Max冬冬

Danny was in a hurry.
He had to see his friend the dinosaur.
"I'm six years old today," said Danny.
"Will you come to my birthday party?"
"I would be delighted," said the dinosaur.
Danny rode the dinosaur out of the museum.
On the way they picked up Danny's friends.
"Today I'm 100 million years and one day old," said the dinosaur.
"Then it can be your party too!" said Danny.
The children helped Danny's father hang up balloons.
"See, I can help too," said the dinosaur.
Danny's mother gave out party hats.
"How do I look?" asked the dinosaur.
"We would like to sing a song," said a boy and a girl.
They sang, and everybody clapped their hands.
"I can sing too," said the dinosaur.
He sang, and everybody covered their ears.
Let's play pin the tail on the donkey," said Danny.
The dinosaur pinned the tail on himself!
The children sat down to rest.
"Please don't put your feet on the furniture," said Danny.
The dinosaur put his feet out the window.
Danny's mother and father gave each child a dish of ice cream.
They had to give the dinosaur more!
"Here comes the birthday cake!" said the children.
The counted the candles.
"One, two, three, four, five, six."
The dinosaur started to eat the cake.
"Wait!" said Danny. "First we have to make a wish!"
"I wish we can all be together again next year," said Danny.
"I wish the same thing," said the dinosaur.
They blew out the candles.
"Happy birthday to you!" everybody sang.
"This is the best birthday party I have ever had," said Danny.
"Me too," said the dinosaur.

Chapter 6 What Do You Want to Be?

At the end of the day, Miss Daisy sat on the floor and we all sat around her. She told us to talk about what we want to be when we grow up.
“I want to be a veterinarian,” said Andrea Young.
“Does anyone know what the word veterinarian means?” asked Miss Daisy.
“That’s somebody who doesn’t eat meat,” said Michael Robinson.
“It is not!” I said. “That’s a vegetarian. A veterinarian is somebody who fought in a war.”
“That’s a veteran,” Miss Daisy said. “Andrea, would you like to tell the class what a veterinarian does?”
“A veterinarian is an animal doctor.”
That Andrea Young thinks she knows everything. But for once, I knew she was wrong.
“Animals can’t be doctors,” I said.
Everybody laughed, even though I didn’t say anything funny. Miss Daisy said a veterinarian is a doctor who takes care of animals. That made a lot more sense than that dumb thing Andrea said.
Emily was next and she said she wanted to grow up and become a nurse in a hospital.
“Why do you want to do that?” I asked. “People come into hospitals all sick and injured, their arms falling off, their guts hanging out. . . .”
“A.J.!” Miss Daisy said in her serious voice.
Emily got all upset and ran out of the room crying.
“What did I say?” I asked.
“What do you want to be when you grow up, A.J.?” Miss Daisy asked.
“I’m going to be a famous football player,” I said.
“Really? And why did you choose that field?”
“Because I love football,” I said, “and if I was a football player, I wouldn’t have to read or write or do arithmetic or go to school. My friend Billy told me that football players are really dumb.”
“Your friend told you that?” said Miss Daisy.
“Yeah, Billy is really smart. He also told me that if you dig a hole deep enough, you can dig all the way to China. And if you fall into that hole, you’d fall all the way through the Earth and pop right out the other side. And you’d be moving so fast that you’d shoot all the way into outer space.”
Michael Robinson said that sounded cool. He decided that instead of becoming a firefighter, he wanted to become one of those hole-digging astronauts.
Emily came back into the room with a tissue. Everybody else went around in a circle saying what they wanted to be. This girl named Lindsay said she wanted to be a singer. Ryan said he wanted to be a businessman like his dad.
Andrea Young said that if she couldn’t be a veterinarian, she wanted to be a teacher like Miss Daisy. Then she gave Miss Daisy a big smile.
I hate her.

