Who's Afraid of Fourth Grade? by Nancy Krulik Read Free Book Online Page A

downstairs with the twins. Tyler still had tomato sauce on his hands and face. Timmy had clay in his hair. Katie had no idea where that could have come from.
    â€œMom, Emma didn’t give the twins a bath,” Lacey said. It was obvious she was angry about having to get off the phone to help when the tomato sauce spilled. She wanted to get Emma in trouble.
    But that’s not what happened.
    â€œYour sister and her friend just made this lovely dinner for us,” Mrs. Weber told Lacey. “You should thank them. And while I know I asked Emma to bathe the twins, it’s actually your turn to help me with them. I shouldn’t have to ask Emma to do your chores, Lacey.”
    Lacey scowled, but said nothing.
    â€œPlease take the boys upstairs and clean them up,” Mrs. Weber continued. “And hurry. I don’t want to keep this delicious dinner waiting.”
    Katie and Emma exchanged smiles. It was good to see Lacey get in trouble. Especially after the way she’d yelled at Katie. (Although Lacey had thought she was yelling at Emma.)
    â€œI’ve got to go,” Katie told her friend.
    â€œAren’t you going to stay and have supper with us?” Mrs. Weber asked. “You and Emma worked so hard.”
    Katie thought about all the things Timmy and Tyler could do with tuna, peanut butter, celery, bananas, and chocolate sauce. It wasn’t a very delicious image.
    â€œNo, thanks,” Katie said as she walked toward the door. “My mom’s probably already made my dinner.”
    â€œGood-bye, Katie, and thanks,” Emma said.
    â€œYou’re welcome,” Katie told her. “I’ll see you in school on Monday. That’s our first day of band!”

Chapter 13
    Hot cross buns. Hot cross buns. One a penny. Two a penny. Hot cross buns.
    Katie struggled to play her first song on her clarinet. It was really hard getting the sound to come out of the instrument. She hoped it would be better once she started taking private music lessons. Her mother had hired a clarinet teacher who would come to the house on Saturday mornings. But her teacher couldn’t start until next week.
    Katie wasn’t the only one having a difficult time making her instrument sound right. The band room was filled with beginning musicians, and everyone was struggling with their new instruments. They were all having a tough time of it.
    Becky was trying to cover the holes on her French horn while blowing at the same time. She wasn’t being very successful.
    Emma W. had picked the flute as her instrument because it always sounded so pretty. But today, Emma’s flute didn’t sound very pretty. It just sounded squeaky.
    Instead of getting her own saxophone, Miriam Chan’s father had given her one of his old ones. Unfortunately, it was too big for Miriam. She had to stand to play it and blow very hard. Her whole face was beet red.
    Kevin looked very professional holding his trumpet. It was obvious his brother Ian had shown him how to do that. Too bad Ian hadn’t taught Kevin how to keep his spit inside the instrument. The way Kevin moved his lips to play the trumpet made him spray all over the place.

    George’s tuba was huge. It was also very loud. George played louder than anyone else in the beginning band. Unfortunately, he couldn’t play the notes at the same time as everyone else. His timing was completely off. And Kadeem . . .
    â€œWhoops!” Kadeem shouted as his trombone slide slipped off its track and flew across the room.
    Mr. Starkey jumped out of the way just in time to miss being hit by a flying trombone slide.
    â€œSorry,” Kadeem said as he scrambled to pick up the slide.
    Mr. Starkey smiled at him. He didn’t say a word. He just stood in the front of the room moving his arms back and forth as the children played.
    It didn’t sound much like music to Katie—just a lot of squeaks and squawks with an occasional banging from Jeremy on the