Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion by Suzy Kline Page B

Harry might just pull it off.
    â€œI’ll start,” Miss Mackle said. “Ant ifreeze; I had to put some in my car this morning.”
    â€œAntarctica and Atlantic,” Mary said, looking at the globe.
    â€œGood, any others?” the teacher asked.
    â€œAnt ipasto,” Mr. Cardini, the principal, said as he showed up at the door.
    Everyone laughed.
    â€œMy mother makes the best antipasto in the world—salami, cheese, black olives, mmm.... Just stopped in to visit the ants,” he said, sitting down at the science table.
    Miss Mackle continued the lesson.
    â€œEleph ant and panther,” I said, thinking about animals in the zoo.
    Harry held up Jack and the Bean-stalk. “Giant ! ”
    Miss Mackle wrote the new words on the board.
    â€œFancy,” Ida said.
    â€œNice try, but that doesn’t have a t in it,” Miss Mackle said.
    â€œRanch?” Sidney asked.
    â€œThat is a c-h word.”
    Our class seemed to be stuck.
    Then Mr. Cardini saw two ants kissing and he stood up. “I’ve got one—rom antic ! ”
    Everyone groaned as he waltzed out of the room.
    â€œI’ve got the best ant word,” Harry said. Then he pointed to the December calendar. “S ant a!”
    Everyone cheered and clapped.
    Then Harry stood up like he had the biggest idea in the world. “Why don’t we draw pictures of ants carrying these words? We could make them go up the stairway and invade the second floor!”
    Invasions, I thought. Harry loved them.
    Miss Mackle looked at the long list of ant words on the board.
    â€œLet’s do it!” she said.
    Everyone took out their crayons and scissors as the teacher passed out brown paper.
    â€œI’m making a black ant to carry my word, p ant her,” I said.
    â€œI’m making a HUGE ant to carry my word, gi ant ,” Harry said.
    â€œI’m making a big red heart next to my ant,” Mary replied.
    Everyone knew what ant word Mary was doing. Rom ant ic.
    When all the ants were drawn and cut, and the words were neatly printed above, the class lined up in the hall.
    Miss Mackle walked us to the stair-well. “Let’s hope we have enough to make it to the top!”
    â€œWe will!” Harry called out. Then he whispered to me. “We have to. She’ll be in such a good mood, she’ll give me another chance to be Ant Monitor.
    We started taping the ants at the bottom of the wall near the stairs and made a trail going up and down and around the stairway.

    When we got to the top, we were one word short.
    Everyone sat down on the stairs.
    â€œI knew we couldn’t do it,” Sidney complained.
    â€œWell,” Miss Mackle replied, “maybe tomorrow.”
    Harry made a face. Then he reached in his back pocket and pulled out three baseball cards. “The Yankees! They won the pennant this year.”
    â€œAN ANT WORD!” everyone shouted.
    Miss Mackle clapped her hands. “Bravo, Harry! You can make the word today and put it up. We reached the second floor thanks to ...”—and she looked at Harry’s baseball cards—“some distractions!”
    Harry beamed at his teacher. “If I promise to follow your directions in science, will you give me another chance to be Ant Monitor?”
    Miss Mackle put her hand on Harry’s shoulder and smiled. “All right, Harry. I don’t see why you c an’t .”
    Harry was horribly happy.

Horrible Harry and the Square Dance

    Miss Mackle stood in front of the room. “This Friday we are going to have a square dance.”
    All the boys groaned.
    Except Harry.
    I knew what Harry was thinking. He wanted to dance with Song Lee.
    Harry has had a crush on Song Lee since the day that she brought in a potato beetle for show-and-tell.
    She didn’t say anything but she passed a box around with a small striped bug in it.
    Harry looked at the bug, then at Song Lee.
    It was true love.
    Friday afternoon,