The Cinderella Ballet Mystery
Read The Cinderella Ballet Mystery Online
Authors: Carolyn Keene
Can Nancy follow the trail of this fairy tale?
Nancy and her friends are going to be in a ballet! After months of taking dance classes, Nancy, George, and Bess will perform in a ballet version of Cinderella! The Clue Crew is excited to wear fancy costumes and dance on a real stage! Nancy's friend Andrea is going to play the part of Cinderella. And she'll wear special glass slippers just like in the fairy tale!
But when the glass slippers disappear, Nancy is determined to help. Can the Clue Crew uncover Cinderella's slippers before the clock strikes show time?
TEST YOUR DETECTIVE SKILLS WITH THESE OTHER CLUE CREW CASES!
#1: Sleepover Sleuths
#2: Scream for Ice Cream
#3: Pony Problems
#5: Case of the Sneaky Snowman
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
Simon & Schuster, New York
A Ready-for-Chapters Book
Cover designed by Lisa Vega
Cover illustration copyright © 2006 by Macky Pamintuan
Ages 6-9
A Cinderella with no glass slippers?
“I think we're rehearsing the ballroom scene,” Nancy called out to her friends.
“I
love
that scene,” Bess gushed. “It's so pretty!”
They got to the top of the stairs. Nancy expected to see all the students stretching at the barre and on the floor. But instead, everyone was huddled around Mr. McGuire. He looked very serious.
Andrea turned around and saw Nancy and her friends. She came running up to them. “Nancy! Bess! George!” she cried out. Her eyes were shiny with tears.
“Andrea, what's going on?” Nancy asked her curiously.
“My Cinderella slippers are gone,” Andrea announced. “Somebody stole them!”
Join the
Clue Crew
& solve these other cases!
#1 Sleepover Sleuths
#2 Scream for Ice Cream
#3 Pony Problems
#4 The Cinderella Ballet Mystery
#5 Case of the Sneaky Snowman
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Text copyright © 2006 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Macky Pamintuan
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS, NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW, and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
NANCY DREW is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Designed by Lisa Vega
The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal.
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition October 2006.
Library of Congress Control Number 2006920995
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-1256-9 (print)
ISBN-10: 1-4169-1256-8
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5908-3 (eBook)
C
HAPTER
O
NE
: T
HE
C
INDERELLA
B
ALLET
The Cinderella Ballet
Nancy Drew slipped on her pink ballet shoes. “Let's stretch!” she said to her friends George Fayne and Bess Marvin.
George nodded. “Last one to the barre is a rotten egg!”
“Hey, not fair, you're closest to the barre!” Bess cried out.
The three friends hurried to the long wooden bar in front of the mirrored wall. Running was against the rules at Tim McGuire's Dance Studio, so they walked really, really fast instead.
The three girls had been taking lessons at Mr. McGuire's studio since the beginning of the school year. They were in the middle of rehearsing
for a full-length ballet of “Cinderella.” Opening night was on Saturday, only five days away.
Nancy got to the barre first, then Bess, then George. “Hmm, I wonder who's the rotten egg?” Bess joked.
George made a face. “Ha, ha.”
Nancy put her right foot up on the barre with her toes pointed. She held onto the barre for balance. Then she curved her left arm over her head and leaned her body toward her right foot. Bess and George did the same. Nancy could feel the muscles in her right leg and the whole left side of her body stretching and getting loose.
Nancy glanced at the wall clock; it was five minutes before four.
Almost time for the rehearsal to begin
, she thought. The studio was filled with students who were busily putting on their ballet slippers or stretching.
Nancy noticed that Mr. McGuire was off in the corner talking on his tiny silver cell phone. His eyebrows were knit tightly together, and his mouth was pursed in a deep frown. Nancy thought that he looked upset. She wondered who he was talking to.
“Hey, Nancy Drew! I have a mystery for you,” someone said.
Nancy glanced over her shoulder. Deirdre Shannon was standing there. Deirdre's best friend, Madison Foley, was standing next to her. They were dressed in identical shiny, purple leotards with matching supershort shorts, pink tights, and pink leg warmers.
“It's the mystery of the weird ballet outfit,” Deirdre continued. “Did aliens come and dress
George Fayne in the middle of the night? Curious minds want to know!”
George was wearing a soccer T-shirt and shorts instead of a fancy leotard combo like Deirdre. Mr. McGuire didn't have strict rules about what to wear for rehearsals.
“You're so hilarious, Deirdre,” George said. “Not!”
Deirdre cracked up. She looked over at Madison, who was searching through her dance bag for something, and poked her with an elbow.
“What? Oh!” Madison started cracking up too. Madison always did whatever Deirdre told her to do.
Nancy rolled her eyes and resumed stretching. She and her friends were used to getting all kinds of attention, even teasing, about the Clue Crew.
The Clue Crew was Nancy, Bess, and George's mystery-solving club. Their headquarters were located in Nancy's room. They stored their clues in one of Nancy's desk drawers. George kept
track of their cases on Nancy's computer.
Just then, a boy named Gregory Auffredou came up to the girls. He was wearing a black T-shirt with the words “Dancing Fool” on it, black sweat pants, and black ballet shoes. He gave a friendly wave.
“Hi,” Gregory said. “My mom made some chocolate chip cookies. Does anyone want one?” He reached into his dance bag and pulled out a plastic container.
“Yum! Thanks!” Bess plucked a cookie out of the container and bit into it. She began coughing and gagging. “Yuck! What is this?”
Gregory burst into laughter. “I got you!” he guffawed. “These cookies are totally fake. They're from my sister's toy kitchen.”
Deirdre quickly took her digital camera out of her dance bag and snapped a picture. “I got you too Bess!” she giggled.