Karen's Prize Read online

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Stephanie Calmenson

  for her help

  with this book.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 The Spelling Bee

  2 Mommy’s House, Daddy’s House

  3 The Best Speller

  4 “I Won! I Won!”

  5 Sore Winner

  6 The Bee Queen

  7 “Thank You for This Award!”

  8 Television!

  9 P-E-S-T

  10 Karen Brewer, Star

  11 The Front Page

  12 A Party for Karen

  13 The Fight

  14 The Two Musketeers

  15 The County Contest

  16 Contests

  17 The Big State Contest

  18 “And the Winner Is …”

  19 Consolation Prize

  20 Winner, After All

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  The Spelling Bee

  “Last one to her seat is a rotten egg!” I called.

  I am Karen Brewer. I am seven years old and in second grade at Stoneybrook Academy. I was racing with Nancy and Hannie, my best friends. We are in the same class at school. We call ourselves the Three Musketeers.

  I reached my seat first.

  “I won!” I shouted.

  “Indoor voice, please,” said my teacher, Ms. Colman.

  Ms. Colman is wonderful. If you have a question, she answers it without making you feel dumb. She never yells. And even if she scolds you sometimes, like now, you know she still likes you.

  Ms. Colman has to remind me to use my indoor voice a lot. That is because I forget a lot. I was about to forget one more time.

  After attendance, Ms. Colman said, “Today is Wednesday. Next Monday, we will have a spelling bee in class.”

  That is when I shouted again. “Hurray!”

  Ms. Colman was not pleased. “Indoor voice, Karen. And please don’t interrupt.”

  I could hardly wait to hear about the spelling bee, so I made believe I was buttoning my lips. Ms. Colman smiled.

  “This is going to be a very special spelling bee,” continued Ms. Colman. “It will be the first of many spelling bees in the next few weeks. Whoever wins the spelling bee in our class will go on to compete with other winners in grades one, two, and three. The winners of those contests will face the winners in other schools in Stoneybrook. Then there will be another contest for the best spellers in each county, and finally those winners will go on to a contest at our state capital. The winner of that contest will be declared the best junior speller in the whole state of Connecticut.”

  I hoped Ms. Colman was finished, because I could not keep quiet one single minute longer.

  “Wow!” I burst out. I was not the only one talking now. The whole room was buzzing — like bees!

  All I could think about the rest of the morning was the spelling bee. I am a great speller and I love contests.

  When recess came I pulled my hopscotch stone out of my desk and headed for the playground with Hannie and Nancy.

  It was my turn to go first. I threw the stone. It landed on the third square. “H-O-P!” I spelled, as I hopped across the squares.

  “Aren’t you excited about the spelling bee?” I asked when I finished.

  “It will be fun,” said Hannie, throwing the stone.

  “We’re all good spellers,” said Nancy.

  “What do you mean, good? We’re grrreat!” I shouted. (At recess I am allowed to use my outdoor voice.)

  We were pretty excited. So were most of the other kids. Except for Pamela Harding. But that was no surprise. She does not like much of anything. I found that out when I invited her to my sleepover. She would not sleep in a sleeping bag (she said she has to sleep in a bed). She would not eat pizza (she says it gives her bad breath). She did not even like The Wizard of Oz!

  “I couldn’t care less about a baby spelling bee. I hate contests,” Pamela said.

  Jannie Gilbert looked like she thought Pamela might be right.

  But not me. I did not care what Pamela said. I was going to be the best junior speller in the state of Connecticut!

  Mommy’s House, Daddy’s House

  After school I studied my spelling book. There were lots of food words. Potato. Banana. Cookie.

  I decided to skip those words for now. I did not want to get hungry. Then I would have to get up for a snack. Then I would not be studying my spelling words!

  I found a word that wouldn’t make me hungry. Family.

  I looked through my book. It was only there one time. If they knew anything about my family they would have listed it twice.

  That is because I am a two-two. Karen Two-Two. That is what I call myself because of my two families. I got the name from a book Ms. Colman read to our class. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang. I am not the only one who is a two-two. My brother, Andrew, who is four, is a two-two, too!

  This is what happened. A long time ago my mommy and daddy got divorced. Then they married other people. Mommy married Seth. Now he is our stepfather. Most of the time Andrew and I (and Emily Junior, my rat) live with Mommy and Seth in the little house. That is where I am now. Since there are just four of us, a little house is fine.

  “Mrr-ow!” Oh, right. I forgot about Rocky, Seth’s cat. He was rubbing against my leg right that very minute. And there is Midgie, Seth’s dog. But Rocky and Midgie do not take up much room.

  Every other weekend, and for two weeks in the summer, Andrew and I go to the big house. And I mean big. It is a mansion! That is because Daddy is a millionaire. Daddy married Elizabeth. Now she’s our stepmother. She has four kids.

  There are Sam and Charlie. They are old. They are in high school.

