Closer to Nowhere by Ellen Hopkins

Author:Ellen Hopkins [Hopkins, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2020-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

FACT OR FICTION:

Hannah’s Been Pretty Nice Lately

Answer: Yeah, even when I bug her.

And what’s weird is, I like

it better when bugging her

gets a negative reaction.

Because that’s something

I understand. I think she feels

sorry for me, and that’s not okay.

Guess we’ll see if my story

changes that. I worked hard

on it, all last night.

It’s been kind of interesting

hearing about where

people’s families came from.

Europe. Africa. Asia. South America.

None from Antarctica,

and that’s too bad.

We might’ve gotten a penguin tale.

Hannah’s is kind of plain,

but I have to admit

she did a really good job

on her family tree.

She made it an oak, with

acorns for the pictures

and names. It’s neat.

Unlike mine.

My story’s pretty good,

though, even without penguins:

“I don’t want to bore you

with information you’ll get

from my cousin, who’ll tell

you about how our moms’

relatives came from Scotland

in 1818 and Italy in 1859.

“But I’m pretty sure she won’t

go into some of the cool extra

info, like how our great-great-

great-great-grandpa wanted

to go west, so he joined a cattle

drive and had to fight bandits

and lasso bulls and stuff—”

Cal . . . warns Hannah.

“What?”

Never mind.

Totally smiling, Mrs. Peabody

says, Please continue, Cal.

“I only know a little about

my dad’s side and I couldn’t

ask anyone about it, but what

I can tell you is the first Pace

came from England in the 1700s.

“He was in the navy but

didn’t like the food, so he

chose a pirate’s life instead.

He sailed from Florida to Jamaica,

raiding and treasure hunting.

“But then he fell in love

with a minister’s daughter

and settled down in Louisiana.

He decided passing an offering

plate was safer than robbing,

so he became a preacher, too.

“There was a lot of begetting—

that’s a Bible word for having

babies—and the family grew

at a really fast Pace . . .”

Not everyone gets the joke,

but there’s a moan or two

that means somebody did.

And on paper, the P

is capitalized, so I’m sure

Mrs. Peabody will.

Hopefully she’ll give me

extra credit for humor.

Considering my family tree

chart, I’ll probably need it.

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