The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls
Encyclopedia
The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls is a children's novel written by Elise Primavera
. The book was published by HarperCollins
in 2006.
Ivy and Franny soon discover a letter tucked into a creepy portrait of Aunt V (the relative that left the Diamond family the house) saying that she faked her death to avoid a run-in with taxes. Pearl excuses it as simply Aunt V losing her marbles and Ivy discards the letter.
As the novel progresses, Ivy quickly learns from Franny the social situation on Gumm Street. Pru hates Cat, Cat hates Pru, they both don’t like Franny and Franny doesn’t like either of them. Cat’s stuck-up and thinks she’s “all that” with her ESP and Pru is a coward thinking of nothing but books. Franny points out that Ivy should try her hardest to get into Liverwurst, a class at Sherbet Academy,because she is in Liverwurst. Cat and Pru being the “stuck-up know-it-alls they are” are in Tuna-on-Rye. The origin of this class system goes back to Heironymus Gumm, the founder of Sherbet Academy. He named the classes after his favorite sandwiches: Egg Salad, Bacon Lettuce and Tomato, Liverwurst, and Tuna-on-Rye.
Abiding by Franny’s request, Ivy does her best to take the placement test to get herself into Liverwurst. However, when the door opens, she’s introduced to the Tuna-on-Rye class. Cat immediately sees Ivy’s Jinx, freaks out, and is sent out of class because of her disruption. Pru, however, take the opportunity to introduce herself to Ivy, for any enemy of Cat’s is a friend to Pru. Much to Pru’s dismay, she finds that Ivy is too strange too hang out with her group of friends. After learning Ivy made it into Tuna-on-Rye, Franny abandons her and Ivy is once again left alone to curse her Jinx.
After a depressing day, she makes it over to Mr. Staccato’s for her first lesson at # 7 Gumm Street. She’s greeted by the strangely human terriers, Fred and Ginger, and first sees the glamorous Ruby-Red slippers from the MGM film, The Wizard of Oz
. Mr. Staccato teaches Ivy middle C
on the piano because this is where “it all starts” or sometimes “where it all ends.” During the lesson, Ivy learns about Mr. Staccato’s past and his involvement in The Wizard of Oz film.
After a few days of misfortune, Ivy discovers that Mr. Staccato’s house is the only place she feels safe and away from her Jinx. Ivy asks Mr. Staccato if, after school everyday, she can clean his house as a job. He agrees and offers that in exchange for teaching her lessons for free.
The days slip by until Franny begins talking to Ivy again. She exclaims that she’s going to be in Liverwurst (as a result of Ivy failing Tuna-on-Rye). The time of the ever ominous piano recital comes and Pru plans to beat out Cat and be the star of the whole show. Cat has no worries about the event; only, she’s having uneasy feelings and consults her I Ching
. It warns her to pack up and leave town as well as beware of hurricane Cha Cha. She dismisses the warning as ludicrous. She also unknowingly conjures a wizard in a balloon that tells her “Heironymous Gumm... Behind” and to watch out for a backwards tidal wave. On the actual day of the recital, Ivy and Franny are at #5 Gumm and Franny gives Ivy a shirt with “Carpe diem
” written on it. Ivy then wishes her hair wasn’t so stringy, and Franny offers to cut it. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a choppy disaster. With no time to fix it, Ivy and Franny whisk off to the recital.
The two crash in during Pru’s performance, ruining it, and much to Pru’s horror, Cat uses the opportunity to ridicule her. Ashamed, she storms out of the room. Ivy then gives a lukewarm performance and after going offstage, Pearl spots her is mortified at the sight of her daughter’s new haircut. Misplacing her anger, she takes it out on Franny and demands that Ivy come home. Mr. Staccato scolds Cat for her cruelty towards Pru; shortly after, Cat apologizes along with Franny and Ivy for ruining her performance, but Pru accepts none of it. She vows never to speak to any of the girls again. Humiliated and guilt-ridden, Ivy begins to cry whereupon Mr. Staccato’s tells her, her unique talent: strength. Mr. Staccato also reveals to her the origin of the ruby slippers
. He also tells her that she is the true owner of the slippers, also warning her never to give them up.
