The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin

Author:Grace Lin [LIN, GRACE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV013000
ISBN: 9780316029285
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2008-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

MY LOST LIBRARY BOOK!

I couldn’t believe it. That’s where the book was this whole time! I must have mailed it to her by mistake when I sent her the Cheerleaders books. And she had read it, too. I wondered if Ms. Magon would add a new star next to Melody’s name.

Chapter 19

Bad Grade

EVEN THOUGH I HAD FOUND MY LIBRARY BOOK, I still felt like my tiger luck had left me, because when Ms. Magon handed Charlotte, Becky, and me our grades on the Viking project, we got a C+! That was the lowest grade I had ever gotten. What would Mom and Dad say? Ms. Magon wrote on our paper, “The candy boat was very cute, but it didn’t show me what you knew about the Vikings. Also, it didn’t look like there was enough work done for a three-person project.”

“Are your parents going to get mad at you for not getting an A?” Charlotte asked when she saw my face. “You always get A’s. They shouldn’t get mad because you got a bad grade once.”

That was true. And the more I thought about it, the more I began to think Charlotte was right. Mom and Dad were too picky. One bad grade was not a big deal.

Unfortunately, Mom didn’t think that way at all. When I told her about my grade (Dad wasn’t home yet), she looked at me very seriously. I knew I was in trouble.

“You got a C!” Mom said. “That’s not very good. What happened?”

“I don’t know,” I said defensively. “Ms. Magon just gave me one.”

“There must be a reason,” Mom said. “You should have done much better.”

“I don’t know why you think it’s such a big deal!” I burst out. “Everyone gets bad grades in my class. I don’t always have to get A’s!”

“It’s not about the grade,” Mom said. “Tell the truth, did you do the best you could on the project?”

I wanted to say yes, but I thought about all the times I went over to Becky’s house. We were supposed to be working on the project, but most of the time they just talked about Kurt and Rich while I ate candy. We didn’t really work that hard on the project at all.

“I don’t care about the grade,” Mom said, “IF you worked your hardest and put all your effort into it.”

“You do too care about the grade,” I argued. “What if I didn’t work at all and got an A? You wouldn’t say anything then.”

“Pacy,” Mom said. “You are not looking at this the right way. I want you to get good grades and do well in school, not for me, but for you. I want you to grow up and be able to do whatever you want. Getting good grades and learning things is the key to any door you want to open in the future. If you don’t try your best, you are hurting yourself the most.”

This made me think. Mom talking about doors reminded me about how being an author and illustrator was a “cold door.

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