Amelia Bedelia & Friends #1
Dedication
For Yumiko,
whose friendship stands the test of time!
—H. P.
For Keely and Nika, with love!
—L. A.
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter 1: Choosing Sides—Good and Bad
Chapter 2: One Year x One Hundred = Centennial
Chapter 3: “Watch It . . . Watch It!”
Chapter 4: Breaking News!
Chapter 5: Cracked Up to Be
Chapter 6: Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Chapter 7: Tempus Fugit Fuhgeddaboudit
Chapter 8: Stumped
Chapter 9: Tempus Fugit Foundit
Chapter 10: Watch Out . . .
Chapter 11: D B-Day
Chapter 12: . . . Watch In
Excerpt from Amelia Bedelia & Friends #2: Amelia Bedelia & Friends The Cat’s Meow
Finally Is Top Dog!
Two Ways to Say It
Back Ads
Amelia Bedelia’s Time Capsule
Copyright
About the Publisher
Crunch! CRUNCH!! KAY-RUNCH!!!
Amelia Bedelia’s feet were talking to her. They were saying that she was walking under a giant oak tree laden with acorns. She closed her eyes and kept walking, listening to acorns being crushed under her sneakers with every step she took.
CRUNcrunch! CrUNch! K-K-runch!
Amelia Bedelia imagined that if acorns could talk, they were probably saying “Welcome to Oak Tree Elementary!”
The oak tree in front of her school was as old as it was enormous. Its leaves were just beginning to turn brown, a dusty brown that made the whole tree look like it had been sprinkled with cocoa powder.
“BOO!!!” hollered Clay. Amelia Bedelia jumped and opened her eyes. Her friend Clay had snuck up behind her.
“You look like you’re sleepwalking,” said Clay, laughing.
“Who can sleep through this racket?” said Amelia Bedelia. She jumped into the air and landed CRUNCH! K-K-RUNCH on some acorns. Clay covered his ears with his hands.
“This tree is making acorns like that’s its job,” said Clay.
“Well, I guess making acorns is its job,” said Amelia Bedelia. “This tree doesn’t have to practice the piano or learn how to speak Spanish or memorize multiplication tables or do word problems. The only thing our oak tree has to do is make acorns.”
“It’s doing an awesome job of that,” said Clay. “There are millions of them!”
“Right!” said Amelia Bedelia. “Like our school motto says . . .”
“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow!” chanted Amelia Bedelia and Clay together.
They said good morning to Ms. Hotchkiss and Mrs. Roman as they passed the school office. Ms. Hotchkiss was the principal, but Mrs. Roman, her assistant, really ran the school. Everyone knew that, even Ms. Hotchkiss.
“I like your necklace, Mrs. Roman,” said Clay.
“Thank you, Clay. You’re very thoughtful,” said Mrs. Roman, smiling.
Clay whispered to Amelia Bedelia. “I always give Mrs. Roman a compliment. You never want to be on her bad side.”
Amelia Bedelia turned around to look at Mrs. Roman. Her left side looked the same as her right side. Amelia Bedelia did not see a bad side. She was about to ask Clay what he meant when Mrs. Shauk greeted them at the door to their classroom.
“How nice of you two to honor us with your presence,” said Mrs. Shauk. She watched them take their seats, living up to her unofficial nickname—the Hawk.
A second later, Ms. Hotchkiss read the morning announcements over the intercom. “Good morning, everyone! This is a reminder that next week we will be celebrating the one hundredth birthday of Oak Tree Elementary, so get ready! There will be lots of food and fun—and music, games, and activities for all. Make sure you thank your parents and teachers for all the work they have put into making this event a success!”
Ms. Hotchkiss passed the microphone to Mrs. Roman. Mrs. Roman was in charge of finding out trivia about the school to build interest for the hundredth-birthday celebration. “Here is today’s fun fact about Oak Tree Elementary,” said Mrs. Roman. “Did you know that it takes an oak tree twenty to thirty years to start producing acorns?”