Sherbet’s first hurricane strikes during the conversation. They receive a phone call from Pearl; Ivy speeds off home at the thought of her mother’s wrath, but Staccato has more to tell her. Regardless, she promises to visit him tomorrow.
At #3 Gumm, Franny once again observes the street through her binoculars when she spots Mr. Staccato’s form levitating in the sky. He tells her, “You make a better door than a window” and disappears into the stormy clouds. Shocked, Franny wakes up Ivy and tells her the Mr. Staccato’s dead. Shortly after, Fred and Ginger show up on her doorstep crying.
The next day, the hurricane dissipates and the two friends make their way over to #7 Gumm. Ivy takes the Ruby Red Slippers. Just then, Cha Cha, a glamorous woman claiming to be Mr.Staccato’s sister, then niece, appears demanding ownership of the shoes. She also threatens to call Judge Gumm if Ivy doesn’t cooperate. Ivy and Franny manage to escape and in Ivy’s room, they discover that the ruby red paint is rubbing off of one of the slippers, revealing its true silver color. Ivy and Franny both realize the seriousness of this predicament and agree to call Pru for help. She refuses to even consider helping Ivy, but at the thought of Cat coming too, changes her mind joins them. Once there, she reads passages from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
. They all conclude that Ivy, who’s mother’s middle name is Gale, is a descendant of Dorothy
, and that Fred and Ginger are related to the famous terrier, Toto. Despite Pru’s protest, they agree to call Cat and ask for additional assistance.
However, before she can provide much help, the four Gumm Street Girls hear Cha Cha entering the house. Ivy ushers them into her closet, for she doesn’t wish for them to get into trouble either. Cha Cha, once again, request she hand over the silver shoe, even offering to make Ivy a deal. If she gives her the shoe, she’ll take the Jinx off her hands forever. Holding out still, Cha Cha tries to take them by force and is electrocuted across the room. Cha Cha then discloses she meant to give the Jinx to Pearl in the first place, and threatens to do so now. Backed into a corner, Ivy gives up the shoe. Still unsatisfied, Cha Cha asks where the other one is located. Truly clueless, Ivy says she doesn’t know. Cha Cha makes her exit, as the Jinx becomes one with Ivy’s shadow once again.
The closet door opens, revealing a passed out Pru. They’re all abuzz about their situation and Cat suggests that this villainous Cha Cha is the Wicked Witch of the West or someone related to her. Cat then explains how she conjured up the Wizard that said “Heironymus Gumm... Behind.” Pru starts up an argument again, saying that the girls wouldn’t have believed her if she was saying all this. Cat consults the I Ching, which brings more ambiguous bad news. Franny gets excited and says they should start a secret club appropriately named, “The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls.” They see the idea as either lame or unimportant. Ivy insists she can handle this on her own, but Franny points out the eye on her hand (which she got from first touching the shoe) and that she has a witch after her! Franny persuades the girls to put their differences aside and ‘stick together’ to help Ivy.
Meanwhile, Cha Cha has enchanted all of Sherbet with her stylish clothing and tips on fashion. Even the girls’ parents, including Pearl, find her to be simply fabulous. The Gumm Street Girls all come up with a plan to solve their witch problem once and for all. They pack up a few things in backpacks and disguise an ordinary high heel with silver paint in a false surrender to Cha Cha. At the Colossal Candy Bar, the girls’ plan backfires and Cha Cha ends up trapping them in a champagne-colored Cadillac filled with jellybeans, sending them off in a “backwards tidal wave.” They speculate whether or not they’re going to end up in Oz.
