Horrible Harry and the Dungeon

Table of Contents

 

 

 

Acknowledgments

Special appreciation and thanks to ...

My editor, Jane Seiter

My colleagues Val Vitalo, for her Human Bean Program, and Ellen Seeran, who shared her experiences in the Suspension Room

Dedicated with love to my second graders:

 

Arielle Celadon
Marissa DeAngelo
Timothy Finkle
Colby Gaines
Christine Hart
Sean McDonnell
Daniel Merli
Eric Mosakowski
Christopher Mosher
Christopher Pashley
Amanda Pixley
Katie Poole

Deanna Porter
Nicole Primerano
David Reyes
Michael Rice
Jeffrey Seiser
Ryan Smith
Ray Squires Jr.
Jacqueline Tribou
Rannan Tyrrell
Melissa Wallace
Mark Woznicki

 

 

and to Emily Kline, my dedicated volunteer intern from February to June 1996

PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

 

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

 

First published in the United States of America by Viking,
a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1996
Published in Puffin Books, 1998
20 19

Text copyright © Suzy Kline, 1996 Illustrations copyright © Frank Remkiewicz, 1996

All rights reserved

 

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE VIKING EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Kline, Suzy. Horrible Harry and the dungeon/by Suzy Kline ; pictures by
Frank Remkiewicz. p. cm.
Summary: It's almost summer vacation and the students in room 2B are
having trouble concentrating on their butterfly project, until a frightening
new teacher comes to supervise the suspension room.

eISBN : 978-1-101-07683-5

[1. Schools—Fiction. 2. Teachers—Fiction. 3. Butterflies-Fiction.]
I. Remkiewicz, Frank, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.K6797Hnnj 1996 [Fic]—dc20 95-42525 CIP AC

 

 

R L: 2.3

“Good morning boys and girls,” the principal's voice said over the intercom. “Please stop what you're doing and listen. I have some bad news.”

Bad news?

I stopped looking at a chrysalis hanging in our butterfly-net cage. Song Lee stopped drawing symmetrical butterfly wings.

Miss Mackle put down her book,
The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.
She was reading us the part where Bartholomew was about to get his head chopped off in the dungeon.

Harry kept playing pool on his desk. When he shot a small ball of clay with the eraser end of his pencil, Miss Mackle walked over and caught it.

Everyone in Room 2B looked at the little silver dots on the intercom box ...

And waited for the principal to continue.

“Boys and girls, some children at South School are forgetting our school rules. I know it's June. I know summer vacation is just two weeks away. But that's no excuse for bad behavior. From now on, any student who refuses to obey our school rules will—”

Mr. Cardini paused.

“—go to
the Suspension Room.”

Harry and I exchanged looks.

“I saw it,” I whispered to Harry. “It looks like a prison. It's the old music room in the basement that smells. I know because the janitor told me. It just has cement walls. No windows.”

Harry leaned over and whispered, “Hey Doug, let's call it the Dungeon.”

“It's got to have a trapdoor if it's a dungeon,” I said.

“Shhhh!” Miss Mackle shushed. Then she pointed to the intercom box on the wall.

“If
you go to the Suspension Room,” the voice continued, “you'll do your work there, eat there, and sit there all day. I've hired a teacher to supervise the Suspension Room. Mr. Skooghammer.”

“Skooghammer?” I said. “His name sounds like a Viking weapon.”

“Or an executioner,” Harry said. Then he chopped a ball of clay in half with his ruler.

“Now,” the principal added, “I want to end this message on a happy note. We are
also
starting a
GOOD HUMAN
BEANS bulletin board. Every time a student does something that is extra thoughtful and kind, a teacher will write it up on a green paper Bean and drop it in the Bean Box, and I will read it aloud each morning during our Bean Broadcast. The good beans will grow on our school beanstalk in the hall.”

Harry blurted out, “If it's a real beanstalk, we have to make a giant for it that goes fe fi fo fum.”

Song Lee giggled.

Mary made a face. “Harry, you'll never get a bean.”

“Shhhh!” Miss Mackle put a finger to her mouth.

“Have a good day, boys and girls, and remember, be a good
Human Bean.”

When the intercom went off, Miss Mackle held up a pile of blank green beans. “I hope there are lots of these from Room 2B.”

“I hate beans,” Harry groaned. “They're the magical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot.”

When the class laughed, Miss Mackle folded her arms. “I can't believe that phrase is still around. Kids used to say that when I was in elementary school.”

“How old are you, Miss Mackle?” Mary asked.

“I'll tell you my age, but you have to solve the math. Ready?”

I leaned forward.

Harry leaned back. He hates hard math problems.

“Eight plus eight, minus one, plus fifteen, minus two, plus three.”

Just when I got the answer, Sidney shouted,
“Look!
A butterfly crawled out of its chrysalis!”

Everyone turned and looked at the giant yellow net cage that hung in the middle of the room. The butterfly was perfectly still. Its wings were pointing straight up.

Miss Mackle clapped her hands. “Look at our beautiful painted lady! Song Lee, you're my helper today. Please go get Mr. Cardini. Tell him we have good news in Room 2B.”

As soon as Song Lee left the room, Miss Mackle made an important announcement. “Don't forget about this final stage of the butterfly. It needs time to dry its wings before it flies, so don't anyone jostle the net cage or touch a wing.”

“Yes, Miss Mackle,” we all said.

“What's the good news?” Mr. Cardini asked as he stood in the doorway.

“Look!”
the class shouted.