Birney Trouble According to Humphrey

Main
ISBN: 978-0-571-24817-9
Verlag: Faber & Faber
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 208 Seiten

Reihe: Humphrey the Hamster

Join Humphrey the hamster for his third adventure - and this one is going to be packed with trouble! When all sorts of problems crop up in the classroom, from Pay-Attention-Art's marks going down, to Golden-Miranda finding herself in big trouble, Humphrey must step in to lend a helping paw. Using his charm, resourcefulness and wisdom, he's certain to have a plan. This third instalment follows the brilliantly successful The World According to Humphrey and Friendship According to Humphrey.

Betty G. Birney worked at Disneyland and the Disney Studios, has written many children's television shows and is the author of over forty books, including the bestselling The World According to Humphrey, which won the Richard and Judy Children's Book Club Award, as well as a further nine books in the According to Humphrey series, and eight books in the Humphrey's Tiny Tales series. Her work has won many awards, including an Emmy and three Humanitas Prizes. She lives in America with her husband.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Birney, Betty G.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Chapman, Jason

Leseproben

1

Before the Trouble

‘Welcome to our brand-new town!’

Mrs Brisbane’s voice woke me from my cosy afternoon doze. Was I dreaming when I heard her mention a new town? Had we moved while I was having my afternoon nap?

Staying awake is a constant problem for a classroom hamster like me. After all, hamsters are nocturnal, which means we’re sleepier in the daytime than at night. I always try hard to keep up with my fellow students in Room 26. However, I’d spent the long holiday weekend at Kirk Chen’s house. His whole family is funny like he is. It was hard to get much sleeping done there since I was laughing all the time.

But with Mrs Brisbane’s announcement, I was suddenly wide awake. I looked around and saw that I was in the same old Room 26 in my same old cage on the table next to the window. Og the Frog’s same old glass house sat next to mine.

Around me were the usual tables and the familiar students like Speak-up-Sayeh, Lower-Your-Voice

A.J. and Wait-For-The-Bell-Garth. The same teacher, Mrs Brisbane, stood in front of the class.

I guess I wasn’t the only one who was confused. ‘What new town?’ Heidi Hopper asked.

‘Please Raise-Your-Hand-Heidi,’ Mrs Brisbane said. ‘Since we are studying how communities work, I thought it was time to create our own community of Room Twenty-Sixville.’

Whew! I was relieved because I love our classroom right where it is and I wasn’t in the mood to move.

‘BOING!’ said Og in his twangy voice. I guess he was relieved, too.

‘We’ve been studying what makes a community – right?’ asked Mrs Brisbane.

YES-YES-YES, I’d learned a lot about communities recently. First, I learned that there are two Ms in the word. I’m trying to remember that in case it shows up in a spelling test in the future. I’d learned that a community isn’t just a place on a map, it’s also made up of the people who live there. (I’m sure Mrs Brisbane meant to include animals, too, but forgot to mention us.)

I’d also learned that everyone’s job helps the community in some way or another. There are police officers and firefighters to protect us and people who sell books or clothes or even sell wonderful pets like me! After all, I came from Pet-O-Rama, a shop in our community. There are people who grow and sell food and people who keep the streets clean and people who keep the classrooms clean, like Aldo, our caretaker. There are also doctors who people go to when they are ill and dentists who help people keep their teeth healthy.

Then there’s the biggest job of all: teacher. Teachers like Mrs Brisbane help us learn about things we wouldn’t know otherwise, such as the life cycle of a frog (though I still can’t picture Og as a tadpole), writing poems and adding and subtracting big numbers. Sometimes my paw gets tired from writing down really long problems in the tiny notebook I keep hidden behind my mirror, but I keep writing anyway because it’s important.

My mind wandered while Mrs Brisbane continued to talk about all we’d learned until I realized – oh no! – I wasn’t listening at all! If I kept daydreaming, I’d end up like Pay-Attention-Art-Patel, who only paid attention in class about half the time and whose recent marks, I’m sorry to say, were dreadful. Not at all like Speak-Up-Sayeh, the quiet girl who always pays attention and gets the best marks in the class (better than mine, I have to admit).

There I was again, my mind wandering to Art’s problems instead of listening to Mrs Brisbane. I hopped up on my ladder and vowed to listen to every word she said.

‘It’s one thing to talk about a community and another thing to be part of one,’ the teacher was saying. ‘So that’s why I decided to create our own community here. We’ll lay out our town right in this classroom and everyone will have a job.’

Garth’s hand shot up. ‘Will we get paid?’

‘Not in money. You will get points for doing your jobs correctly and extra points for doing your job especially well.’

Another hand went up. Mrs Brisbane called on Don’t-Complain-Mandy-Payne. ‘I don’t like the name Room Twenty-Sixville,’ she said.

I don’t think Mandy realizes how much she complains.

Mrs Brisbane smiled. ‘Do you have a better name?’

Mandy scratched the tip of her nose. ‘Brisbaneville?’

