Shrinking Violet by Jean Ure Read Free Book Online

girl.
    You are not the only one who cannot sing. Nor can I! I cannot sing and I cannot draw. I think it is so annoying when you cannot do things that you would like to be able to do. When I sing my dad says I sound like a toad with tonsillitis. Could you draw a picture of that? Then I would be able to show it to my dad and he would laugh.
    I want to ask you something. Do you let your mum read your letters? I don’t let anyone read mine, except just your first one I let my mum see. But not now! Now they are STRICTLY PRIVATE, even though Lily would just love to get her hands on them. But I won’t let her. Don’t worry!
    Oh, I have just remembered. Dad says, why don’t we e-mail, instead of writing letters? He says it would be more fun. Do you think that it would? If you would like to e-mail, then we can do it. I don’t mind.
    I made a picture out of the scribble, but I’m afraid it is not very good.
    Thank you very much for the maze, which I managed to find my way into. I don’t mean to boast, but it was quite easy. Can you do another one and make it more difficult?
    I have a game for you! Guess what musical instruments these are:
    Teful
Tigura
Novili
Glube
    I have just made this up!
    Do you like playing word games? I can think of loads more! Sometimes what I do, like when I am travelling on the bus for example, I look at theadvertisements and I find a word and I see how many other words I can make from it. Like yesterday me and Lily had to go to school by ourselves because of Mum and Dad being too busy and there was this huge traffic jam and Lily got all twitchy and impatient but I just sat there making up words.
    The word I made them from was INSURE. Sitting on the bus I only made up nine, but that was in my head. I have just done it again and this time I have made up twelve! If you like, I will tell you what they are. I will do it at the end of this letter. It is just a game, but it is quite fun.
    Next week my class is going to visit the British Museum. After we have been there we are going to write stories about mummies. Egyptian ones, I mean! I am really looking forward to it!
    Please write back soon and do another maze. I hope I have notupset you by saying the one you sent was easy. It wasn’t as easy as all that! I think you are very clever, being able to draw mazes.
    That has made me think of a joke: I am totally a-MAZED.
    Ho ho! Must go!
    Lots of luv
    Violet XXX
    PS TOP SECRET!
    These are the words I made but DO NOT READ THEM until you have seen how many you can make! By order!!!
    Ire rue rise run ruin rein rinse sure sin sun sue nurse
    I expect you may be able to find more.
    PPS I think it is cool to have a ‘granddad’ called Arthur. I have only one granddad. He is called James. He is my mum’s dad. Going now.
    Byeee!
    I put in the bit about granddads in the hope that maybe next time Katie would tell me about her dad. I still didn’t like to ask. I know she said “Ask me anything. I don’t mind,” but I remembered when Kelly Stevens’ mum and dad split up. Kelly was in tears for weeks. I didn’t like the thought of Katie being in tears. Her photo made her look so bright and perky! She looked like a really happy sort of person.
    On Tuesday we went to the British Museum. The whole class, with Mrs Frost and another teacher, Miss Adams, to keep us in order. Some of us need keeping in order! Lily and her friends just behave
so
badly. Even on the tube they couldn’t keep quiet but shriek and giggle and swing to and fro on the handrails. Lily kicked someone and had to apologise, and Sarah almost fell into the lap of a man that was reading his newspaper. She went, “Oops! Sorry!” and giggled. She didn’tseem at all embarrassed. I would have been! I would just have died.

    Miss Adams told them to calm down. She said, “Lily! Sarah! Please!” But nobody ever takes any notice of Miss Adams. She is one of those teachers, she just has no idea how to control us. Not like Mrs Frost. She can be quite fierce!