Franny, Ivy, Cat, Pru and Fred and Ginger wake up to find themselves in a place called Spoz. The peculiar place is covered ceiling to floor with the color pink. Small pink people they conclude are munchkins walk about ignoring the visitors. The girls realize they’re actually underground with no running water and meet the vicious teens, Bling Bling and Coco. They introduce themselves with a string of insults and their title as Cha Cha’s nieces (or the Wicked Witch of the West's
daughters). The sisters find themselves in a predicament as well. Without Cha Cha, their beauty and “visibly firm skin” will all disappear and are not content with waiting until their aunt returns. Both are eager to try the Beautyliator, an odd machine used to transform raisins into grapes, on humans. Unwilling to be insubordinate with Cha Cha, they enslave the girls and send them to harvest potatoes and make French fries for them for the rest of the summer. The four girls and two terriers agree to stick together and see each other through this.
With most of the summer worked away peeling potatoes and properly disposing of toenail clippings, the girls’ situation doesn’t seem to be getting much better. One day, Pru is caught by Coco under her bed. Pru is shocked to discover that Coco has transformed into an old hag with many fine lines and thick ankles. In a desperate attempt to save herself from being thrown into the Beautyliator, she offers to go pick up Coco’s vitamins in Spudz (the mysterious place the sisters have been threatening the girls with all summer). However, before Pru can make her daring journey, Cat and she wake to find that Ivy and Franny are missing. It turns out that Ivy decided to face her Jinx once and for all and in doing so, she injures her arm and ends up in the dreaded Spudz. Franny wakened to find Ivy gone and followed after her.
Coco grows tired of waiting for their aunt’s return and makes to throw Cat and Pru in the Beautyliator. Cat pushes Coco inside instead and Pru pushes the button for her to be “beautified.” The escapees flee to Spudz after Ivy and Franny.
Ivy meets the fearful and unfriendly, Dr. Iznotz, a giant potato with several eyes and roots for hair. He doesn’t give her medicine for her arm nor Bling Bling’s vitamins. He does, however, give her witch vanishing potion, for he fears that Ivy herself is a witch and her Jinx. She asks where she can find the other silver shoe and quickly suggests talking to someone named Maz in Wormz Pock. On her way there, she’s intercepted by Maz and meets up with Franny. Being the motherly spud she is, Maz gives the two girls a thick liquid that tastes like hot chocolate
and heals Ivy’s arm. They fall asleep and when Ivy wakes up, she sees Franny eating pancakes exclaiming that Maz knows everything about Staccato, the shoes and even her Jinx! Maz’s story consists of the history of the silver slippers and how they came to be lost in the desert. Her tale also suggests that the shoes are capable of time travel and unknown power. Ivy asks about her Jinx and Maz says that he will never leave her. “Your Jinx dozz not like being a Jinx.”
Cat and Pru make their way up a potato mountain with Fred and Ginger in search for their friends when they get into an argument over directions. They temporarily stop speaking to each other and sit in discontent.
Under Maz’s instruction, Franny and Pru make their way through the Ooze where they encounter the “zombie” of Aunt V. In the letter, it said she’d faked her death, but it turns out, she met her accidental demise when she electrocuted herself with a fork and toaster. Reminiscent of Cha Cha, Aunt V asks where the shoes are and Ivy refuses to answer. Aunt V proposes that they can be a good team together. Before Ivy and Franny can run off the Jinx grabs Ivy and plunges into the ooze. Franny dives after her.
In their silence, Pru discovers that they were close to the “sky” of Spudz. There was a hole in this sky and she asks Cat for a boost. Much to Cat’s surprise, Pru isn’t afraid. Setting their anger aside, they make their way through the discovered tunnel and along with Fred and Ginger, meet up with Ivy and Franny as they shoot out of the ooze. With the six reunited companions together again, they come across light and find a gingerbread cottage with a picture of Heironymous Gumm inside. There, they catch up on what Franny and Ivy have learned from Maz and Aunt V run-in. They also grieve over Mr. Staccato and decide to name the small house “Middle C Cottage” in honor of their piano teacher.
After a day of being in Middle C, they find a secret passage behind the picture of Heironymous Gumm (Heironymous Gumm... behind) and at the end of it, a safe just like the one at #7 Gumm Street with the title “What is My Unique Talent?” Ivy asks Franny what Mr. Staccato said to her when his spirit was floating in the sky. “You make a better door than a window.” With the words spoken, the safe opens and inside they find the missing silver shoe.