‘I don’t want to name it after me,’ said the teacher. ‘Besides, there already is a famous town named Brisbane. It’s in Australia and they pronounce it “Brisbin”.’

‘Maybe we should call it Boringville,’ a low voice muttered.

‘I-Heard-That-Kirk,’ Mrs Brisbane said. ‘It was a rude thing to say. Do you really think school is boring?’

‘Sorry. I was making a joke.’ I believed him because Kirk is such a big joker. He’s also a quick thinker. ‘Og looks pretty bored,’ he said.

All heads – including mine – turned to gaze at Og, who sat completely motionless on his rock, staring into space without even blinking.

‘Og is a frog,’ Mrs Brisbane said. ‘He always looks that way.’

I’m never completely sure what Og thinks, but I don’t think Room 26 is a boring place at all. I decided to squeak up on the subject, so I leaped up and grabbed onto a leafy tree branch our teacher’s husband, Mr Brisbane, had put in my cage. He was always adding new and interesting things to my home, like my ladders and a large cage extension.

Mrs Brisbane turned towards me. ‘Humphrey certainly doesn’t seem bored.’

I loudly squeaked ‘NO-NO-NO,’ and jumped to another branch.

‘Let’s call it Humphreyville!’ That was definitely A.J.’ s loud voice and this time he forgot to raise his hand, too.

‘Humphreyville!’ Voices burst out from around the room, along with chuckles and giggles.

‘Humphreyville?’ Mrs Brisbane thought it over. Unfortunately, it was hard to think because Gail had gone into one of her giggling fits.

‘Stop-Giggling-Gail,’ said the teacher. ‘Please. Now what do the rest of you think? Miranda?’

Miranda Golden – or Golden-Miranda as I like to think of her – didn’t hesitate a bit. ‘I love the name!’

‘Sayeh, what do you think?’ For once, quiet Speak-Up-Sayeh didn’t have any trouble speaking up. ‘Yes, it sounds like a real place.’

‘What is it again?’ Pay-Attention-Art asked.

‘Humphreyville,’ Sayeh told him.

‘I never heard of a town named after a hamster,’ said Art.

Well, I may be a hamster but I’m no ordinary hamster. I am an exceptionally cute golden hamster (I’ve been told) who happens to know how to read and write. Not that anyone knows about that except me. Or the fact that my cage has a lock-that-doesn’t-lock so I can come and go as I please when no one’s looking.

‘Humphreyville,’ Art repeated. ‘Sounds pretty good.’

I saw lots of heads nodding and heard murmuring around the class that sounded as if people were agreeing.

Imagine – a whole town named after me! I leaped onto my wheel and began spinning with joy.

‘Why don’t we take a vote?’ asked Mrs Brisbane. ‘All those in favour of naming our community “Humphreyville”, raise your hands.’

While I was spinning, I could see hands going up. Even Heidi remembered to raise her hand. Every hand was raised except one: Tabitha’s. I stopped spinning.

Tabitha was the new girl in our class and I thought she liked me. I’d even helped her make friends with Seth, although she didn’t actually know it. I have some sneaky, squeaky ways of making things like that happen.

‘Tabitha, do you have another suggestion for a name?’ Mrs Brisbane asked.

‘No,’ said Tabitha. ‘I like Humphreyville. I’m just afraid Og will be jealous.’

Jealous! I hadn’t thought about that, even though when Mrs Brisbane brought Og in as a second classroom pet, I’d been jealous of him. It’s embarrassing to admit it, but it’s true.

‘That’s something to think about, isn’t it? After all, if we named our community “Tabithaville”, the other students might be jealous,’ the teacher agreed.

‘Yeah, and it’s hard to say,’ Heidi blurted out.

‘Heidi, you simply must remember to raise your hand!’ Mrs Brisbane had helped a lot of students to change their bad habits. Somehow, she’d never been able to get Heidi to remember to raise her hand.

‘Now, class, why don’t we let Og decide?’ The teacher walked over to the frog’s glass house. ‘Og, do you vote for Humphreyville?’

I wasn’t expecting much, because I’d learned that Og, being a frog, has an unusual way of expressing himself. His ‘BOINGS’ are nothing like the energetic squeaks of a hamster or the giggles and shouts of the kids. In fact, sometimes Og doesn’t communicate at all. Still, he and I had learned to be friends. So I wouldn’t have been surprised if he just continued to sit motionless, as usual.

But that’s not what he did at all! Instead, he started leaping up and down on his rock, splashing water up onto Mrs Brisbane’s chin. ‘BOING-BOING-BOING!’ he twanged as only Og can do.

The students laughed uproariously. Even Mrs Brisbane chuckled as she wiped the water off. ‘Thank you for your vote, Og. Now let’s try again. All in favour of naming our new community “Humphreyville”, raise your hands.’

This time every hand went up, including Tabitha’s. Whew! She liked me after all. Og stopped leaping and splashing and sat quietly on his rock again.

Mrs Brisbane looked pleased. ‘Welcome, class, to...