Gooney Bird and All Her Charms by Lois Lowry Page A

across the floor and grabbed her foot.
    But none of the children quite knew how to work the skull into a story. The skull was spooky. Felicia Ann had suggested that Gooney Bird detach the skull from her bracelet but Gooney Bird thought that was not a good idea. “Someone created this bracelet,” she said, “and each thing had a special meaning to that person. It wouldn’t be fair to take anything away. We’ll figure out what the skull means. It will just take time.”
    She always removed the bracelet and kept it inside her desk during the school day because the jingling of the charms made it hard for the children to pay attention to their work. But today the day was just starting and Gooney Bird was still jingling.
    â€œDoes your announcement have to do with what we are talking about, Gooney Bird?” asked Mrs. Pidgeon.
    Gooney Bird thought for a moment. “It doesn’t have to do with lions or lambs. And it doesn’t have to do with weather. But it has to do with March, and with school, and with what we are going to study in March.”
    â€œHuman body!” shouted Tyrone.
    â€œHuman body!” called Chelsea.
    All of the second-graders joined in. “Human body! Human body!” they called.
    Mrs. Pidgeon laughed. “I don’t think you need to make an announcement, Gooney Bird,” she said. “Everyone remembers what’s on our schedule. So we’ll turn to that section in our science books right now. Page fifty-two, class.”
    All of the children began to turn the pages to the section that was called “The Human Body.” They had already completed the sections called “Weather” and “Insects” and “Engines.”
    â€œBut, Mrs. Pidgeon, I think I’d better make my announcement right away. Otherwise you won’t be prepared and it might come as a terrible surprise.”
    â€œWhat might come as a terrible surprise, Gooney Bird?” Mrs. Pidgeon asked. She had gone to the side of the room and was pulling down a large chart that had been rolled up like a window shade. The children, watching, could see two feet appear at the bottom of the chart, then the legs, until gradually the whole outlined body was there. At its top was the smiling face of a child.
    â€œYikes! I wouldn’t be smiling if my whole insides were showing!” Beanie said.
    â€œWhat’s that big yucky blobby thing?” Malcolm asked, making a face. He pointed to the middle section of the child’s body.
    â€œI think maybe he ate an enormous mushroom,” Keiko murmured. “At my parents’ grocery store we sometimes have mushrooms that look like that.”
    â€œNo, he ate a giant burger,” Barry suggested.
    â€œA Triple Whopper,” Tyrone said.
    â€œGross,” Beanie said.
    â€œBut if you ate a mushroom or a burger, it would be all chewed up. It wouldn’t be a huge blobby lump like that,” Nicholas pointed out. “It would be moosh.”
    â€œI don’t think I’m going to like ‘The Human Body,’” Felicia Ann whispered. “Not the insides, anyway.”
    â€œI really think I ought to make my announcement,” Gooney Bird said in a very loud voice. “And by the way, that big blobby thing isn’t something the guy ate. It’s his liver.”
    â€œYou’re absolutely right, Gooney Bird,” Mrs. Pidgeon said. “Good for you! Have you been studying the human body already?”
    â€œSort of. I always turn to it in our encyclopedia at home. And I’ve been thinking about it a lot because I knew we were going to be studying it in science, and because—well, this is my important announcement—”
    But she was interrupted. The intercom speaker made a sudden buzzing sound. The class looked startled. Mr. Leroy, the principal, had already done the morning announcements, and Monroe Zabriskie, a sixth-grader, had led the Pledge of