The Gumm Street Girls find themselves in Mr. Staccato’s museum room. Pru finds a newspaper and spots an article on them! Cha Cha had fabricated a story of how the girls were sent off to a special music school for the summer to make sure they weren’t missed. Cha Cha makes her entrance and demands for the shoes. The girls had already prepared the witch vanishing potion, but before it could be used, Cha Cha flings Franny across the room and dumps the potion down the drain. Fred, Ginger, Ivy and the rest run to # 5 Gumm to escape Cha Cha. They smell something burning and realize the house is on fire. Barely making it out, the girls watch the ill-fated house fall on Cha Cha and the Jinx positions himself to attack Ivy. Ivy takes the silver shoes and braces herself. Instead of killing Ivy, the Jinx hugs her and transforms into someone Ivy hasn’t seen in seven years: her dad.
After a week of being back in Sherbet, the Gumm Street Girls rest and prepare for the first day of school. Cat consults her I Ching and it predicts “your work has just begun” while Pru spent the last week of vacation in her room reading books. The reunited Diamond Family found a will of Mr. Staccato’s and discovered that he left his home and all his possessions them. Now, at #7 Gumm, the Diamonds and Fred and Ginger make their home. Ivy, being ever so cautious though, keeps the two silver shoes separated and hidden as Staccato did.
The novel ends with the foreshadowing of Bling Bling’s reappearance and the actual reappearance of the suspicious Aunt V. Franny spotted her through her binoculars and immediately called for a meeting of the Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls the next day.
Elise Primavera
Elise Primavera is an American author and illustrator of children's novels. She arrived on the literary scene in 1981 as an illustrator for Atheneum, Putnam, and other publishing houses...
. The book was published by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in 2006.
Introduction
The story takes place in a whimsical, seemingly perfect town called Sherbet. The weather is simply lovely with it only snowing in the winter, and raining for precisely forty-five minutes in the summertime. Having supplied the reader a map, the narrator requests him/her to search for a street on it called Gumm. And on this street, four girls of about the same age live. Their names are Franny Muggs, Pru Gumm, Cat Lemonjello and Ivy Diamond.Plot
At the start of the novel, Franny Muggs is surveying Gumm Street, scowling at the thought of Pru and Cat when she spots a new family moving to #5 Gumm. She’s immediately intrigued and scurries down her steps to greet her new neighbors. She is greeted by former beauty queen, Pearl Diamond, and her daughter, Ivy. Pearl fusses over a piano arriving as Mr. Staccato introduces himself lavishly with his two dogs, Fred and Ginger. He offers to teach Ivy piano lessons in light of their new instrument. Ivy accepts the offer and quickly makes friends with Franny.Ivy and Franny soon discover a letter tucked into a creepy portrait of Aunt V (the relative that left the Diamond family the house) saying that she faked her death to avoid a run-in with taxes. Pearl excuses it as simply Aunt V losing her marbles and Ivy discards the letter.
As the novel progresses, Ivy quickly learns from Franny the social situation on Gumm Street. Pru hates Cat, Cat hates Pru, they both don’t like Franny and Franny doesn’t like either of them. Cat’s stuck-up and thinks she’s “all that” with her ESP and Pru is a coward thinking of nothing but books. Franny points out that Ivy should try her hardest to get into Liverwurst, a class at Sherbet Academy,because she is in Liverwurst. Cat and Pru being the “stuck-up know-it-alls they are” are in Tuna-on-Rye. The origin of this class system goes back to Heironymus Gumm, the founder of Sherbet Academy. He named the classes after his favorite sandwiches: Egg Salad, Bacon Lettuce and Tomato, Liverwurst, and Tuna-on-Rye.
Abiding by Franny’s request, Ivy does her best to take the placement test to get herself into Liverwurst. However, when the door opens, she’s introduced to the Tuna-on-Rye class. Cat immediately sees Ivy’s Jinx, freaks out, and is sent out of class because of her disruption. Pru, however, take the opportunity to introduce herself to Ivy, for any enemy of Cat’s is a friend to Pru. Much to Pru’s dismay, she finds that Ivy is too strange too hang out with her group of friends. After learning Ivy made it into Tuna-on-Rye, Franny abandons her and Ivy is once again left alone to curse her Jinx.
