Read Gooney Bird on the Map for Free Online Page B

till it's done! But now he's going to say it's
really
just a big mess!"
    Mrs. Pidgeon glanced through the window, down to the playground where the map was.

    "The oceans are so blue and beautiful," she said with a sigh. "We really did make a wonderful map. Surely we can think of some educational way to use it.
    "Barry?" she asked. "You're the
Whiz Kid
. Any ideas?"
    Barry shook his head.
    "I know a card game called 'spit in the ocean'! How about if we all go down and spit in..." Malcolm suggested. But his voice trailed off and he didn't even finish his sentence.
    "You're really a
Class Act,
Malcolm," Chelsea said, and rolled her eyes.
    "So?" Malcolm replied. "You got a better idea,
QT
?"
    But Chelsea didn't.
    "Well," said Mrs. Pidgeon, "let's get out our math books. Gooney Bird, would you pass around these worksheets?" She handed some papers to Gooney Bird, who stood and began to hand one to each child.
    At the rear corner of the room, Gooney Bird stopped, suddenly, and began to look at something on a shelf near the supply closet. "We didn't get worksheets over here!" Ben called.
    "Oops, sorry," Gooney Bird said, and passed the rest of the sheets to the students in Ben's group of desks. Then she went back and looked again at the shelf. After a moment, she picked up a maroon cardboard box.
    Malcolm's hand shot up. "Mrs. Pidgeon!

    Mrs. Pidgeon! Gooney Bird took a puzzle from the puzzle shelf! That's not fair! It's math time! Nobody can do a puzzle during math time!"
    Mrs. Pidgeon walked to Malcolm's desk and put her calm-down hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Malcolm," she said. "Gooney?" she asked. "What are you doing?"
    Gooney Bird didn't answer. She closed her eyes and stood very still. "I'm thinking," she said. "Excuse me for a moment."
    Everyone in the room waited. They all watched Gooney Bird, who had now reached into the pocket of the plaid shirt she was wearing today over her red tights. She removed a pair of glasses and put them on, carefully arranging the silver frames around her ears.
    "My vision is perfect," she said. "But I feel that sometimes wearing glasses improves concentration. I got these at the Salvation Army store."
    "Can you
see
through them?" Keiko asked, in a concerned voice.
    "Blurry," Gooney Bird replied. "But seeing blurry helps me think. Mrs. Pidgeon, may I stand here thinking while the class does the worksheets? I'll do mine at home tonight."
    Mrs. Pidgeon considered that. "All right," she decided. "How much time do you need?"
    "About four minutes and thirty seconds, I think," Gooney Bird said.
    "Very well," said Mrs. Pidgeon, glancing at the clock.
    Exactly four minutes and seventeen seconds later, Gooney Bird carefully removed her glasses, folded them, and replaced them in her pocket. Carrying the maroon box, she returned to her desk and sat. She was smiling.
    "You have an idea, don't you?" Felicia Ann asked. Then she remembered her own candy-heart name. "
What's Up
?"
    Gooney Bird grinned.
    "You have an idea about our map?" asked Malcolm.
    She nodded.
    Mrs. Pidgeon collected the math papers quickly. "Let's hear it!" she said to Gooney Bird.
    Gooney Bird opened the box. It was filled with oddly shaped wooden puzzle pieces. "Mrs. Pidgeon," she said, "could you read me the list of class names backwards? I mean alphabetically, from the bottom up?"
    "Sure," the teacher said. "I'll just read them from the list on the wall. From the bottom: TYRONE."
    Gooney Bird shuffled around in the wooden pieces and took one out. "Here you go,
Cool Dude,
" she said, and handed the piece to Tyrone, who looked at it, pumped his fist in the air, and said, "Yes! Texas!"
    "TRICIA," Mrs. Pidgeon said.
    Tricia reached for the puzzle piece that Gooney Bird gave her. "
Pucker Up
!" she said with a grin, and gave her wooden piece a kiss. "Tennessee!"
    "Next: NICHOLAS," Mrs. Pidgeon said.
    "Wait a minute," Gooney Bird told her, and held out another piece. "You come next, Mrs. Pidgeon. P for Patsy!
U Go, Girl
!" The teacher examined