. Just because she excels in writing, she still feels incomparable to her siblings, though her older sisters envy her hair, and her brother looks up to her. In That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles, Abby is a talented baker. She is willing to break the rules at times but only when she feels she needs to (e.g., she wanted to attend a writing camp next summer.) Abby is a very good role model for young girls.

Abby's friends and relationships play a major role in her life, as well as her love for animals, notably cats and dogs. She owns a kitten with Isabel named T-Jeff, a kitten she had once taken in secretly when she found him in Look Before You Leap but was permitted to keep him officially when her parents found out. Her favorite color is purple and her favorite grade school teacher is Ms. Bunder, her creative writing teacher and her favorite middle school teacher is Ms. Bean, her art teacher, who also happens to be good friends with Ms. Bunder.

A distinguishing characteristic of Abby is her curly red hair and blue eyes. She hopes to become a writer, journalist, or writing teacher someday. Her major love interest is Simon, a saxophone player a year older than she is who goes to her school.

Jobs

Abby is also an editor for The Daisy. She has one of the most important jobs and is the only sixth grader on the staff.

She used to be "band manager's assistant" in her school's band, the Jazz Tones. She had been nicknamed "Curly Red" and had done daring jobs. When choosing between The Daisy and the Jazz Tones, Abby felt it was too pointless to stay, even for Simon, so she quit, much to the displeasure of the band director.

In Have Wheels, Will Travel, Abby takes care of her neighbor Heather's cat, Marshmallow, for a week while Heather was in London.

The only other "job" Abby had was in the summer in Super Special #1- The Best is Yet to Come. She had to babysit Wynter, the daughter of Abby's mom's college roommate Laurie. Laurie took advantage of Abby by making her babysit the difficult Wynter for a week and wasn't willing to pay Abby until Abby's mom found out and kicked her out of the house, giving Abby the money she deserved.

Friends and acquaintances

• Jessica "Jessy" is Abby's former best friend. She was fond of space and science. She is fairly tall and has an unmarried mother. Later in the series, she moved in with her father in Oregon along with his new wife and stepdaughters, changing into a boy crazy girly-girl. She starts wearing skimpy outfits and even gets a boyfriend. Abby claims that although Jessy is still friendly, she is a completely different person from the old Jessica.
• Ian is Jessy's boyfriend. He takes her to "mad cool" parties and is very popular.
• Natalie is an acquaintance of Abby, they used to be best friends but Bethany becomes her best friend later in the year after Jessica moves away. However they still remained close. Things changed again: ever since Abby quit the band job, Natalie and Abby had become "just friends" and rarely see each other. in sixth grade her personality changed her into a completely different person. Natalie was messy in fifth grade, but in "Knowledge is Power" she is seen to now be neat and sleek. She wears hip clothes and acts bored a lot. She plays the clarinet and has a brother named Nicolas. Before she changed, Natalie was a huge fan of chemistry, fantasy, and Harry Potter
  Harry Potter
  Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
  
  .
• Bethany is one of Abby's good friends. She loves animals (especially hamsters because she is a hamster fanatic), is a vegetarian, and used to be a cheerleader for Brianna saying "YAY BRIANNA" all the time. After she declared independence from her in "More the Merrier" she became a good friend of Natalie. However in "Now You See it Now You Don't" she strangely goes back to being Brianna's personal cheerleader again. She is also a talented gymnast. She owns one lops rabbit and one hamster named Blondie.
• Hannah is Abby's current best friend. They met at a Fourth of July picnic. Hannah is much like Jessica, with similar long brown hair and big brown eyes. She is neat, understanding, friendly, tall, and a bit annoying at times. She always has a solution for everything and has many good ideas. She doesn't always understand Abby as seen in "It's Music To My Ears". Hannah has an over the top positive attitude and never talks badly about anybody. In "Sealed With A Kiss" Abby mentions that she thinks Hannah might have a bit of a crush on Casey, though she denies it.
• Brianna is one of the most popular girls in school and a major show-off. She likes to brag excessively which includes reminding everyone she is the best and she only has the fanciest of things.In "Home is where the Heart Is", Abby actually lives near Brianna. She has one younger sibling.
• Victoria is a mean, obnoxious friend of Brianna. When Abby fell on the first day of health class and lost her clip-on earring, Victoria called her the "One Earring Wonder." She and Brianna met during the 5th grade science fair. Her trademark word is "like".
• Sophia is a shy, artistic girl who is another of Abby's current friends. Sophia likes to draw, and is on the newspaper staff as the artist.
• Simon is Abby's former crush. He is in seventh grade, a saxophone player and is very popular. He has brown hair that falls over his face, blue eyes, and according to Abby he is dreamy. He is athletic, a good student, and very polite. In "All That Glitters isn't Gold" it is mentioned that Abby and Simon are just friends and she no longer has a crush on him. He only sees Abby as a friend, barely an acquaintance, much to her dismay.
• Casey Hoffman is Abby's friend from elementary school whom she met during the science fair. In elementary school they were teased and called "lovebirds". He is not in much of the later Abby Hayes books, such as "What goes up Must Come Down" and "All that Glitters isn't Gold. Abby thinks that Casey likes Hannah and vice versa.
• Mason is a good friend of Abby's, nicknamed "the Big Burper" for his burping talent. He helps Abby out by helping her sell cookies on school grounds, though it is against school rules. Mason has an older sister named Kathleen. Kathleen also pierced Abby's ears for her.It is shown in Have Wheels, Will Travel that he has a younger brother. Mason has a crush on Abby, but Abby is not interested and wants to remain friends. Mason still has hopes for Abby falling for him someday.
• Zach was the computer whiz of 5th grade.He had blond hair, blue eyes, and long dark eyelashes. He was once described by Abby as cute, but also called him a zombie when he is hooked up to a game station. Brianna liked him in elementary school, much to his dismay.
• Tyler was Zach's best friend. Also a computer whiz, Bethany liked him in fifth grade mostly due Brianna liking Tyler's best friend Zach.
• Mira is a girl Abby meets in Everything New Under the Sun. She attends the same bookmaking workshop as Abby and Cleo, and becomes friends with them.