After a depressing day, she makes it over to Mr. Staccato’s for her first lesson at # 7 Gumm Street. She’s greeted by the strangely human terriers, Fred and Ginger, and first sees the glamorous Ruby-Red slippers from the MGM film, The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
. Mr. Staccato teaches Ivy middle C
C (musical note)
C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège scale. Its enharmonic is B.-Middle C:Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano keyboard...
on the piano because this is where “it all starts” or sometimes “where it all ends.” During the lesson, Ivy learns about Mr. Staccato’s past and his involvement in The Wizard of Oz film.
After a few days of misfortune, Ivy discovers that Mr. Staccato’s house is the only place she feels safe and away from her Jinx. Ivy asks Mr. Staccato if, after school everyday, she can clean his house as a job. He agrees and offers that in exchange for teaching her lessons for free.
The days slip by until Franny begins talking to Ivy again. She exclaims that she’s going to be in Liverwurst (as a result of Ivy failing Tuna-on-Rye). The time of the ever ominous piano recital comes and Pru plans to beat out Cat and be the star of the whole show. Cat has no worries about the event; only, she’s having uneasy feelings and consults her I Ching
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
. It warns her to pack up and leave town as well as beware of hurricane Cha Cha. She dismisses the warning as ludicrous. She also unknowingly conjures a wizard in a balloon that tells her “Heironymous Gumm... Behind” and to watch out for a backwards tidal wave. On the actual day of the recital, Ivy and Franny are at #5 Gumm and Franny gives Ivy a shirt with “Carpe diem
Carpe diem
Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day"...
” written on it. Ivy then wishes her hair wasn’t so stringy, and Franny offers to cut it. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a choppy disaster. With no time to fix it, Ivy and Franny whisk off to the recital.
The two crash in during Pru’s performance, ruining it, and much to Pru’s horror, Cat uses the opportunity to ridicule her. Ashamed, she storms out of the room. Ivy then gives a lukewarm performance and after going offstage, Pearl spots her is mortified at the sight of her daughter’s new haircut. Misplacing her anger, she takes it out on Franny and demands that Ivy come home. Mr. Staccato scolds Cat for her cruelty towards Pru; shortly after, Cat apologizes along with Franny and Ivy for ruining her performance, but Pru accepts none of it. She vows never to speak to any of the girls again. Humiliated and guilt-ridden, Ivy begins to cry whereupon Mr. Staccato’s tells her, her unique talent: strength. Mr. Staccato also reveals to her the origin of the ruby slippers
Ruby slippers
The ruby slippers are the shoes worn by Dorothy in the 1939 MGM movie The Wizard of Oz. Because of their iconic stature, they are now among the most treasured and valuable of film memorabilia. As was customary for important props, a number of pairs were made for the film, though no one knows...
. He also tells her that she is the true owner of the slippers, also warning her never to give them up.
Sherbet’s first hurricane strikes during the conversation. They receive a phone call from Pearl; Ivy speeds off home at the thought of her mother’s wrath, but Staccato has more to tell her. Regardless, she promises to visit him tomorrow.
At #3 Gumm, Franny once again observes the street through her binoculars when she spots Mr. Staccato’s form levitating in the sky. He tells her, “You make a better door than a window” and disappears into the stormy clouds. Shocked, Franny wakes up Ivy and tells her the Mr. Staccato’s dead. Shortly after, Fred and Ginger show up on her doorstep crying.
The next day, the hurricane dissipates and the two friends make their way over to #7 Gumm. Ivy takes the Ruby Red Slippers. Just then, Cha Cha, a glamorous woman claiming to be Mr.Staccato’s sister, then niece, appears demanding ownership of the shoes. She also threatens to call Judge Gumm if Ivy doesn’t cooperate. Ivy and Franny manage to escape and in Ivy’s room, they discover that the ruby red paint is rubbing off of one of the slippers, revealing its true silver color. Ivy and Franny both realize the seriousness of this predicament and agree to call Pru for help. She refuses to even consider helping Ivy, but at the thought of Cat coming too, changes her mind joins them. Once there, she reads passages from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
. They all conclude that Ivy, who’s mother’s middle name is Gale, is a descendant of Dorothy
Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale is the protagonist of many of the Oz novels by American author L. Frank Baum, and the best friend of Oz's ruler Princess Ozma. Dorothy first appears in Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels...
