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

students watched as Mr. Jupiter pushed back the box’s flaps and pulled out leather-bound volumes trimmed in gold, medieval illuminated manuscripts, clay tablets covered with cuneiform writing, and fragile papyrus scrolls.
    Sweeping aside the class copies of
Cooking with Pooh Without Making a Piglet of Yourself
, Mr. Jupiter carefully arranged his collection in its new place on the shelf. Then he wiped his hands on his lederhosen—the pair he had bought during his goat-herding seminar in the Alps—and turned to face the class.
    “Do not touch these,” he said.
    In the back row, Ham felt a sudden urge to unroll scrolls, touch cuneiform markings, run his finger along exotic spines.
    “Not only are they rare and valuable,” continued Mr. Jupiter with reverence, “but they contain thesecrets of the ancient world—knowledge you are not yet old enough to comprehend.”
    In the back row, Ham longed to peek between the fine leather covers.
    “So, fifth graders,” concluded Mr. Jupiter with a slight smile, “hands off.”
    In the back row, Ham shivered with excitement. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on the collection.
    His chance came at lunchtime.
    Cook had already heaped Ham’s tray with seven-layer cranberry loaf (she was still getting rid of last week’s leftovers) when he slapped his forehead. “I left my lunch pass in my desk!” he cried.
    Cook snatched back her food. “Go get it,” she said. “But be quick about it. Cranberry loaf is a dish best served hot.”
    Ham hurried back to the now-empty classroom. He rummaged around in his desk, pulled out his pass, and …
    MR. JUPITER’S COLLECTION!
    For the first time in his life, literature pushed lunch right out of Ham’s head. He moved toward the shelf. Glancing furtively around, he pulled down avolume. It was thick and heavy and its centuries-old cover smelled of dust and secrets. Ham peered at the book’s title, written in faded gold leaf:
    The Babylonian Book of Babble: An Ancient Primer
.
    It opened with a creak.
    On page four Ham found a chart labeled “Pyramids and Ziggurats Made Easy.”
    On page seventy-six he found instructions titled “How to Weed Your Hanging Gardens.”
    And on page one thousand and three he found an illuminated engraving of a thunderstorm, complete with black clouds, flashing lightning, floods, and hail. Beneath the engraving were the words
Yawa og niar niar
.
    I wonder what that’s about?
thought Ham. He muttered the words aloud to himself.
“Yawa og niar niar.”
    A wispy gray rain cloud suddenly appeared above his head.
    Drip-drop.
    The cloud squeezed out a thimbleful of water, then—
    Poof!
    It dissipated.
    “No way!” gasped Ham, wiping the trickle of rainwater from his cheek.
    Then he said the words again.
“Yawa og niar niar.”
    This time a slightly bigger, slightly darker cloud appeared. Ham pointed to the Venus flytrap sitting on the windowsill.
    The cloud obeyed.
    It glided across the room, stopped above the plant, and …
    Dribble-dribble-pitter-plop!
     … produced a light drizzle.
    The Venus flytrap snapped angrily at the raindrops.
    Poof!
    The second cloud dissipated just like the first.
    Ham let the truth sink in. Then—
    “I’ve got the power!” he sang at the top of his voice. He danced around and punched the air. “The power … the power … whooo … whooo.… whooo!”
    In their cage, the Burmese spectacled guinea pigs sang back in perfect harmony. “Eeeek.… eeeek.… eeeek!”
    “I can’t wait to show Humphrey!” exclaimed Ham. Without bothering to read the rest of the page, he slidthe book back onto the shelf and bolted for the lunchroom.
    But in the doorway, he skittered to a stop.
    Mrs. Bunz was on a rampage.
    “Who put their leftover soup in the recycling bin?” the lunchroom monitor bellowed into her bullhorn. Plucking out the offending bowl, she held it high for everyone to see, then poured it into a bucket of slop at her feet. “Who’s responsible for this