Summer's over and that can only mean one thing for eight-and-3/4-year-old Mallory--she has to go back to school. But not just any school, an new school with all new kids in it. To make matters worse, her mom is going too She's the new music teacher, and Mallory can't think of anything that could possibly be worse--until her first day. She has to sit with Pamela, who always says the right thing and steals her ideas. Her new neighbor, Joey is so busy with his old friends that he has no time for her, and to top it off, she's picked to be an eggplant in the Fall Festival her mom is putting on. What can Mallory do?