, and that Fred and Ginger are related to the famous terrier, Toto. Despite Pru’s protest, they agree to call Cat and ask for additional assistance.
However, before she can provide much help, the four Gumm Street Girls hear Cha Cha entering the house. Ivy ushers them into her closet, for she doesn’t wish for them to get into trouble either. Cha Cha, once again, request she hand over the silver shoe, even offering to make Ivy a deal. If she gives her the shoe, she’ll take the Jinx off her hands forever. Holding out still, Cha Cha tries to take them by force and is electrocuted across the room. Cha Cha then discloses she meant to give the Jinx to Pearl in the first place, and threatens to do so now. Backed into a corner, Ivy gives up the shoe. Still unsatisfied, Cha Cha asks where the other one is located. Truly clueless, Ivy says she doesn’t know. Cha Cha makes her exit, as the Jinx becomes one with Ivy’s shadow once again.
The closet door opens, revealing a passed out Pru. They’re all abuzz about their situation and Cat suggests that this villainous Cha Cha is the Wicked Witch of the West or someone related to her. Cat then explains how she conjured up the Wizard that said “Heironymus Gumm... Behind.” Pru starts up an argument again, saying that the girls wouldn’t have believed her if she was saying all this. Cat consults the I Ching, which brings more ambiguous bad news. Franny gets excited and says they should start a secret club appropriately named, “The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls.” They see the idea as either lame or unimportant. Ivy insists she can handle this on her own, but Franny points out the eye on her hand (which she got from first touching the shoe) and that she has a witch after her! Franny persuades the girls to put their differences aside and ‘stick together’ to help Ivy.
Meanwhile, Cha Cha has enchanted all of Sherbet with her stylish clothing and tips on fashion. Even the girls’ parents, including Pearl, find her to be simply fabulous. The Gumm Street Girls all come up with a plan to solve their witch problem once and for all. They pack up a few things in backpacks and disguise an ordinary high heel with silver paint in a false surrender to Cha Cha. At the Colossal Candy Bar, the girls’ plan backfires and Cha Cha ends up trapping them in a champagne-colored Cadillac filled with jellybeans, sending them off in a “backwards tidal wave.” They speculate whether or not they’re going to end up in Oz.
Franny, Ivy, Cat, Pru and Fred and Ginger wake up to find themselves in a place called Spoz. The peculiar place is covered ceiling to floor with the color pink. Small pink people they conclude are munchkins walk about ignoring the visitors. The girls realize they’re actually underground with no running water and meet the vicious teens, Bling Bling and Coco. They introduce themselves with a string of insults and their title as Cha Cha’s nieces (or the Wicked Witch of the West's
Wicked Witch of the West
The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character and the most significant antagonist in L. Frank Baum's children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
daughters). The sisters find themselves in a predicament as well. Without Cha Cha, their beauty and “visibly firm skin” will all disappear and are not content with waiting until their aunt returns. Both are eager to try the Beautyliator, an odd machine used to transform raisins into grapes, on humans. Unwilling to be insubordinate with Cha Cha, they enslave the girls and send them to harvest potatoes and make French fries for them for the rest of the summer. The four girls and two terriers agree to stick together and see each other through this.
With most of the summer worked away peeling potatoes and properly disposing of toenail clippings, the girls’ situation doesn’t seem to be getting much better. One day, Pru is caught by Coco under her bed. Pru is shocked to discover that Coco has transformed into an old hag with many fine lines and thick ankles. In a desperate attempt to save herself from being thrown into the Beautyliator, she offers to go pick up Coco’s vitamins in Spudz (the mysterious place the sisters have been threatening the girls with all summer). However, before Pru can make her daring journey, Cat and she wake to find that Ivy and Franny are missing. It turns out that Ivy decided to face her Jinx once and for all and in doing so, she injures her arm and ends up in the dreaded Spudz. Franny wakened to find Ivy gone and followed after her.
