A better-than-average field trip -- What Jack found -- Ruthie braves it -- Mr. Bell -- A second attempt -- The plan -- Mrs. McVittie -- Jack's idea -- Sophie -- Attacked! -- A voice from the past -- The uses of duct tape -- A boy named Thomas -- A wish fulfilled -- A surprising discovery -- Detective work and ringing bells -- A dusty old shop -- Solved! -- Something left behind.

A Junior Library Guild selection.

Ruthie thinks nothing exciting will ever happen to her until her sixth-grade class visits the Art Institute of Chicago, where she and her best friend Jack discover a magic key that shrinks them to the size of gerbils and allows them to explore the Thorne Rooms--the collection of sixty-eight miniature rooms from various time periods and places--and discover their secrets.