Princess Posey and the First-Grade Boys Read online

  Enjoy all of the

  Princess Posey, First Grader books

  1

  Princess Posey and the First Grade Parade

  2

  Princess Posey and the Perfect Present

  3

  Princess Posey and the Next-Door Dog

  4

  Princess Posey and the Monster Stew

  5

  Princess Posey and the Tiny Treasure

  6

  Princess Posey and the New First Grader

  7

  Princess Posey and the Christmas Magic

  8

  Princess Posey and the First Grade Boys

  G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) LLC

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, NY 10014

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  A Penguin Random House Company

  Text copyright © 2014 by Stephanie Greene.

  Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Stephanie Roth Sisson.

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Greene, Stephanie.

  Princess Posey and the first grade boys / Stephanie Greene ; illustrated by Stephanie Roth Sisson.

  pages cm

  Summary: “Posey gets in trouble when she makes up a not-so-nice song about one of the boys in her class”—Provided by publisher.

  [1. Teasing—Fiction. 2. Behavior—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction.] I. Sisson, Stephanie Roth, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.G8434Pnr 2014

  [E]—dc23

  2013020941

  ISBN 978-0-698-15838-2

  Decorative graphics and design by Marikka Tamura.

  Version_1

  CONTENTS

  1 First Grade Boys Are So Annoying

  2 Danny and His Sticks

  3 “Posey’s Cool”

  4 The Noise Monsters

  5 A Silly Song

  6 Mean Miss Lee

  7 Not the Posey I Know

  8 “My Stomach Hurts”

  9 “You’ll Make Him Feel Bad!”

  10 A Rock with Real Diamonds

  For Jane

  —S.G.

  To Brian Getz,

  Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter School’s gentle and wise principal.

  —S.R.S.

  First Grade Boys Are So

  Annoying

  It was writing time.

  “Last week, we put words about nature on the Word Wall,” Miss Lee told the class. “Today, I want you to use as many of them as you can in a story.”

  Posey loved to write stories. Today she would write one about a garden and put a beautiful fairy in it.

  The room got quiet.

  Then they all heard a rude noise.

  “Miss Lee,” someone said. “It’s Robert again.”

  “What do you say, Robert?” said Miss Lee.

  “Excuse me,” Robert said.

  The boys laughed.

  The girls held their noses and made faces.

  “We’re breathing poison air,” Posey whispered.

  Grace slapped her hands over her mouth and nose. Posey did, too.

  Luca burped and fell off his chair.

  “All right, class,” Miss Lee called. “Calm down.”

  They always got silly when someone made a rude noise. It was hard to calm down.

  “Posey and Grace? That’s not necessary.” Miss Lee sighed. “Luca, get back in your chair, please.”

  Some of the boys were still laughing.

  “That’s enough.” Miss Lee’s voice meant business.

  The room got quiet again.

  Posey looked at Ava, Nikki, and Grace. They made disgusted faces at one another.

  First grade boys were so annoying!

  Danny and His Sticks

  After school, Posey’s mom went to the dentist. Mrs. Romero came over to sit with Posey and Danny.

  Posey did her homework at the table in the backyard. Danny pushed his truck over the grass.

  First, he filled his truck with sticks. Then, he dumped them all out.

  Then, he put them back in again, one at a time.

  “It seems like a lot of work,” said Mrs. Romero.

  “Danny loves sticks,” Posey said. “That’s all he does, all day long.”

  She finished her work and put her paper in her backpack.

  “Do you want to see how good I am at hopping?” she asked.

  She hopped to the garage on one foot. She hopped back on her other foot.

  “You’re an excellent hopper,” said Mrs. Romero.

  Posey hopped around the sandbox.

  “You’re happy today,” Mrs. Romero said. “How was school?”

  “Good. But the boys were so annoying.”

  Posey told her about Robert. “Luca always burps and falls off his chair,” she said.

  “It’s hard for some little boys to sit still,” said Mrs. Romero.

  “Miss Lee calls them jumping beans.”

  “I’m sure some of them are nice.” Mrs. Romero smiled. “You might even have one as a friend someday.”

  “Not on your life!” said Posey. She sounded the way Gramps did when he said it.

  Mrs. Romero laughed.

  “Posey’s Cool”

  “Hey, Posey! Come here for a minute,” someone yelled.

  It was Tyler. He and Nick lived next door.

  Tyler was in fourth grade. Nick was in second. They hardly ever asked Posey to come over.

  “Can I?” Posey asked.

  “Sure,” said Mrs. Romero.

  Posey ran across the driveway. Nick was sitting on their front steps. He had on a red hat.

  Tyler was bouncing a basketball on the front walk.