Coco grows tired of waiting for their aunt’s return and makes to throw Cat and Pru in the Beautyliator. Cat pushes Coco inside instead and Pru pushes the button for her to be “beautified.” The escapees flee to Spudz after Ivy and Franny.
Ivy meets the fearful and unfriendly, Dr. Iznotz, a giant potato with several eyes and roots for hair. He doesn’t give her medicine for her arm nor Bling Bling’s vitamins. He does, however, give her witch vanishing potion, for he fears that Ivy herself is a witch and her Jinx. She asks where she can find the other silver shoe and quickly suggests talking to someone named Maz in Wormz Pock. On her way there, she’s intercepted by Maz and meets up with Franny. Being the motherly spud she is, Maz gives the two girls a thick liquid that tastes like hot chocolate
Hot chocolate
Hot chocolate is a heated beverage typically consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and sugar...
and heals Ivy’s arm. They fall asleep and when Ivy wakes up, she sees Franny eating pancakes exclaiming that Maz knows everything about Staccato, the shoes and even her Jinx! Maz’s story consists of the history of the silver slippers and how they came to be lost in the desert. Her tale also suggests that the shoes are capable of time travel and unknown power. Ivy asks about her Jinx and Maz says that he will never leave her. “Your Jinx dozz not like being a Jinx.”
Cat and Pru make their way up a potato mountain with Fred and Ginger in search for their friends when they get into an argument over directions. They temporarily stop speaking to each other and sit in discontent.
Under Maz’s instruction, Franny and Pru make their way through the Ooze where they encounter the “zombie” of Aunt V. In the letter, it said she’d faked her death, but it turns out, she met her accidental demise when she electrocuted herself with a fork and toaster. Reminiscent of Cha Cha, Aunt V asks where the shoes are and Ivy refuses to answer. Aunt V proposes that they can be a good team together. Before Ivy and Franny can run off the Jinx grabs Ivy and plunges into the ooze. Franny dives after her.
In their silence, Pru discovers that they were close to the “sky” of Spudz. There was a hole in this sky and she asks Cat for a boost. Much to Cat’s surprise, Pru isn’t afraid. Setting their anger aside, they make their way through the discovered tunnel and along with Fred and Ginger, meet up with Ivy and Franny as they shoot out of the ooze. With the six reunited companions together again, they come across light and find a gingerbread cottage with a picture of Heironymous Gumm inside. There, they catch up on what Franny and Ivy have learned from Maz and Aunt V run-in. They also grieve over Mr. Staccato and decide to name the small house “Middle C Cottage” in honor of their piano teacher.
After a day of being in Middle C, they find a secret passage behind the picture of Heironymous Gumm (Heironymous Gumm... behind) and at the end of it, a safe just like the one at #7 Gumm Street with the title “What is My Unique Talent?” Ivy asks Franny what Mr. Staccato said to her when his spirit was floating in the sky. “You make a better door than a window.” With the words spoken, the safe opens and inside they find the missing silver shoe.
The Gumm Street Girls find themselves in Mr. Staccato’s museum room. Pru finds a newspaper and spots an article on them! Cha Cha had fabricated a story of how the girls were sent off to a special music school for the summer to make sure they weren’t missed. Cha Cha makes her entrance and demands for the shoes. The girls had already prepared the witch vanishing potion, but before it could be used, Cha Cha flings Franny across the room and dumps the potion down the drain. Fred, Ginger, Ivy and the rest run to # 5 Gumm to escape Cha Cha. They smell something burning and realize the house is on fire. Barely making it out, the girls watch the ill-fated house fall on Cha Cha and the Jinx positions himself to attack Ivy. Ivy takes the silver shoes and braces herself. Instead of killing Ivy, the Jinx hugs her and transforms into someone Ivy hasn’t seen in seven years: her dad.
