trying to find two books that I read a long time ago

There are two books that I read when I was in elementary school and I really want to reread them and I can't figure out what either one was called. I went to the public library and spent about half an hour talking to the children's librarians and they couldn't figure out what either one was. I ended elementary school in June 2007, so both books were published before then. I think I read both of them in 4th or 5th grade. If anyone has any idea what these books are called, please let me know. I've been desperately trying to find them. book #1: I listened to this as an audio recording on a cassette tape. It was about two sisters. In the book, the narrator (who I'm pretty sure was the younger of the two sisters) talks about how someone (possibly her grandmother) told her that a person's mouth always tells the truth; the eyes can lie, but the mouth tells the truth. To solve some problem, the other sister starts reading aloud to the narrator from this book about a lucid dreaming-ish type of thing. The narrator follows the instructions from the book (that her sister is reading aloud) and relaxes her whole body and then finds (in her imagination) herself in a room. She opens this closet thing and two or three companions come out. I can remember a weird sort of dome thing (I imagined this at some point in the book). It was a really weird book and it was definitely science fiction. I think there were other books by the same author about the same characters, but I'm not sure if the book was part of a series. I remember thinking when I finished it that I should listen to it again when I was older. I was a pretty advanced reader for my age, so the book might have been aimed at middle schoolers. I think the cover might have had a picture of the two sisters on it. There was at least one scene in the book that took place at the kitchen table and I think it was during breakfast. book #2: this was a classic school book. It reminds me of the wayside school stories. This book is a collection of short stories that take place at an elementary school. The only story I can remember (the book is titled after this story; it is called "story title that I can;t remember and other stories" if my memory is correct) is about a girl who talks a lot. Then she find a little device (I'm pretty sure every story in this book involved someone finding this device) that tells her that if she says less than 100 words in a day, she'll get a prize. The first day (or maybe it was the 2nd) she is good in the morning, but in the afternoon, her class learns about pill bugs (or rolly-pollies) and she knows all about them, so she talks too much. The 2nd (or was it the first) day, she also messes up and talks too much. The third day, which is her last chance, she does it and her prize is that she has friends. I'm pretty sure that the author of this book also wrote another book (that I'm pretty sure took place at the same school) in which the teachers (who are evil) kidnap the kids on a school bus by pretending it's a fiend trip and they take the kids to an island (which is sort of school-themed) and the kids wander around for a while, but then they get off. I'm sure I read this book (the book of short stories) in 5th grade and it was in my teacher's classroom.