  “I want Nick to play, but he won’t even talk to me,” Tyler said.

  “Why not?” said Posey.

  “He won’t talk to anyone,” said Tyler. “Go on. Say something to him.”

  “Hi, Nick,” Posey said.

  Nick didn’t say anything.

  “Ask him what day it is,” Tyler said.

  “What day is it?” Posey asked.

  Nick didn’t answer.

  “I told you. He’s weird.” Tyler bounced the ball off the step near Nick’s foot.

  “Why won’t he talk?” said Posey.

  “He and his friend made up a new game,” Tyler said. “The one who wears the red hat can’t talk. The one who wears the green hat can. Ask him.”

  “What game are you playing?” said Posey.

  Nick still didn’t answer.

  “Tell him he’s a weirdo,” said Tyler.

  “You’re a weirdo, Nick.”

  “See? Posey’s cool.” Tyler held up his hand. “Slap me five.”

  Posey slapped Tyler’s hand. He dribbled the ball down the walk and through the front gate.

  Posey was so prou
d. Tyler said she was cool!

  She hopped all the way back to her own yard.

  The Noise Monsters

  The next morning, Miss Lee greeted Posey at the door to her classroom.

  “I moved everyone around,” Miss Lee said. “You need to find your name tag.”

  Miss Lee changed their seats every month. That way, they got to know everyone in the class.

  Posey found her name at a table with Henry.

  Henry was smart. He used big words. He bragged about his dad, who was a scientist.

  A row of rocks was lined up on their table in front of him.

  “You have to put your treasures in your cubby,” Posey told him.

  “They’re not treasures. They’re for a science experiment,” said Henry.

  “They’re just dirty rocks.”

  “You will never be a scientist,” Henry said.

  “I will, too, if I want, Henry!” Posey said.

  “Settle down, everyone,” Miss Lee called. “It’s time to do math problems.”

  She stopped at every table and put a piece of paper in front of each child.

  When she got to Posey’s table, Miss Lee told Henry to put his rocks in his cubby.

  “I want you to take your time with these problems,” Miss Lee told the class. “Some of you rushed last week and made mistakes.”

  Posey had made two mistakes. Today she wanted to get them all right. She wanted Miss Lee to say, “Great job!”

  The first two problems were easy. The next problem was subtraction.

  Subtraction was hard.

  Posey started to count on her fingers. Then she stopped.

  “Miss Lee,” Posey said. “Henry’s humming.”

  “Shhh, Henry.” Miss Lee held her finger to her lips.

  “I like to hum. It helps me with my work,” Henry said.

  Miss Lee came over to their table. “It disturbs the other children,” she told him.

  “Fine.” Henry put down his pencil. “I’m already finished.”

  “You are?” Miss Lee sounded surprised. She looked at Henry’s paper. “Great job!” she said quietly.

  Posey frowned.

  “At home I do third grade math with my father,” Henry said.

  “Be quiet!” said Posey.

  “Posey . . . ?” Miss Lee said.

  Posey went back to work. No fair! Henry was the one who was humming.

  At recess, Posey said, “That Henry makes me so mad. He thinks he knows everything.”

  Posey, Ava, Nikki, and Grace had their arms around one another. It was fun to walk that way. They could tell secrets and no one could hear.

  “I wish he wasn’t at my table,” Posey said.

  “Nate’s at my table,” said Nikki. “He taps his pencil all day long.”

  The boys in their class were playing tag. They shouted and ran around. They pulled one another’s jackets and rolled on the ground.

  “Boys are so noisy,” said Grace.

  Luca ran up to them and stuck out his tongue. “Na-nah, boo-boo, you can’t catch me!” he shouted.

  “We could if we wanted, Luca!” Posey shouted back.

  “Slowpokes! Slowpokes!” the other boys yelled.

  “You’re pains in the neck! You’re pains in the neck!” Ava shouted.

  “Boys make me so mad!” Posey said. “Come on! We have to get away from the noise monsters!”

  A Silly Song

  The girls ran across the playground. They passed Henry. He was kneeling near the fence.

  “Watch out! It’s the rock monster!” Posey screamed.

  Nikki, Ava, and Grace screamed, too. It was so exciting to pretend. It felt like they were running away from real monsters.

  They didn’t stop until they got to the swings.

  “My heart feels like it’s going to jump out of my body,” Nikki panted.

  “I never ran so fast in my whole life,” said Ava.

  “Why does Henry like rocks so much?” Grace asked.

  “Because he’s weird.” Posey remembered what Tyler had said. “He’s a weirdo.”

  Her friends giggled.

  “Henry is a weirdo,” Posey said. “He has a beard-o.”