After a week of being back in Sherbet, the Gumm Street Girls rest and prepare for the first day of school. Cat consults her I Ching and it predicts “your work has just begun” while Pru spent the last week of vacation in her room reading books. The reunited Diamond Family found a will of Mr. Staccato’s and discovered that he left his home and all his possessions them. Now, at #7 Gumm, the Diamonds and Fred and Ginger make their home. Ivy, being ever so cautious though, keeps the two silver shoes separated and hidden as Staccato did.
The novel ends with the foreshadowing of Bling Bling’s reappearance and the actual reappearance of the suspicious Aunt V. Franny spotted her through her binoculars and immediately called for a meeting of the Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls the next day.
Characters
- Franny Muggs: lives at #3 Gumm Street and is known for her creative ideas such as anti-zombie spray and cartwheel school. She thoroughly admires the well-known adventurers, Amelia EarhartAmelia EarhartAmelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
and Sir Edmund HillaryEdmund HillarySir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
and even has a calendar displaying Earhart’s famous quote, “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” The curious wannabe-explorer often surveys the neighborhood with her binoculars at the top of her “wedding cake” house. In Sherbet Academy, she is in “Liverwurst” and expresses feelings of animosity towards those in “Tuna-on-Rye.” Franny is the only child of parents, Babe and Angus Muggs. Throughout the novel, Franny shows her quick-thinking and bravery numerous times in her quest to help her newfound friend, Ivy Diamond.
- Ivy Diamond: At the beginning of the story, Ivy Diamond and her mother Pearl Diamond move to the decrepit, decomposing house of #5 Gumm Street. This is only one of many moves the Diamond family had to undergo in a futile attempt to escape Ivy’s seven-year Jinx. The Jinx first appeared after a mirror shattering and the disappearance of Ivy’s father. With this event occurring, Ivy has been plagued with unfortunate incidences. Despite her grim past, she has high hopes for her new life in Sherbet: befriending Franny Muggs, expiration of the Jinx, and taking piano lessons at Mr. Staccato’s. However, with the strange letter of her Aunt V in mind and the appearance of Cha Cha, Ivy’s plans for a new beginning take a turn for the worse (or better). Tenacity and friends are what help Ivy in her strange quest of silver shoes and wicked witches.
- Prudence Gumm: lives at #1 Gumm Street and spends her time making up Safety Tips (her favorite being Safety Tip #9: Look before you leap) and lounging under the covers with her favorite fuzzy sweater and books. She’s the only daughter of Patience and Judge Gumm. Throughout the book, Pru appears to be the classic “scaredy cat” character. The only reason she even considers helping Ivy in time of need is because she doesn’t want to look cowardly in front of long-time rival, Cat Lemonjello. While both Franny and Pru seem to have disdain for Cat (as well as each other), it’s clear she and Cat have a more of a personal history mostly due to their previous friendship. Even though Pru’s wit shines through at times in the story, she feels she’s not appreciated by the other girls’. However, her character develops into someone who is brave and takes initiative. This is most prominent when she volunteers to pick up villainous Bling-Bling’s vitamins in a dark, underground cavern called Spudz.
- Cat Lemonjello: resides at #2 Gumm Street with parents Lenny and Lynette and her ten brothers, River, Chakra, Dylan, Lennon, OM, Skye, Storm, Ziggy, Bowie and Jagger. The Lemonjello family makes their home in a giant tree house with solitary structures on various branches that serve as the children’s rooms. Cat spends her time doing cartwheels and other outdoor activities. She also enjoys consulting the I Ching in time of need. Cat is the 11th child of the 11th child. This extraordinary fact is said to be the alleged cause of her ESP. While this is often questioned by others (even Cat herself) in the novel, Cat sees things that others don’t. For example, she spots Ivy’s Jinx on the first day of meeting her as well as conjuring a wizard. In the story, Cat is perceived as a know-it-all and self-proclaims her title as Mr. Staccato’s best student. Despite these supercilious characteristics, her cleverness and talent made an obvious contribution in helping solve Ivy’s predicament.