Read an Excerpt
Fourth-Grade Fuss
Chapter One
Welcome to Fourth Grade
Julio Sanchez was really glad to be in the same fourth-grade class as his pal Lucas Cott. Lucas was very smart and he was also very funny. It was impossible to sit in a classroom with Lucas and not double over with laughter at least once, or maybe even twice a day. Lucas always did or said something really crazy. As far as Julio was concerned, being in the same class as Lucas was funnier than any comedy program on TV.
One morning soon after the new school year began, Lucas realized he'd forgotten to do his homework. Instead of just admitting it and promising to be better prepared in the future, Lucas put on a whole show for the class.
He fell to the floor with a loud clatter. "I bumped my head," he moaned as he stood up. "Where am I? I think I have a concussion." He paused for a moment. "I also have amnesia."
"I doubt it," said their teacher, Mrs. Schraalenburgh. "Get in your seat and take out your homework," she told him.
Lucas looked around. "Which seat is mine?" he asked one of the girls who was sitting nearby.
Everyone started laughing because they knew Lucas was just pretending. And Julio watched his friend with amazement. He didn't know how Lucas managed to keep a straight face. Lucas would probably make a great actor when he grew up. He was a great actor already.
Mrs. Schraalenburgh came over and took Lucas by the arm. She moved him toward his seat. "Does it look familiar?" she asked him.
"Where am I?" Lucas asked again. "Is this a school?"
"Not only is this a school," Mrs. Schraalenburgh told him, "but if you don't sit in your seat and behave, I'm afraid I'll have to send you down to the principal's office."
"To Mr. Herbertson?" asked Lucas, forgetting that he had amnesia.
"The very one," said the teacher.
No one wanted to be sent to the principal's office. Not even Lucas. But for the rest of the morning, Julio grinned whenever he thought of his friend pretending not to know where he was.
On the following Saturday, Julio went with Lucas to see a World War II film at the local movie house. When the picture was over and they left the theater, Lucas spoke with a phony German accent as the boys walked home. It sounded hilarious to Julio. But it was even funnier when Lucas answered questions in hisnewly acquired German accent on Monday morning at school.
At first Mrs. Schraalenburgh tried to ignore Lucas's behavior. But finally she said to him, "Lucas, did you have sauerbraten for dinner last night?"
"Vas is dat? Zauerbraten?" Lucas asked in his imitation German voice.
"That is what you'll find out and write a report on for tomorrow," the teacher responded. To help him, she wrote the word on the chalkboard.
And so on Tuesday, Lucas came to school with an extra homework assignment.
Cricket Kaufman was in their class too. Julio had been in classes with Cricket since he moved to town when he was in second grade. Cricket was perfect, which was bad enough. But to make matters worse, Cricket knew she was perfect and showed off a lot. When Lucas got the extra sauerbraten assignment, Cricket brought in a recipe for the dish the next day. That's how everyone in the class learned that it was a traditional German meal, sort of like pot roast. Only according to Cricket's recipe, the gravy was made of sour cream and ground gingersnap cookies. It sounded odd and made everyone laugh. But Julio would have been willing to try it if it was ever served for lunch in the school cafeteria. Anyhow, it was just like Cricket to do Lucas's homework and to do it better than he did.
Still, now that they were in fourth grade, both Lucas and Cricket began to change. Lucas clowned around a bit less. And Cricket began to act differently too. She gradually seemed more like a human being and not a perfectly programmed robot student who did everything better than everyone else. Julio liked Mrs. Schraalenburgh, his fourth-grade teacher. The name was a mouthful and the spelling was worse. There was a school rumor that only the brightest students were put into Mrs. Schraalenburgh's class each year. Who else would be able to say and spell that difficult name? So when Julio had first discovered that he was in her section of fourth grade, he worried that a mistake had been made. No one would ever say that Julio was one of the smarter students in his grade.
Everyone knew that this was the year that all the students took the statewide standardized tests in math and language skills. When they were younger, fourth grade seemed so far away. Julio and his friends had tiptoed past the fourth-grade classrooms each spring and looked in awe at the signs posted on the doors:
Quiet please.
...
Test in progress.
And they had felt a great relief that they were not sitting behind those closed doors, chewing on pencils while they racked their brains for the correct answers.
Once during the summer between third and fourth grade, when Lucas and Julio were playing together, Lucas had mentioned the forthcoming tests. "My mom says not to worry about them," Lucas had told his friend. "She says I'll do just fine."
Julio's mom never talked about the tests at all. She probably didn't know they existed. When Julio's older brothers, Ramon and Nelson, were in fourth grade, the family hadn't lived in this community, not even in this state. Nowadays Mrs. Sanchez was head chambermaid at Sycamore Shade Motor Inn. Even though she had to work hard doing her own duties and supervising the other chambermaids, it was the best-paying job she'd ever had, so she was very pleased. Since Julio's father was no longer alive, his mother had to support the family.
Fourth-Grade Fuss. Copyright © by Johanna Hurwitz. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