Look, a puffin!
What a marvelous creature, one of a kind and amazing.
Indeed, there is nothing like a puffin.
Take, for example, this ladder.
A ladder is nothing like a puffin.
It has steps you climb up to get somewhere high.
A house is also nothing like a puffin.
A house has windows and doors.
Inside are sinks and chairs and beds.
A house is a place you can live in.
A newspaper, to be sure, is nothing like a puffin.
A newspaper is shaped like a rectangle and made out of paper.
A newspaper has pages.
It's black and white.
But wait--
a puffin is black and white, too!
What are the chances?
A newspaper is something like a puffin, after all.
A pair of jeans, of course, is nothing like a puffin.
Jeans are blue.
Jeans have pockets and two legs.
Oh, no--don't say it.
Puffins have two legs, too!
Not another thing that's something like a puffin...
Look out for the goldfish!
Of course, a goldfish is nothing like a puffin.
A goldfish has scales and fins.
A goldfish swims.
It looks like a puffin can swim, too.
A goldfish is a little bit, a tiny little bit, like a puffin.
So is a newspaper. So is a pair of jeans.
What could possibly be next?
Surely a shovel is nothing like a puffin.
A puffin isn't made out of wood and metal.
A puffin doesn't have a handle or a blade for digging.
Just a minute--a puffin uses its feet for digging.
A shovel is a little something like a puffin.
Who would have guessed?
Look here, a snake is nothing like a puffin.
A snake moves along without legs or wings.
Snakes hatch from eggs, just like birds.
Hold on a second...
A puffin is a bird!
So it must have hatched from an egg, too.
A snake is something like a puffin.
That figures.
How about that helicopter?
A helicopter doesn't have two legs.
And it can't swim.
It's made out of metal and has a propeller.
A helicopter flies.
Watch out! This puffin can fly, too.
Even a helicopter is something like a puffin!
Maybe a puffin is not so amazing after all.
Maybe a puffin is not one of a kind.
Look at this penguin.
A penguin is black and white, just like a puffin.
A penguin dives and swims.
So does a puffin.
A penguin is a bird.
So is a puffin.
A penguin has feathers and two wings, and a beak, and two feet!
There's no getting around it--
a penguin and a puffin are two of a kind.
But look--a penguin can't fly.
A penguin is more than a little like a puffin--
more than, say, a newspaper or a goldfish.
But it's not exactly like a puffin.
So it's true!
It's true, after all!
There's nothing like a puffin!

Mr. Gumpy owned a boat and his house was by a river.
One day Mr. Gumpy went out in his boat.
"May we come with you?" said the children.
"Yes," said Mr. Gumpy, "if you don't squabble."
"Can I come along, Mr. Gumpy?" said the rabbit.
"Yes, but don't hop about."
"I'd like a ride," said the cat.
"Very well," said Mr. Gumpy.
"But you're not to chase the rabbit."
"Will you take me with you?" said the dog.
"Yes," said Mr. Gumpy. "But don't tease the cat."
"May I come, please, Mr. Gumpy?" said the pig.
"Very well, but don't muck about."
"Have you a place for me?" said the sheep.
"Yes, but don't keep bleating."
"Can we come too?" said the chickens.
"Yes, but don't flap," said Mr. Gumpy.
"Can you make room for me?" said the calf.
"Yes, if you don't trample about."
"May I join you, Mr. Gumpy?" said the goat.
"Very well, but don't kick."
For a little while they all went along happily but then...
The goat kicked
The calf trampled
The chickens flapped
The sheep bleated
The pig mucked about
The dog teased the cat
The cat chased the rabbit
The rabbit hopped
The children squabbled
The boat tipped...
and into the water they fell.
Then Mr. Gumpy and the goat and the calf and the chickens and the sheep and the pig and the chickens and the sheep and the pig and the dog and the cat and the rabbit and the children all swam to the bank and climbed out to dry in the hot sun.
"We'll walk home across the fields," said Mr. Gumpy. "It's time for tea."
"Goodbye," said Mr. Gumpy.
"Come for a ride another day."