  “Boys can’t have beards,” Nikki said.

  “My uncle has a bushy beard that goes up to his ears.” Ava giggled.

  “Henry’s goes down to his belly button!” Posey said.

  “Posey!” Grace cried.

  Nikki and Ava laughed so hard.

  “Henry is a weirdo. He has a beard-o,” Posey sang. She swung her arms. She stamped her feet. “Come on. Let’s do a parade!”

  Ava and Nikki and Grace joined her.

  “Henry is a weirdo. He has a beard-o,” they all sang. The words felt so silly. The more they sang, the sillier it felt.

  “Henry is a weirdo,” they sang as loud as they could. “He has a—”

  “Stop that this minute!” called a sharp voice.

  Mean Miss Lee

  The parade stopped.

  It was Miss Lee. She looked angry.

  “What do you think you are doing?” she asked.

  Posey looked at the ground. They had been having so much fun. Now she felt embarrassed.

  There was a silence.

  “Well? I’m waiting,” Miss Lee said.

  “Posey started it,” Grace said in a small voice.

  “She made up a song,” Ava whispered.

  “Posey, is that true?”

  Miss Lee’s voice was cold. Posey didn’t know where to look. She didn’t know how to stand. She pinched the edge of her skirt and held on tight.

  “Posey . . . ?”

  Posey didn’t want to look Miss Lee in the eye. Miss Lee’s face scared her.

  “Look at me, please,” Miss Lee said.

  Posey squinted her eyes when she looked up so Miss Lee wouldn’t know how she felt.

  “What were you thinking?” Miss Lee said.

  Posey’s mouth felt stiff. “It was a game,” she said.

  “Do you think Henry enjoyed your game?”

  Posey looked at Henry. He was watching them. His arms hung at his sides.

  Posey looked back at the ground.

  “I’m disappointed in you,” said Miss Lee. “It’s not a game when you gang up on someone and call them names. It’s being a bully.”

  Posey’s eyes opened wide.

  Posey, a bully? How could Miss Lee say that? Bullies were bad. Posey was a nice girl.

  “You hurt Henry’s feelings,” Miss Lee said. “You will have to work this out with him.”

  Posey didn’t want to work out anything.

  She wasn’t a bully. Miss Lee was mean.

  “You’re good at working things out, and I’m sure you’re sorry,” said Miss Lee.

  Posey wasn’t sorry.

  She was mad.

  Miss Lee was mean to call her a bully. She was mean to make them feel bad about their fun game, too.

  Posey would never like Miss Lee again.

  Not the Posey I Know

  Posey didn’t tell Gramps about it when he picked her up after school. She wasn’t going to tell her mom, either.

  But when her mom came home, she already knew. She came up the stairs and stopped in Posey’s doorway.

  Posey usually put on her pink tutu after school. Today, she had spread it out in a circle on her bed. Her stuffed animals were sitting around the edge. She was curled up tight in the middle.

  “Posey, sit up, please,” her mom said.

  Posey sat up. She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “I got an e-mail from Miss Lee this afternoon,” said her mom. “What she told me didn’t sound like the Posey I know.”

  “Mi
ss Lee’s mean.” Posey stuck out her lower lip.

  “No, Miss Lee is concerned.” Her mom sat on the edge of the bed. “She knows you’re a nice girl. But you ganged up on another child and hurt his feelings.”

  “We were playing a fun game,” Posey said.

  “It might have been fun for you. It wasn’t for Henry,” her mom said. “You know it’s not nice to call people names.”

  “Tyler did. He called Nick a weirdo.”

  “I don’t know about Tyler and Nick. But that’s not a nice thing to call someone,” her mom said. “Especially when a group does it. Imagine how Henry felt.”

  Posey didn’t want to imagine about Henry.

  “I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. But you know in your heart that what you did wasn’t kind.”

  “No, I don’t,” Posey said stubbornly.

  “Then you need to think about it some more.”

  Her mom went downstairs. Posey curled into a ball again. She held Roger the giraffe tight against her and squeezed her eyes shut.

  Her mom didn’t care that Miss Lee hurt Posey’s feelings when she called her a bully.

  No one did.

  They all just cared about Henry.

  Posey didn’t feel sorry for him.

  She only felt sorry for herself.

  “My Stomach Hurts”

  “Posey, breakfast!” her mom called the next morning.

  Posey went down to the kitchen.

  “Why aren’t you dressed?” her mom said when she saw Posey’s pajamas.

  “My stomach hurts.”

  “Go back up and get dressed.” Her mom put a bowl on the tray of Danny’s high chair. She opened the refrigerator door. “You’ll feel better after you eat.”