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The Kids in Mrs. Z's Class: Olive Little Gets Crafty

Contributors

By Linda Urban

Illustrated by Kat Fajardo

Formats and Prices

Price

$6.99

Price

$9.99 CAD

Meet the kids in Mrs. Z’s wacky and wonderful third-grade class! Olive Little thinks a crafting club would be the perfect way to connect with her classmates—but when her club plans keep falling short, can she still find a way to make a place for herself in Mrs. Z’s class? 

Olive Little loves making things … but she’s still working out how to make friends. After she spies some other kids checking out crafting books from the school library, Olive gets a brilliant idea: She’ll start a crafting club! 

With a super-extraordinarily crafty invitation, everyone will surely want to join Olive’s new club. And she knows just the invitation to make. All she needs is a perfect poem, some colorful confetti, a dozen eggshells, and some crafty know-how. Easy peasy! 

Until Olive discovers a local skunk has made its home in her family’s backyard henhouse! Can she craft a solution to the stinky situation in time to save her club? 

Both sweetly poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, with black-and-white illustrations by Pura Belpré Honor artist Kat Fajardo, Olive’s story invites readers into Mrs. Z’s class where friendship and fun rule the school, from acclaimed author Linda Urban. 
  
Perfect for! 
★ My Weirdtastic School fans 
★ Reluctant readers 
★ Classroom read-alouds 
★ Andrew Clements fans 
★ Young artists 
★ Crafting enthusiasts 
  
Read them all! The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class have plenty of stories to share! 
Emma McKenna, Full out (#1) 
Rohan Murthy Has a Plan (#2) 
Poppy Song Bakes a Way (#3) 
The Legend of Memo Castillo (#4)  
Wyatt Hill Brings a Lizard to School (#5) — available for preorder now! 
Ayana Ndoum Takes the Stage (#6) — available for preorder now! 
Synclaire Fields Knows the Score (#8) — coming soon! 
Theo Chang: Boy or Cat (#9) — coming soon! 
Thunder Nelson and the Impossumble Dream (#10) — coming soon! 
  
*The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class is an innovative series where every book is written by a different all-star author and features a different kid in the same third-grade class. They can be read in any order! 

  • Praise for the Kids in Mrs. Z's Class Series
  • "Uplifting and encouraging."
    Kirkus Reviews
  • "Believable characters experiencing age-appropriate challenges: making new friends, navigating social groups, overcoming shyness, and dealing with embarrassment. . . Share with fans of Annie Barrows' Ivy and Bean books or Sara Pennypacker's Clementine series."
    Booklist
  • “[A] wholesome read…buoyant."
    Publishers Weekly
  • "This new series is giving [Polk Street School] vibes. I absolutely love that each book is written by a different author and I love how diverse the classroom is. . . The great thing about [these] books is they showcase kids working together and supporting each other."
    Teen Librarian Toolbox

On Sale
Jul 8, 2025
Page Count
128 pages
ISBN-13
9781523530359

Linda Urban

About the Author

Linda Urban was the marketing director at Vroman's Bookstore in Southern California for ten years before turning to writing full-time. She is now the author of many award-winning books for young readers, including the novels Almost There and Almost Not, A Crooked Kind of Perfect, Hound Dog True, The Center of Everything, and Talk Santa to Me. She lives in Vermont. She invites you to visit her online at lindaurbanbooks.com.
 
Kat Fajardo (they/she) received a Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration for their first graphic novel, Miss Quinces (published in Spanish as Srta. Quinces). Born and raised in New York City, Kat now lives in Austin, Texas, with their pups, Mac and Roni. They invite you to visit them at katfajardo.com.

Learn more about this author

Kat Fajardo

About the Illustrator

Kat Fajardo is an award-winning comic artist and illustrator based in NYC. A graduate of The School of Visual Arts, she’s editor of La Raza Anthology and creator of Bandida Comics series. She’s made work for Penguin Random House on The First Rule of Punk (written by Celia C. Pérez), CollegeHumor, and several anthologies. You can find her working at her Brooklyn studio creating playful and colorful work about self-acceptance and Latinx culture. Or drooling over puppies at a cafe.

Learn more about this illustrator