Then Mrs. Roman read the day’s cafeteria menu. Cheers and clapping erupted when Mrs. Roman announced that pizza was for lunch.
“My dad says that Romans make the best pizza,” said Clay. “Now that is a fun fact!”
“Mrs. Roman only said pizza,” said Amelia Bedelia. “She did not make the pizza, and she is not a Roman.”
“I like to give her all the credit, to stay on her good side,” explained Clay.
Amelia Bedelia shrugged and looked out the classroom window. She had a great view of the giant oak tree that gave their school its name. She loved watching the seasons change as the leaves turned, then blew away, only to pop out again in spring. Mrs. Shauk had once told Amelia Bedelia that she had the best seat in the house.
“This is my school, not my house,” Amelia Bedelia had replied. “But I definitely have the best view!”
During the announcements, Mrs. Shauk had been busy writing on the board. After the applause for pizza died down, she pointed at what she had written and asked, “Has anyone seen these letters around the school?”
“Is this another language or English?” asked Pat. “That doesn’t look like an English word to me.”
“You’re right,” said Mrs. Shauk. “It’s Latin.”
“Like they speak in Latin America?” said Heather.
“No . . . Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages are spoken in Latin America. This is Latin like they spoke in ancient Rome,” said Mrs. Shauk. “Today, Latin is a dead language.”
“Is that what zombies speak?” asked Pat.
“Zombies don’t speak. That’s why they are zombies,” said Penny.
“These letters stand for numbers called Roman numerals,” said Mrs. Shauk.
Clay was nodding at Amelia Bedelia. She could tell what he was thinking—that Mrs. Roman was so important she even had her own numbers.
“You people walk right by these letters twice a day,” said Mrs. Shauk.
Joy raised her hand. “Oh, I know, I know!” she said. “They’re carved on the stone near the front door.”
“That’s right. You’re very observant, Joy,” said Mrs. Shauk. “The letters were carved into a stone block called the cornerstone. The cornerstone was the first thing the builders who built our school put in place. All of the other stone blocks and bricks were built after it.”
“Is it like when people put letters and numbers on license plates to spell out a joke?” asked Angel.
“Like L-A-10 S E-Z,” said Clay.
“Yeah,” said Cliff. “Latin is easy,”
“You guys, E-N-F S E-N-F,” said Mrs. Shauk.
They thought about that for a second.
Then they nodded.
“OK,” said Cliff.
“I C,” said Clay.
“C D B,” said Joy.
“N Q,” said Mrs. Shauk. “The builder carved those Roman numerals to record the year the building was built.”
“What year was MCMXX?” asked Heather.
“Reading Roman numerals is like breaking a code,” said Mrs. Shauk.
“So the letters are numbers and the numbers are letters?” asked Amelia Bedelia.
“Exactly, Amelia Bedelia!” said Mrs. Shauk. “The letter M stands for the number one thousand. The letter X is ten. Now what if you have two Ms and two Xs?”
“That’s two thousand plus twenty,” said Dawn.
“That’s this year—2020!” said Rose.
>
“That’s right,” said Mrs. Shauk. “The year 2020 is written MMXX in Roman numerals.”
“But our cornerstone has a C between the two Ms,” said Joy.
Wow, thought Amelia Bedelia. Mrs. Shauk was right about Joy. She definitely saw things that most people didn’t notice.
“Good point!” said Mrs. Shauk. “Well, the letter C comes from the Latin word cent, which means one hundred. That’s where we get the word century, which means one hundred years. And a cent is one hundredth of a dollar.”
“Our class has our very own cent,” said Amelia Bedelia. “Her name is Penny.”
Amelia Bedelia grabbed Penny by the wrist, pulling her to her feet to take a bow.
“The rule with Roman numerals is that putting a letter in front of another one subtracts that amount,” said Mrs. Shauk. “So, putting a C in front of an M subtracts one hundred from one thousand.”
