Skip to Main Content

Tree House Station

A QUIX Book

Illustrated by Marta Kissi

LIST PRICE $7.99

PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER
See More Retailers

About The Book

The kids of Fort Builders, Inc., hunt for the perfect treehouse tree in the fourth story in the fun-to-read Aladdin QUIX chapter book series that’s perfect for emerging readers!

Caleb and the rest of the Fort Builders, Inc. group feel like it’s finally time to have their own dedicated workspace! Their big idea? A fort treehouse! But finding the perfect tree for their unique fort is a little tougher than they thought...

Excerpt

Chapter 1: The Idea 1 The Idea
Eddie Bell had been looking forward to five o’clock.

At five o’clock, the workers across the street stopped hammering, hammering, hammering. He could finally do his artwork in peace.

But it also meant his uncle Carter and his cousin Noah would come over for dinner. They were the ones hammering across the street to fix the Stuarts’ roof.

Eddie couldn’t wait for family dinner. His dad was making a side of homemade mac and cheese, and Eddie had made banana pudding for dessert.

He was so busy thinking about dinner, he didn’t even notice his friend Kiara.

“Hi, Eddie,” she said.

“Oh, hi,” said Eddie.

Kiara was one of his partners in Fort Builders Inc. He and his friends had a business building forts. But Kiara was only in the neighborhood when she visited her grandmother down the street. That’s when they had their meetings.

“What are you working on?” asked Kiara.

Clipped to his easel was a photo of a painting. Eddie’s canvas had the same bold colors and lots of shapes.

“Jacob Lawrence is one of my favorite artists. I’m trying to paint in his style,” said Eddie. “What do you think?”



Kiara took a good look at it. “I think your paintings will be in a gallery someday,” said Kiara. “It’s amazing.”

“Thanks. What’s going on with you?” asked Eddie.

“Well, guess what? I’m staying with Nani all week!” said Kiara. “My parents are going out of town with my brother and sister, but I asked to stay here.”

“That’s great!” said Eddie. “I didn’t even know you had a brother and sister.”

Kiara laughed. “They’re in high school, so they mostly hang out in their rooms or with their friends.”

Eddie knew all about having a teenage sibling.

“And since it’s summer,” said Kiara, “we can hang out every day.”

Eddie was happy that Kiara would be around more. And he was sure their friends and fellow Fort Builders Inc. partners Caleb and Jax would be happy about it too.

“And I have an idea,” said Kiara.

Before she could tell him about it, Caleb and Jax rode up the driveway on their bikes.

“Kiara’s staying all week,” said Eddie, to update them.

“That’s great!” said Caleb.

“More fort building!” said Jax.

“And she has an idea,” said Eddie.

They all turned to Kiara.

“I was going to ask Eddie if he could help me design a business card for us,” she said, “but I don’t know what address to put on there.”

Caleb and Jax got off their bikes and kicked down the kickstands.

“So I was thinking, we really should have some kind of office,” said Kiara. “Somewhere to keep our supplies so they’re not all at different houses.”

Kiara was right. They could really use their own space for the business. So far, they’d worked in either Jax’s or Caleb’s garage.

“My garage is definitely out,” said Eddie. “My dad is always working on his own projects.” He pointed behind him to a bicycle that had been taken apart.

“My dad is organizing ours,” said Caleb. “But right now it’s a mess. It’ll be a while before we can use it.”

“My mom parks her new car in ours now,” said Jax, “which doesn’t leave much room for us or our supplies.”

The kids had helped Kiara’s grandmother clean out her garage earlier in the summer. Maybe that was an option.

“I already asked Nani,” said Kiara. “But my uncle is moving, so he’s storing a bunch of his stuff in there for a while.”

They needed to find a place they could keep their supplies. A place their customers could find them.

But where?

About The Author

Photograph by Dee Romito

Dee Romito is an author of fiction and nonfiction books for young readers, including the Fort Builders Inc. chapter book series and several middle grade stories. Her debut picture book, Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott, received a starred review from Booklist, and The Last Plastic Straw: A Plastic Problem and Finding Ways to Fix It was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. While she does her best to be a grown-up most of the time, giggling with her BFFs is still one of her all-time favorite things. You can visit her website at DeeRomito.com.  

About The Illustrator

Marta Dlugolecka (a.k.a. Marta Kissi) is a freelance illustrator living and working in London. She studied illustration and animation at Kingston University and then completed her MA at the Royal College of Art. Since, Marta has been working on various children book projects as well as covers and editorial pieces for both children and adults. In her work she likes mixing her love for crafts and model making with a little bit of digital magic, with hope to create images that are both fun and emotional.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Aladdin (February 22, 2022)
  • Length: 96 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781534452473
  • Ages: 5 - 8

Browse Related Books

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images

More books from this author: Dee Romito

More books from this illustrator: Marta Kissi

More books in this series: Fort Builders Inc.