Family

• Eva is Abby's freshman older sister and Isabel's twin. Abby calls her one of her 'SuperSibs'. Eva loves sports and athletics are all she ever thinks of, but when she breaks her arm in Have Wheels, Will Travel, she learns that she really does need help. Eva currently has a very shy boyfriend named Stephan inSealed With A Kiss.

• Isabel is Abby's older sister and Eva's twin, another 'SuperSib'. She is a freshman
  Freshman
  A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
  
   and very intelligent, who loves history (especially wars) and nail polish. She starred in plays in middle school and always dresses fashionably. She also does lots of debates.

• Alex is Abby's younger brother, who is in second grade but can already build robots. He is a master at video games and a computer whiz. He really loves to play chess. He also looks up to Abby.

• Olivia Hayes is Abby's mother. She is a lawyer and a person who would do anything to ensure the best for her kids. It's because of her promotion in her job that they all move to a new house in Home is Where the Heart Is.

• Paul Hayes is Abby's father. He runs his own business from his office in their home. He helps the kids out when they're uncomfortable every single time. In The Best Is Yet To Come, when Olivia's friend Laurie comes to visit, she has certain conditions she wants everybody to follow, like not eating any junk food or sugar or wheat. But Paul hides a stash of chocolate in his office and gives it to the kids after each boring meal.

• Grandma Emma is Abby's favorite grandma because she is always sending her new calendars. When the family goes on a vacation Abby wants to go visit her grandma but no one agrees with her. Abby suggests they bring her along and the family yells "YES!!!"

• Cleo is Abby's cousin. In "Everything New Under the Sun", Abby meets her. She is shown to be stuck-up and rude to Abby at the beginning of the book, but warms up to her later after a fight between the two goes nowhere and they start laughing at how ridiculous they were. She enjoys dancing and drama, has traveled a lot, and is girly.

Journal

Abby has kept a journal since just before fourth-grade. The novels contain traditional third-person writing intermixed with portions of Abby's journal written in the first person. Since Abby's favorite color is Purple, she writes in Purple ink. In "Everything New Under The Sun", Abby informs her readers how she ran out of her signature purple ink and how that won't affect her love for writing. She adds calendar quotes to almost every entry, even some that she made up. Abby loves to write, especially in her journal and wants to become an author.

Fifth Grade

In the fifth grade, Abby goes to Lancaster Clark Elementary School. Abby's favorite teacher is her creative writing

Creative writing

Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

 teacher, Ms. Bunder, who gave her the nickname "Purple Hayes

Purple Haze

"Purple Haze" is a song written in 1966 and recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and released as a single in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It appeared on their 1967 album Are You Experienced...

". Ms. Bunder comes to Abby's class every Thursday. Mrs. Kantor is her homeroom teacher who is new to the school. She had moved from Swiss Hill Elementary which is where Abby almost went to school.

Sixth Grade

Abby goes to Susan B. Anthony Middle School, where one of her favorite teachers, Ms. Bean, works as an art teacher. She is similar to and friends with Ms. Bunder. Abby matures in the sixth grade. Abby had the courage to get pierced ears on her own,and she has a new sense of fashion. She makes a new friend, Sophia, who is very good at art.

The Abby Hayes series

1. Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining
2. The Declaration of Independence
3. Reach for the Stars!
4. Have Wheels, Will Travel
5. Look Before You Leap!
6. The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword
7. Two Heads Are Better Than One
8. The More, the Merrier
9. Out of Sight, Out of Mind
10. Everything New Under the Sun
11. Too Close for Comfort
12. Good Things Come in Small Packages
13. Some Things Never Change
14. It's Music to My Ears
15. Now You See It Now You Don't
16. That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles
17. Home is where the Heart is
18. What Goes Up Must Come Down
19. All that Glitters isn't Gold
20. Sealed with a Kiss
    Sealed with a Kiss
    "Sealed with a Kiss" is the title of a song written by Peter Udell and Gary Geld. It was first recorded by The Four Voices in 1960 as a single, but their recording was not a hit....
    
    

Super Special #1- The Best is Yet to Come - Abby graduates the fifth grade and the family receives a visit from Laurie, Olivia's friend in college who is a famous singer. Abby is forced to babysit Laurie's difficult daughter, Wynter who is naggy, picky, and messy.

Super Special #2- Knowledge Is Power - Abby starts the sixth grade and copes with bullying, making new friends, and finally her parents are letting her get her ears pierced. Abby learns to mature during this school year.

External links

• Scholastic Web Page
• Anne Mazer Website