“That makes nine hundred,” said Joy. “The first M is one thousand and the second is nine hundred. So, the year is 1900, plus twenty makes it 1920. And you write it MCMXX.”
“And that is why we are having a centennial celebration!” said Mrs. Shauk.
“A centennial is a celebration that happens every hundred years,” said Heather. “My great-grandmother just had hers!”
“Centennial comes from Latin, too,” said Mrs. Shauk.
“For a dead language, Latin sure keeps popping up,” said Amelia Bedelia.
“Latin must be a zombie language,” said Cliff. “It refuses to die!”
“Why didn’t the ancient Romans just use regular numbers?” asked Chip.
“I think Roman numerals look older and more important,” said Holly.
“Expensive watches use Roman numerals,” said Mrs. Shauk. “Some people think it makes them look more elegant.”
“Roman numerals are fun,” said Clay.
“If I gave you a quiz on them, would you get one hundred percent?” asked Mrs. Shauk.
“Yup! Because percent is Latin,” said Clay.
Amelia Bedelia was raising her hand to ask about percentages when the Voice of Doom came over the intercom.
“Mrs. Shauk, I still need an attendance report from you,” said Mrs. Roman.
Amelia Bedelia froze with her hand still up in the air. Even Mrs. Shauk was so startled that she jumped.
“Oh, thanks for volunteering, Amelia Bedelia,” said Mrs. Shauk, writing down the attendance number on a slip of paper and handing it to Amelia Bedelia. “Let’s see if Mrs. Roman lives up to her name.”
Amelia Bedelia shrugged. She hadn’t meant to volunteer, but it was always fun to be sent on a mission during class.
When she passed Clay on the way out, he caught her arm and whispered, “You lucky duck! Just remember, Mrs. Roman probably invented those numbers, so stay on her good side.”
“Quack!” said Amelia Bedelia with a laugh.
Amelia Bedelia waddled as fast as she could down the hall. When she was sure that no one was looking, she started running. By the time she got to the office, she was out of breath.
“My goodness, Amelia Bedelia,” said Ms. Hotchkiss. “Even I can walk to your classroom without getting winded.”
Mrs. Roman’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Amelia Bedelia, you did walk here, correct?” she said.
Amelia Bedelia couldn’t catch her breath. Finally she nodded and handed Mrs. Roman the piece of paper that Mrs. Shauk had given her.
Mrs. Roman opened the attendance report. She turned it around and around and finally turned it upside down. Frowning, she looked at Amelia Bedelia.
“Is this a joke, Amelia Bedelia?” asked Mrs. Roman. “What kind of number is this?”
Uh-oh, thought Amelia Bedelia. It looked like when Mrs. Roman was unhappy, her bad side was her front! Mrs. Roman was still squinting at Amelia Bedelia and shaking her head back and forth when Ms. Hotchkiss took the piece of paper from her.
Ms. Hotchkiss laughed. “Would you read this for Mrs. Roman, Amelia Bedelia?” she asked.
“XX is twenty, plus V is five, and II is two, which equals twenty-seven,” said Amelia Bedelia.
“Perfect,” said Ms. Hotchkiss. “And perfect attendance. You should study your Roman numerals, Mrs. Roman.”
“Mrs. Shauk wondered if you would live up to your name,” said Amelia Bedelia.
“Oh, she did, did she?” said Mrs. Roman.
“Yup! And Clay said you had invented Roman numerals and named them after yourself,” said Amelia Bedelia.
Ms. Hotchkiss laughed again.
“Sounds like Clay is trying to get on my bad side,” said Mrs. Roman.
Oh, no, thought Amelia Bedelia. She had wanted to stay on Mrs. Roman’s good side. Now she was on her bad side, dragging Mrs. Shauk and Clay along with her. If she made Mrs. Roman mad at Clay, Amelia Bedelia would not be a lucky duck in his eyes. She would be a dead duck.
“Oh, Clay never wants to be on your bad side,” said Amelia Bedelia. “But I don’t think you have a bad side. Your front, back, and both sides all look good to me.”
