Muggie Maggie (5 page)

O
n Monday, Maggie looked at the words Mrs. Leeper had written on the chalkboard and discovered she was reading them because
she couldn't help it
. Mrs. Leeper had written:

Maggie was eager to carry the next message. She did not have to wait long for Mrs. Leeper to write a note for the principal. As soon as she closed the door—quietly, no slamming—Maggie slipped out the note that was written on the back of an old arithmetic paper and read the neatly formed words:

Maggie was shocked. Maggie was angry.

Mrs. Leeper had guessed she would peek. Maybe she had guessed all along, and now that Maggie could read cursive, she was saying mean things about her. But worst of all, Mrs. Leeper was waiting for an answer.

Maggie wanted to crumple the note, but if she did that, Mrs. Leeper would want to know why Mr. Galloway had not sent a reply. She returned the note to its tattered envelope, dragged her feet into the principal's office, and thrust it at him. She stood staring at the floor while he read it.

“Um-hm,” he murmured, and Maggie heard his pen move across paper. “There you go, Maggie,” he said as he handed the remains of the envelope back to her. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” said Maggie, and she got out of his office as fast as she could without running.

I won't peek, I won't peek, she told herself, but of course, she finally had to peek. What normal third grader wouldn't want to know what the principal had to say in time of crisis? This note said:

Figuring out the long word before her name took a while, and then—well! First of all, Maggie was astonished that Mr. Galloway would call a teacher by her first name. Then Maggie was indignant. Mrs. Leeper hadn't done a thing. Maggie had done all the work, and now her teacher was getting all the credit.

Maggie dreaded returning to her classroom. She plodded along, trying to figure out how she could avoid it. She couldn't, not even if she took time to go to the bathroom. Sooner or later she had to face her teacher.

With red cheeks, she handed her teacher the remains of the envelope and was about to hurry to her seat when Mrs. Leeper caught her hand, pulled Maggie to her, gave her a big hug, and said, “I don't think we need a message monitor anymore. Anyway, the envelope is worn out.” She tossed it, along with the note, into the wastebasket and said, “This is a happy day, Maggie.”

Maggie was both pleased and confused. She had expected Mrs. Leeper to say something about cursive, but the teacher had not. She had not even said, “It's about time,” or “I knew you could do it.” She just smiled at Maggie, who finally felt she could smile back.

“You know something, Mrs. Leeper?” Maggie said shyly. “Your cursive is neater than any other teacher's cursive.”

Mrs. Leeper laughed. “It has to be. I'm the one who teaches it.”

Maggie walked slowly to her seat. She could now make her letters flow together, and she had made her teacher happy, but maybe when she grew up and did not have to please grown-ups all the time, she might decide not to write cursive. She could print anytime she wanted. She had plenty of time to think it over.

“Muggie Maggie,” said Kirby. “Teacher's pet.”

Maggie decided against pushing the table into his stomach.

Instead, she sat down and wrote a note in cursive, which she shoved across the table:

Beverly Cleary
is one of America's most popular authors. Born in McMinnville, Oregon, she lived on a farm in Yamhill until she was six and then moved to Portland. After college, as the children's librarian in Yakima, Washington, she was challenged to find stories for non-readers. She wrote her first book,
HENRY HUGGINS
, in response to a boy's question, “Where are the books about kids like us?”
      Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, presented in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. Her
DEAR MR. HENSHAW
was awarded the 1984 John Newbery Medal, and both
RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8
and
RAMONA AND HER FATHER
have been named Newbery Honor Books. In addition, her books have won more than thirty-five statewide awards based on the votes of her young readers. Her characters, including Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for generations. Mrs. Cleary lives in coastal California.

Visit Beverly Cleary on the World Wide Web at www.beverlycleary.com.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

FEATURING RAMONA QUIMBY:

Beezus and Ramona

Ramona the Pest

Ramona the Brave

Ramona and Her Father

Ramona and Her Mother

Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Ramona Forever

Ramona's World

FEATURING HENRY HUGGINS:

Henry Huggins

Henry and Beezus

Henry and Ribsy

Henry and the Paper Route

Henry and the Clubhouse

Ribsy

FEATURING RALPH MOUSE:

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Runaway Ralph

Ralph S. Mouse

MORE GREAT FICTION BY BEVERLY CLEARY:

Ellen Tebbits

Otis Spofford

Fifteen

The Luckiest Girl

Jean and Johnny

Emily's Runaway Imagination

Sister of the Bride

Mitch and Amy

Socks

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Muggie Maggie

Strider

Two Times the Fun

AND DON'T MISS BEVERLY CLEARY'S AUTOBIOGRAPHIES:

A Girl from Yamhill

My Own Two Feet

Cover art by Tracy Dockray

Jacket design by Amy Ryan

MUGGIE MAGGIE
. Copyright © 1990 by Beverly Cleary. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub © Edition SEPTEMBER 2009 ISBN: 9780061972287

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