Gooney Bird on the Map by Lois Lowry Read Free Book Online Page A

something, that another person hasn't. And the other person feels bad. Who can think of an example of that?"
    Barry shot his hand into the air. "Everybody got a state except me and Beanie and Ben! And Malcolm got about a hundred!"
    "Eight," Malcolm said. "I got eight."
    "So he was gloating," Barry pointed out. "And Gooney Bird was, too! And she did it on purpose!"
    Mrs. Pidgeon looked at Gooney Bird. She tilted her head in a questioning way, and waited.
    "It's true," Gooney Bird said. "I did it on purpose. It made you feel bad, didn't it?"
    Barry nodded.
    "I almost cried," Beanie said. "I bit my lip really hard to keep from crying."
    "I'm sorry. It was mean of me. I was getting even," Gooney Bird explained.
    "For what?" Ben asked.
    "Think back," Mrs. Pidgeon said. "Was there a time, not very long ago, when you and Barry and Beanie realized you had something that the rest of us didn't have? And we all felt pretty sorry for ourselves?"
    "No. Never," Ben replied. "We never—"
    "Yes, we did, Ben," Beanie interrupted. "It was about our vacations."
    "Yes. We gloated," Barry pointed out.
    "Gloat, gloat, gloat," Beanie said.
    "Oh," Ben said. "I get it."
    The class sat silently for a moment. Then Mrs. Pidegon said, "All right. Let's get ready to work some more on our snow map. I want you all to do some research and find an interesting, little-known fact about your state."
    "Can we use the library?" asked Malcolm.
    "Of course. That's the best place for research."
    "And the computers?" asked Keiko.
    "Sure."
    "Can I use my lunch box?" asked Tyrone.
    All of the children admired Tyrone's lunch box, the one with the map of the United States on it, and a star on each state. Inside each star was the name of a famous person who had been born in that state.
    "Hey, Tricia: Dolly Parton was born in Tennessee," Tyrone pointed out. "I don't even need to go look. I got my lunch box memorized."
    Mrs. Pidgeon gave that some thought. "You know what?" she said. "I think we should concentrate on history or geography, not celebrities."
    "Dolly Parton was born in 1946," Tyrone pointed out. "That's history."
    "
Ancient history!
" Tricia added.
    "Nonetheless. Let's not use the lunch box. That would make things too easy. Let's do some real research and find out little-known facts about our states."
    "Beyoncé was born in Texas," Tyrone whispered loudly to Tricia. Mrs. Pidgeon gave him a what-did-I-just-say look, and he raised his arms as if he were surrendering. "Busted," he said, with a grin. "Okay. No lunch box."
    "Moment of silence," said Mrs. Pidgeon. "Then we'll get to work."
    The second-graders all bowed their heads briefly. All but Beanie, Barry, and Ben. "What about
us?
" they asked angrily. What are
we
supposed to do?"
    "Gooney Bird?" said Mrs. Pidgeon.
    "Let me think," said Gooney Bird. She arranged her tiara on her head once again. "Okay," she said, after a moment. I have an idea."

10.
    The librarian, Mrs. Clancy, was happy to have the second-graders visit the library for their map project. She showed them the books about the United States, and where to find the encyclopedia, and she got some of them started on the computers. Nicholas and Malcolm sat at the same table with the encyclopedia volumes marked N and M.
    "Remember," Mrs. Pidgeon instructed them. "One little-known fact! Nothing obvious! We want to surprise people! Are you all finding your states?"
    The children nodded.
    "Here's New Jersey!" Nicholas said loudly, looking at his volume with a grin. Then, after a minute, turning the pages, he added, "North Dakota!"
    "Maine!" Malcolm announced, and then: "Massachusetts! Missouri!"
    All around the large library room, children were finding their states.
    "I Googled California!" Chelsea called out from her computer desk. "And there's a million different things to look at!"
    Â 
    Beanie, Ben, and Barry sat silently near an exhibit of igloos constructed from sugar cubes. They didn't have any research to do. They had no states. But they