"Is your mama a llama?" I asked my friend Dave.
"No, she is not," is the answer Dave gave.
"She hangs by her feet, and she lives in a cave.
I don't believe that's how llamas behave. "
"Oh," I said, "You are right about that.
I think your mama sounds more like a...
"Bat!"
"Is your mama a llama?" I asked my friend Fred.
"No, she is not," is what Freddy said.
"She has a long neck and white feathers and wings.
I don't think a llama has all of those things."
"Oh," I said, "You don't have to go on.
I think your mama must be a...
"Swan!"
"Is your mama a llama?" I asked my friend Jane.
"No, she is not," Jane politely explained.
"She grazes on grass, and she likes to say 'Moo!'
I don't think that is what a llama would do."
"Oh," I said, "I understand, now.
I think your mama must be a...
"Cow!"
"Is your mama a llama?" I asked my friend Clyde.
"No, she is not," is how Clyde replied.
"She's got flippers and whiskers and eats fish all day...
I don't think llamas act quite in that way."
"Oh," I said, "I'm beginning to feel
that your mama must really be a...
"Seal!"
"Is your mama a llama?" I asked my friend Rhonda.
"No, she is not," is how Rhonda responded.
"She's got big hind legs and a pocket for me...
So I don't think a llama is what she could be."
"Oh," I said, "That is certainly true.
I think your mama's a...
"Kangaroo!"
"Is your mama a llama?" I asked my friend Llyn.
"Oh, Lloyd, don't be silly!" Llyn said with a grin.
"My mama has big ears, long lashes, and fur...
And you, of all people, should know about her!"
"Our mamas belong to the same herd, and you,
know all about llamas, 'cause you are one, too!"
"Yes, you are right," I said to my friend.
"My mama's a...
"Llama!"
And this is...
THE END.

There are moose tracks on my back porch.
I'm not sure how they got there.
One thing I'm fairly certain of--
last night those tracks were NOT there.
There is bear hair on my lawn chair,
but a bear came by to eat.
When we barbecued our supper,
he shed hair there on the seat.
Bear hair, I remember.
But who left all these moose tracks?
There are moose tracks in my kitchen,
and I'm itchin' to know why!
Some friends dropped over yesterday,
but not one moose stopped by.
There are nut shells on the counter,
but a chipmunk left them there.
He was making nut fudge sundaes,
for the two of us to share.
Nut shells, I remember.
But who left all these moose tracks?
There are moose tracks on the den floor.
How they got there, I can't say.
Last night there were no moose tracks,
and they're everywhere today!
There are feathers on my carpet,
but my best pal is a goose.
We were playing hokey-pokey,
and her feathers fluttered loose.
Feathers, I remember.
But who left all these moose tracks?
There are moose tracks in my bathroom.
It's an all-out mystery!
If I only knew who left them,
he could mop them up for me.
There are mouse prints in my bathtub,
but my maid, she is a mouse.
And she's always leaving wee prints when she tidies up my house.
Mouse prints, I remember.
But who left all these moose tracks?
There are moose tracks in my bedroom.
They are spattered all around.
Noisy moose feet should have clattered,
but I never heard a sound!
There are wood chips in my guest bed,
but a beaver spent the night.
He got the hungry, and the bedpost looked so good, he took a bite.
Wood chips, I remember.
But who left all these moose tracks?
There are moose tracks on my back porch,
in my kitchen and my den,
in my bathroom and my bedroom--
moose tracks everywhere I've been!
Who on earth left all these moose tracks?
I'm quite sure I'll never guess.
Why, look at me--I AM a moose and I don't make a mess!

