The Magical Ms. Plum by Bonny Becker Read Free Book Online Page B

be dangerous to your health.
    Everyone began to write their own mean notes because it was hot and Ms. Plum was making them work too hard and the sun was too bright and the sky was too blue and the room suddenly had a funny, new smell.
    The little donkey clip-clopped patiently from desk to desk as everyone crammed notes into his baskets.
    Ms. Plum was too busy writing on the board to notice the donkey going from desk to desk. She was flushed and had a streak of chalk across her cheek.
    The donkey got slower and slower with each note. The notes seemed awfully heavy for him. By the time he picked up Jovi’s note, the little donkey’s legs were trembling with the weight.
    When the donkey limped past Becky, she noticed there was sweat crisscrossing his back where the straps for the baskets lay. His tiny head was bent low. He was working hard, and he didn’t look up at her with his once bright eyes.
    Becky swallowed.
    “Wait,” she whispered.
    The little donkey stopped.
    Becky hesitated, then reached down.
    “I think I’ll take out my note,” she said.
    Mindy looked at Becky, then reached down and took out her note, too.
    Eric did it next, and then so did most of the other kids.
    By the time the donkey got to Ms. Plum, he was frisking his ears and his eyes were shining and there was only one note left in the basket.
    Ms. Plum put down her chalk and lifted out the note.
    She read it out loud:
    I am liking to learn nouns. Thank you, Ms. Plum. Jovi.
    Ms. Plum blinked. She pushed her sparkly glasses back up her sticky, hot nose.
    “Why, thank you, Jovi,” she said. “I like teaching you nouns.”
    She smiled at the class.
    “Still, it is awfully hot, don’t you think?”
    Becky raised her hand. “Maybe we could go out on the lawn and sit under the tree. It would be nice and cool in the shade.”
    “What an excellent idea,” said Ms. Plum. “Class, let’s go do that.”
    “Cool idea!” said Jeremy. “Get it—cool?”
    “Hooray for Becky Oh,” said Emiko.
    “Go Becky Oh!” said Jeremy.
    And Becky grinned shyly because suddenly everyone was cheering her name, and she couldn’t think of a thing wrong with that.

Nadia worried. A lot. She didn’t want to worry, but every morning, first thing, Lucy told her all the bad things Lucy’s dad saw on the news.
    “The ice caps are melting!” Lucy told Nadia. “There are angry cows running around. And birds are getting this really bad flu.
    “The world is a mess. It’s getting messier every day!” said Lucy, shaking her head the way her dad did every night.
    Every day Lucy had lots of new things for Nadia to worry about.
    “If you get bitten by a rabid weasel, you have to get fourteen shots,” she said. “If you look straight at a rhinoceros, it will definitely attack.”
    “Can’t I worry about stuff when I’m a grown-up?” asked Nadia.
    “Don’t you get it?” cried Lucy. “You probably won’t even live to be a teenager!”
    So Nadia bit her fingernails until they were ragged stubs. She had dark smudges under her eyes because she couldn’t sleep. If someone dropped a book on the floor, Nadia ducked.
    “Who’d like to get me some purple paper?” asked Ms. Plum.
    Of course, Lucy waved her hand super hard because purple was her favorite color, but Ms. Plum picked Nadia.
    Nadia jumped up. She had wanted Ms. Plum to call on her all year.
    “Remember the scary falcon and the nasty wolf,” whispered Lucy.
    “Oh.” Nadia stopped, then said, “Ms. Plum? Maybe Lucy should do it.”
    “I asked you, Nadia,” said Ms. Plum.
    She didn’t say it in a mean way, but even so, Nadia knew it meant that she had to go into the closet. So she walked over, clenched her hands by her sides, and stepped inside.
    There were no falcons or wolves or scary things anywhere. Only a smell like the woods in summer, and wonderful things beckoning from every shelf.
    Nadia picked up three sheets of purple paper, then heard a soft purring sound.
    There on the shelf next to the