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Mary-Kate and Ashley have been celebrities since the day when, at the age of nine months, they joined the cast of the hit sitcom "Full House" in their shared role as Michelle. Each of Mary-Kate and Ashley's 14 years since has witnessed the outstanding expansion of their popularity...their fans have literally grown up alongside the twins! First in television and feature films, Mary-Kate and Ashley now appear in videos, music, interactive software, fashion dolls and accessories, and more. Their latest ventures include launching their official website and debuting a line of licensed fashion clothing, as well as their very own magazine in spring 2001.

Mary-Kate & Ashley books launched in 1990, and today the various book series continue to grow to reflect the ever-evolving lifestyles of kids, 'tweens, and teens. HarperEntertainment and Parachute Publishing release twenty-five books a year and have sold more than 30 million copies. Mary-Kate and Ashley's two book series Two of a Kind and The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley are frequent USA Today bestsellers. And Mary-Kate & Ashleynovelties, such as Wall Calendars, a Mood Diary, a Be My Valentinecard-making kit, and the movie tie-in series, Starring-In continue to be hugely popular.

The growth of the Mary-Kate & Ashley brand has afforded Parachute and Harper the opportunity to work with companies such as Acclaim Entertainment, Mattel Inc., Warner Home Video, Kid Rhino, Lightyear Entertainment, Sail with the Stars on cross-promotional and cross-merchandise projects, including a very special, book-dedicated area on mary-kateandashley.com -- Now Read This!

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Score! Ashley and I made it onto our school basketball team, the Mustangs--and we were headed for the playoffs. At practice we were hot, hot, hot! Nothing can stop us now, we thought....

And then our uniforms disappeared.

And the players started getting mysterious notes.

Talk about foul play! We were on the case!

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

New Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley #15: The Case of the Slam Dunk Mystery

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Chapter One

A New Case?

"Lemons are sour,
Candy is sweet.
Mustang girls just
Can't be beat!
Go, Mustangs!"

My twin sister, Ashley, and I shouted the cheer with the rest of our basketball team. Our team is called the Mustangs. And we were cheering like crazy -- because we were in the play-offs! All right!

I glanced around the empty gym. Soon it would be full of excited Mustang fans. I couldn't wait!

We have an awesome team. Our star player is Tara Ledbetter. Her older brothers taught her to play when she was three. She has a killer layup!

"Hey, shrimp," Shanaya Perry called to me with a grin. Shanaya is our tallest player. My head only comes up to her shoulder!

"Who are you calling a shrimp?" Kerry Collins asked as she jogged onto the court. Her curly brown hair bounced with each step. She gave Shanaya a gentle punch in the arm. Kerry is the shortest player -- even shorter than me -- but she's as good as Shanaya.

I smiled at the other players on our team -- our best friend, Samantha Samuels, and Emily Bailey, Joanne Lundy, and Kristen Duffield.

Coach Kay tries to give everyone a chance to play, but Samantha, Emily, Joanne, and Kristen aren't our best players, so they don't play as often as everyone else. I think Kristen went out for the team only because her friend Joanne did. Her favorite part of the game is sitting on the bench and reading.

For the play-offs we have to play three games against the Tigers, from Glen Morgan Elementary School. Whoever wins gets to go on to the championships.

We had already won the first game. And I had a feeling we were going all the way!

"Okay, girls," said Coach Kay. "I want you to remember three things. Play fair. Remember that you're a team. And most of all -- "

"Score the most points?" Ashley joked.

Coach Kay laughed. "That would be nice, too. But what I was going to say was -- be sure to have a good time. That's what basketball is all about."

We all cheered again. Then Coach Kay glanced at her watch. "Time to get dressed, girls. I'll meet you back out here in five minutes for a pregame warm-up."

We headed for the locker room to put on our team jerseys. They were laid out in a pile on one of the benches. Emily Bailey's dad is our sponsor. He runs a laundry business. He bought us our team shirts -- and he cleans them after each game for free.

I love my jersey. It has my name on the back in big black letters. I couldn't wait to put it on.

Except...I couldn't find it anywhere. I dug through the pile again. But it wasn't there.

"Hey! My jersey is missing!" I said.

Ashley was digging through the pile of jerseys, too. She looked up, frowning. "I don't see mine, either."

"Me either," Shanaya said. Then she leaned down and picked up a jersey that had fallen on the floor. "Oh, here it is."

Ashley and I stood by as the other girls found their shirts and put them on. The bench was empty -- no more shirts.

"Hey, mine is missing, too," Tara said.

"So is mine," Kerry added. "This is weird."

"I smell a mystery," Samantha said. Her freckled face split into a grin, and she dug an elbow into my ribs.

Everyone else laughed. But I didn't.

Ordinarily, I love mysteries. Ashley and I are detectives. We have our own agency, the Olsen and Olsen Mystery Agency.

But I didn't want a mystery right now. Not when the second game of the play-offs was about to start!

"We'd better get to work, Ashley," I said. "We have to solve the Mystery of the Missing Jerseys -- and fast!"

Excerpted from New Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley #15: The Case of the Slam Dunk Mysteryby Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen Copyright © 2006 by Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen. Excerpted by permission.
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