We all rushed inside after recess and asked Miss Daisy how much it would cost to buy the school.
“Gee, I don’t know,” said Miss Daisy, who didn’t seem to know much of anything. “Why do you want to buy the school?”
“We want to turn it into a video-game arcade,” I told her.
“What a great idea!” She beamed. “I love video games. There are so many schools and so few video-game arcades. It makes perfect sense to turn some of those schools into video-game arcades.
I’ll arrange a meeting with Mr. Klutz tomorrow so we can ask him if we can buy the school. But right now, we have to go to Mrs. Cooney’s office.”
Mrs. Cooney’s office is down the hall from our class. She says she’s the school nurse, but personally I think she’s a spy. I’ll tell you why. There’s this big poster on her wall that says this:
I tried to read it, and it didn’t make any sense at all. Even Andrea Young didn’t know how to read the poster, and she knows everything. I think Mrs. Cooney has created a secret code, and she’s using the poster to send mystery spy messages. I will have to keep an eye on her.
When we walked into Mrs. Cooney’s office, she had us all line up in size order. I was one of the shortest kids, so I had to stand in the front of the line. Then Mrs. Cooney told us to take off our shoes. At first I thought she didn’t want us to track mud all over her office. But then she told us that she was going to weigh and measure us. Obviously she is trying to gather information about us, because that is what spies do.
My friend Billy says that the heavier you are, the smarter you are, because heavy people have bigger brains. But I think Billy just says that because he is overweight. I weighed fifty-two pounds.
Mrs. Cooney showed us this awesome ruler she has. It is made of metal and stretches out six feet long. When she presses a button, the whole thing shoots into her hand and disappears like magic. That is cool! I’ll bet she has lots of other spy tools too.
She wouldn’t let us play with her magic ruler, but Mrs. Cooney ran around measuring everything. She showed us that the bench we were sitting on was seventeen inches high. The door to her office was thirty inches across. And her foot was twelve inches long.
“Hey, my foot is a foot!” Mrs. Cooney exclaimed.
“Aren’t all feet feet?” I asked.
“Some feet are less than a foot, and some feet are more than a foot,” she replied. “But my foot is exactly a foot.”
I had no idea what she was talking about.
Mrs. Cooney wrapped the measuring tape around her forehead and announced, “Look! My head is almost two feet in circumference!”
I knew that circumference was the distance all the way around a circle and diameter was the distance through the middle of a circle.
“What’s the diameter of your head, Mrs. Cooney?” I asked. Everybody laughed, even though I didn’t say anything funny.
“That would be hard to measure. But isn’t measuring things fun?” Mrs. Cooney asked. “I wonder how much the scale weighs.”
Mrs. Cooney started to measure and weigh more things, but Miss Daisy said we had to go back to class.

Chip had a new book.
It was about a princess who couldn't laugh.
Nobody could make her laugh.
Chip had an idea.
"Try and make me laugh," he said.
Biff made a funny face, but she couldn't make Chip laugh.
Biff put on a funny wig.
She told a funny joke, but she still couldn't make Chip laugh.
"It's no good," she said.
Kipper had some joke teeth.
The joke teeth were new.
The teeth went click, click, click.
Everyone laughed and laughed.
The magic key began to glow.
The children ran into Biff's room.
The magic took them on a new adventure.
The children were in a village.
They saw a notice on a tree.
It was about a princess who couldn't laugh.
Kipper had an idea. He still had the joke teeth.
"I can make the princess laugh," he said.
The king was in the village. A girl told him a joke.
"That's not funny, " said the king. "That won't make the princess laugh."
"Who's next?" called the king.
"I am," said a man.
"Oh, no!" groaned the king. "Not another chicken!"
The children went to the king.
"We can make the princess laugh," said Biff.
"How?" asked the king.
The teeth went click, click, click.
Everyone laughed and laughed.
"That will make the princess laugh," said the king.
Kipper dropped the teeth.
A dog caught them and ran off with them in its mouth.
"Stop that dog!" shouted the king. "Stop that dog and get the teeth."
Everyone ran after the dog.
"Get the teeth!" shouted the king.
The dog was too fast. Nobody could catch it.
"Stop that dog!" shouted the king.
The dog ran this way and that.
People tried to grab it. But it was too fast.
"Get the teeth!" shouted Kipper.
The king ran after the dog. Everyone ran after the king.
The king fell over.
The dog saw a bone and it stopped.
Kipper grabbed the dog and the dog dropped the teeth.
Kipper picked up the joke teeth.
Everyone looked at them. The teeth were broken.
"Oh no!" said the king.
The king put the teeth on a cushion.
"What a pity!" the king said. "Now they won't make the princess laugh."
The princess heard the noise.
She looked out of a window.
She saw the king and she started to laugh.
The king had mud on his clothes.
He had the teeth on the cushion.
He looked so funny that the princess laughed and laughed.
The king looked at the princess.
"I've made the princess laugh," he said.
Everyone laughed and cheered.
The magic key began to glow.
The magic took the children home.
But nobody saw the children go. Everyone was laughing.
"What made the princess laugh?" asked Kipper.
"I don't know," said Chip, "but people laugh at silly things."

Chapter 5 The Most Genius Idea!