“Thank you so much,” said Mrs. Roman, smiling. “That’s very nice of you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” said Mr. Jack, the school’s custodian, as he walked into the office. Mr. Jack went by his first name because he said he was a jack-of-all-trades. “Wait until I finish your job. I put the easel in the lobby. Now, which picture do you want moved out there?”
“The one on the wall behind the counter,” said Ms. Hotchkiss. “It was the first photograph of the students and teachers of Oak Tree Elementary, taken in 1920.” She pointed at a large, framed black-and-white photograph.
Amelia Bedelia had always wondered who the people in the photograph were. She had been in the office lots of times but had never had the chance to ask. “Is that really our school?” she said.
“You bet, Amelia Bedelia. Look right here,” said Mrs. Roman, pointing to a little tree in the foreground. “This little sapling grew up to be the giant oak tree out front.”
“It’s a really big picture,” said Amelia Bedelia. “They must have used a huge camera.”
“The original picture was small. I’m sure they blew it up,” said Ms. Hotchkiss.
“Really?” said Amelia Bedelia. “They blew it up?”
“They enlarged it as much as possible,” said Mrs. Roman. “Need any help, Mr. Jack?”
“I’ll try it single-handedly, but this thing is heavier than it looks,” Mr. Jack said.
It must be heavy, thought Amelia Bedelia. Mr. Jack was using both of his hands to lift it, carrying it double-handedly. She was standing between Mr. Jack and the office door. She was about to move out of the way when Mr. Jack asked for her help.
“Watch it . . . watch it!” said Mr. Jack, walking toward Amelia Bedelia with the huge framed photo. He seemed to be having some trouble seeing where he was going. “Watch it!” he said to Amelia Bedelia again.
As usual, Amelia Bedelia did what she was told. She watched the framed picture. She did not move at all.
BAMMMM! The frame crashed into the counter. Mr. Jack set the photograph down on the floor, leaning it against the front of the counter.
“I was asking Amelia Bedelia to be careful and move out of my way,” he explained, looking embarrassed.
“That’s okay. It was an accident,” said Ms. Hotchkiss.
“Accidents happen,” said Mrs. Roman.
Amelia Bedelia was relieved. She must be on Mrs. Roman’s good side after all. That was when Amelia Bedelia spied the envelope that had fallen to the floor when the framed photograph hit the counter. She picked it up. It was addressed to “The Principal” in beautiful cursive handwriting. She handed it to Ms. Hotchkiss.
“What’s this for?” said Ms. Hotchkiss.
“It’s for the principal. That’s you,” said Amelia Bedelia. “It’s written in cursive writing.”
“Cursive writing is becoming a lost art, like Roman numerals,” said Mrs. Roman.
“But where did this enve
lope come from?” asked Ms. Hotchkiss.
“From the photo,” said Amelia Bedelia. “Mr. Jack was telling me to ‘Watch it, watch it,’ and I was watching it, and I saw the envelope fall onto the floor when the picture frame banged the counter.”
Mrs. Roman took the envelope from Ms. Hotchkiss. She used a sharp letter opener to slit open the top edge. “It would be a shame to tear into an envelope this pretty,” she said. “Someone took a lot of trouble to make it look so nice.” She handed it back to Ms. Hotchkiss, who just kept staring down at it.
“I can’t stand the suspense!” said Mrs. Roman. “Would you like me to read it for you?”
“Thank you, but I can do it. It’s addressed to me, after all,” said Ms. Hotchkiss. “I’m just surprised! And I do love a mystery.”
She pulled the letter out of the envelope and unfolded it. It was written in the same fancy cursive writing.
Amelia Bedelia noticed that Ms. Hotchkiss was moving her lips as she read silently.
“Oh, my,” Ms. Hotchkiss said, looking up at them. Then she kept reading.
“What does it say?” asked Mrs. Roman.
“My, my,” said Ms. Hotchkiss.