The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming

Author:Candace Fleming [Fleming, Candace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-48451-2
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-05-16T04:00:00+00:00

All weekend, Jackie worked on the poem—slowly, steadily.

She skipped bowling practice and memorized six lines.

She skipped a gymnastics meet and memorized seven more lines.

She even skipped watching Wrestle-Dementia on television and memorized ten more lines.

By Monday morning, she knew half the poem by heart.

But she still had a long way to go.

The shot clock’s ticking, she told herself. I need to score.…

She stole peeks at the poem during social studies.

She muttered snatches of it during spelling.

She recited it in her head during hula dancing.

By Friday afternoon, she was still seven lines short.

“Any poems?” Mr. Jupiter asked.

Hands around the room shot up.

But not Lil’s. All week she had lounged confidently in her chair, smiling and picking purple polish off her thumbnail.

The Complete Works of Emily Dickinson lay on Mr. Jupiter’s desk. It seemed to glitter in the sunlight.

Jackie didn’t raise her hand either. Instead, she mumbled to herself while Bernadette recited Karla Kuskin’s “Me” (fourteen lines); Emberly recited Kenn Nesbitt’s “The Amusement Park” (eight lines); and Lenny recited Ogden Nash’s “The Eel” (two lines).

“Anyone else?” asked Mr. Jupiter.

Everyone looked at Jackie.

She looked down at the poem on her desk.

“Then it’s time to declare the winner in our class poetry contest,” said Mr. Jupiter. He moved toward the prize book.

Lil moved to stand.

And Jackie gulped. It was now or never.

“Mr. Jupiter,” she said, “I have a poem.”

“Humph,” snorted Lil. “It’ll have to be a really long one to beat me.”

“It is,” said Jackie. “It’s ‘Casey at the Bat’ by Ernest L. Thayer.”

For the first time in two weeks, Lil looked worried. “But that’s fifty-eight lines long,” she gasped. She glanced at her poetry thermometer. If Jackie really had memorized that poem, she’d win! Lil shook her head. “It’s too long. You’ll never remember it all.”

Jackie began:

“The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;

The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.…”

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