The Kids in Mrs. Z's Class by William Alexander & Kat Fajardo

Author:William Alexander & Kat Fajardo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Published: 2024-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The Jabberwock

“Did you ask her yet?” Theo asked. It was Wednesday morning, and the school elevator was climbing up to the second floor at the speed of sleepy slugs.

“Not yet,” Memo said.

“We are already halfway to Saturday,” Theo reminded him.

“I know!” Memo had tried to talk to Lala the night before, but she looked so much like a mysterious queen who only spoke Elvish that he just couldn’t think of what to say. “I’ll ask today. Right after school.”

The elevator finally dinged and opened.

“Welcome, everyone!” said Mrs. Z. Today her earrings were made out of old typewriter keys. She had a question mark on her left ear and an exclamation point on her right. “Emma, what holiday are we celebrating?”

Emma stood up and grinned. “Today is National Dictionary Day!”

“Excellent,” said Mrs. Z. “We’ll start our dictionary-themed celebrations with the Daily Scribble. Settle in and get started.”

The Daily Scribble

for Wednesday, October 16

The poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll begins and ends with these four lines:

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

Invent a dictionary definition for one of these imaginary words.

Memo started scribbling. He didn’t stop to think about it first, because he didn’t think that thinking would help. Those words make no sense! his brain would say. Memo ignored his brain and just started writing.

Brillig (adjective): stormy weather filled with choruses of singing ghosts.

“Would anyone like to share?” Mrs. Z asked when the timer dinged.

Thunder raised her hand. “Well,” she said, “I think that mome raths are animals that move around in herds and have really long tongues like giraffes.”

Next Mrs. Z called on Sebastian. “‘Slithy’ describes the icky feeling that I’ve got right now.”

“Why do you feel slithy?” Mrs. Z wondered.

“Because dictionary definitions are supposed to be real,” he said. “Not just silly and made up.”

Mrs. Z smiled. “That’s fair,” she said. “It might feel less slithy to think about where words come from. Somebody had to make them up. Why not you? Why not now?”

Carlota went next. “Borogoves are a kind of tropical tree,” she said. “They can walk on their roots, and talk to each other, and put on plays when nobody else is there to hear them.”

Memo knew Carlota’s family was from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Both islands were tropical places. Memo wondered if talking trees knew how to roll their Rs. He wondered if Carlota knew how to speak Spanish. Mrs. Z definitely did. She would chat in rapid Spanish with Memo’s parents whenever they saw each other, and Memo would always pretend that he understood. It always felt like he should understand.

He wished for a Sorcery card called “Speak the Languages of Your Family.” Maybe then he could tell Lala all about the convention and explain why it would be amazing.

“Anyone else?” Mrs. Z asked.

Memo felt slithy, so he didn’t raise his hand.

That slithy feeling stuck with him through the rest of the day—all the way up to the moment when he knocked on the door of his grandmother’s room.

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