Read The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School for Free Online

Jupiter. “Now, class, please take out your kazoos. Together we’re going to play the allegro from Mozart’s Serenade Number Thirteen for Strings in G major, more commonly known as ‘A Little Night Music.’”
    Grudgingly, the children dug their kazoos out of their desks. They raised the kazoos somberly to their lips.
    “And a-one, and a-two, and a-blow that kazoo!”
    The classroom filled with the halfhearted strains of Mozart’s famous first chords: “
La
, la
la
, la
la
la la la laaaa …”
    And in their cage, the guinea pigs rose up on their hind legs, threw back their brown-spotted heads, and answered in high-pitched squeaky song:
“Eek
, eek
eek
, eek
eek
eek eek eek eeeek …”
    “Whoa! Did you hear that?” asked Calvin.
    “I heard it, but I don’t believe it,” answered Emberly.
    “Let’s play the next line,” suggested Rose.
    With more gusto this time, the fifth graders played, “Dum dum,
da
da da da da daaaa …”
    And with the same extraordinary singing voices, the guinea pigs replied, “Eek eek,
eek
eek eek eek eek eeeek …”
    Their enthusiasm at full throttle now, the fifth graders really belted it out. “Da
da
, da da da daaaa …”
    The guinea pigs belted it back. “Eek
eek
, eek eek eek eeek …”
    At the front of the room, Mr. Jupiter snatched up a fossil rib unearthed during a paleontological dig in eastern Uzbekistan. Waving the bone like a conductor’s baton, he cried, “All together now!”
    On the downbeat, guinea pigs and kazoos melded into one joyous, melodious, wondrous concert.
    “Wow!” whispered Rachel when the music finally faded away.
    “Did you just say something?” asked Ham.
    “Pffft,” replied Rachel. “Just pffft.”
    “That’s what I thought you said,” said Ham.
    Rose shyly raised her hand. “Um … Mr. Jupiter, did you know Burmese spectacled guinea pigs are … um … musical?”
    “Very musical,” he replied. “They may be the most musical creatures in all of nature, able to squeak any tune, from Mozart to Motown, with perfect pitch. The incredible thing about them is that once they hear a song, they never forget it. And since Burmese spectacled guinea pigs can live longer than a hundred years, their repertoire of songs can be infinite.”
    “Like an MP3 player!” exclaimed Lenny. “Call them gPods!”
    Mr. Jupiter grinned. “Something like that.”
    Everyone crowded around the cage to take a closer look at the new class pets.
    Just then Amisha burst back into the classroom. “Why are you all standing around that cage? Ugh! Guinea pigs are so
b-o-r-i-n-g.”
    Emberly smiled. “That’s what
you
think.”
    And raising their kazoos to their lips, the fifth graders began to play …
       
MORAL: Appearances can be deceiving
.

LET IT RAIN
    ON THE WEDNESDAY AFTER Thanksgiving break, the fifth graders arrived at school to find Mr. Jupiter—
    “Gone!” gasped Missy.
    “This is a case for Emberly Everclass!” declared Emberly. He closed his latest McFardy Boys mystery, pulled out his magnifying glass, and began examining the teacher’s desk for clues.
    “Get serious,” snorted Stanford. “He’s probably just late.”
    “
You
get serious,” replied Emberly. “He’s
never
late.”
    At that moment, the door burst open and Mr. Jupiter bustled in, carrying a cardboard box. “Everyone, please take your seats,” he called out.
    The fifth graders sat.
    “Forgive my tardiness,” Mr. Jupiter continued as he dropped the box on his desk, “but I had a minor crisis at home. My fifteen-inch telescope with Cassegrain focus and thirty-six-segment primary mirror—the oneI just had installed—came crashing in through my roof this morning. Can you believe it?” He shook his head. “I had lens bits everywhere, and the eyepiece landed right on top of my collection of rare and ancient books and manuscripts. Luckily, they were unharmed.” He patted the box. “They should be safe here until the roof can be repaired.”
    The