After lunch we had recess, which means we get to go out in the playground and run around. Miss Daisy said we needed to burn off energy.
“Now this is more my style,” I announced when we got outside. I made a beeline for the monkey bars. Then me and some other kids hit the swings.
After that all the boys had a contest to see who could spin around in circles the longest without throwing up. Michael Robinson won. Then we all sat down on the grass.
Even though Miss Daisy was pretty cool, we all agreed that we hated school. We made a promise to one another that we would hate school for- ever, even if we changed our minds and decided that we liked school.
That’s when Ryan came up with the most genius idea in the history of the world.
This was his idea: We should buy the school.
Ryan told us that his father worked for this big company and that once his father’s company bought some other company just like you would go into a store and buy a candy bar. Ryan said it happens all the time. He said he didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t buy the school just like that.
“If we bought the school, what would we do with it?” Michael Robinson asked.
“We could do anything we want with it. We’d own it.”
“Could we turn it into a video-game arcade?” I asked.
“Sure, why not? Instead of teaching reading and writing and arithmetic, we could teach kids how to play video games.”
“And we could ride skateboards in the hallways?” asked Michael Robinson.
“Sure we could,” Ryan said, “if we owned it.”
I got all excited, because if there’s one thing that I like to do almost as much as playing football, it’s playing video games. Oh, and riding skateboards. I started emptying out my pockets. I had a nickel, three pennies, and a LifeSaver. The other boys emptied their pockets too. We separated all the pennies, nickels, and dimes into little piles. Then we added up all the money. We had one dollar and thirty-two cents.
“Wow!” Michael Robinson said. “That’s a lot of money!”
“I don’t think it’s enough to buy a school,” said Ryan, who knew a thing or two about financial matters because his father worked for this big company.
“Well, how much do you need to buy a school?” I asked.
“Beats me,” said Ryan. “We’d better ask Miss Daisy.”

One day I was walking home from my best friend's house.
I heard a strange little noise in the bushes.
I looked. It was a little doggy.
He was very friendly. He didn't have a collar.
He followed me home. What could I do?
"You have to take him back. We have too many pets," said Mom.
"He is lost and doesn't have a home." I pleaded.
Mom let me tie him up in the backyard until Dad got home.
Our kitty did not like him. She hissed.
Our dog did not like him. He barked.
The little doggy was scared.
I gave him a bath. He liked that.
I took him to my room so he would be comfortable.
Little Sister saw him.
She said, "I'm gonna tell."
I had to give her a dollar just to keep her quiet.
Mom heard him bark. I had to take him back outside.
He looked so sad. I kept him company.
Little Sister wouldn't give me my dollar back. Bummer!
Dad came home and said, "He can stay here until we find his owner. "
"What if we can't find his owner?" I asked. "Can I keep him?"
Mom said,"Let's worry about that later."
We made a bed in our garage, but the doggy barked.
He was lonely. He was sad.
I took my bath. I could hear the doggy cry.
Dad read a bedtime story for me.
We could hear the doggy whine.He was scared.
I tried to sleep, but I could still hear the doggy.
Finally, I fell asleep.
The next morning I went out to the garage to check on the doggy.
Oh, no!! The doggy was gone.
He had escaped through a crack in the garage door.
I called and called. "Here, doggy! Here, doggy!"
But no doggy.
I asked my dog and kitty, "Do you know where the doggy is?"
They were no help at all.
I ran next door and asked, "Mrs. Phino, have you seen a little doggy in your yard?"
"No, I haven't. But somebody pulled all my clean sheets off the line."
I ran over to Mr. Bovine's house.
"Have you seen a little doggy in your yard?" I asked.
"No, I haven't. But somebody dug up my garden."
I saw Mr. E. LePhant in his front yard.
"Mr. LePhant, have you seen a little doggy in your yard?" I asked.
"No, I haven't. But somebody chewed up my hose."
We looked everywhere. No doggy.
I walked by the garage and heard a bark. I ran inside. The doggy was back.
But he was a she, and she was a mama. She had four little puppies.
I called everybody. "Oops! We have more doggies."
Just then a car drove up.
Out stepped a little girl and her mom.
"Have you seen a little lost dog?" the girl asked.
The girl was so happy. "It is my dog," she said. "And I even have puppies, too!"
I was not happy.
The girl asked, "Would you like to have a puppy after they get a little bigger?"
I asked Mom and Dad if I could.
Mom and Dad said, "Yes, just one more pet!"