  There is Kristy. She is thirteen. She is my favorite, favorite person. She baby-sits for Andrew and me and lots of other kids. You know what? She has her own business. It is called the Baby-sitters Club and Kristy is the president.

  David Michael is just a little bit older than I am. Sometimes he can be a pain.

  Emily Michelle is my adopted sister. She is two years old. She came from a faraway country called Vietnam. (I named my rat after her.)

  And Nannie, Elizabeth’s mother, is my stepgrandmother. She came to live in the big house to help take care of Emily Michelle. But she really helps everyone. She is pretty neat.

  That’s a lot of people, isn’t it? Plus there is Shannon. She is a Bernese mountain dog puppy. She is David Michael’s dog. And Boo-Boo is Daddy’s fat, mostly mean, old cat.

  Part of being a two-two means having two of lots of things. I usually get to have two birthday parties. I have two pairs of pink sneakers, two pairs of jeans, and two stuffed cats (Goosie at the little house and Moosie at the big house). I even have two pieces of Tickly, my special blanket. I had to rip Tickly in half to have two pieces, but I’m sure it only hurt for a second.

  Uh-oh. I am supposed to be studying my spelling words. I am not supposed to be daydreaming.

  Family. F-A-M-I-L-Y.

  The Best Speller

  I love waking up in my room at the big house. It was Saturday, so I did not have to hurry out of bed. But I knew there would be lots going on when I did.

  “Good morning, M-O-O-S-I-E. Good morning, T-I-C-K-L-Y,” I said.

  I heard people laughing downstairs. I did not want to miss out on anything fun. So I got dressed fast and ran to the kitchen.

  Everyone was sitting around the table, having breakfast.

  “Hi, Karen!” said Kristy. She gave me a great big hug.

  I sat down next to her and poured myself a bowl of Krispy Krunchy cereal. I sliced a B-A-N-A-N-A on top.

  “Who’s
going to help me with my spelling words?” I asked.

  “We gave you about a million words last night,” said Sam. “But, wait, here’s one more. G-O-O-D-B-Y-E spells good-bye!” Sam got up and left. Sam likes to tease.

  “What do you have to practice so much for, Professor?” asked David Michael.

  When I got my glasses, David Michael started calling me Professor. He was not being mean. But now I could tell he was teasing.

  “I don’t have to practice,” I said. “I could win the spelling bee anyway. But Ms. Colman said we should.”

  “I’d help you, Karen. But I have a special Baby-sitters Club meeting,” said Kristy. “You can study in my room, though.”

  “Thanks!” I said. I knew that I would feel very grown-up in Kristy’s room.

  After breakfast, I got my spelling book. Then I went to find Daddy. He was in the garden, pulling weeds.

  “Would you help me now, Daddy?” I asked.

  “Karen, honey, you know I can’t hold your spelling book and pull weeds at the same time,” he said. “I’ll help you practice tonight.”

  Gee. You would think the spelling bee did not matter. And I had told everybody that if I won this contest, I would get to be in the next one and the next and the next and the next till I was the state champion!

  I decided to go to Kristy’s room and make flash cards with my spelling words on them. I cut up pieces of oak tag. I took my red marker and wrote one word on each card.

  Then I went back down to the garden.

  “Okay, Daddy. Now you don’t have to hold a book. I’ll hold up a card. You just say the word,” I told him.

  Daddy sighed. He did not seem too happy. “I will give you three words. That is all for now,” he said.

  He gave me three words. Then I went to find Elizabeth. She was changing Emily Michelle’s diaper.

  “Please, please, please! Just three words. Daddy gave me three,” I said.

  “All right. Three words,” said Elizabeth. Emily Michelle started crying, so I only got to spell two words.

  That was not bad, though. Charlie and Nannie each gave me a few more words. Then I went up to Kristy’s room again.

  I found her English book. There were lots of words in there that I knew. And she is in eighth grade! Of course I had to tell everyone. What is the fun of being smart if no one knows?

  At dinner I announced, “I can spell geometry! G-E-O-M-E-T-R-Y.”

  “Big deal,” said David Michael.

  “Okay, smarty-pants. Here’s one for you,” I said. “Spell sincerely.”

  “Um, S-I-N-um-S — ” said David Michael.

  “Wrong! It’s S-I-N-C-E-R-E-L-Y!” I shouted. “You’re older than I am and you can’t even spell sincerely!”

  “Karen, chill out,” said Charlie.

  Charlie’s usually nice to me. If he said to chill out, he must be serious.

  For the next five minutes I practiced by myself.

  “I Won! I Won!”

  It was Monday! It was the day of our class spelling bee. Mommy drove me and Nancy Dawes to school in the morning. We took turns spelling words in the car.

  “Good luck, girls,” Mommy said when we reached school. She blew us both kisses.

  “All right, class. Settle down,” said Ms. Colman a little later on. “We are going to have our spelling bee right after attendance. When I call your name, I want you to line up at the side of the room. Ready? Karen Brewer.”

  “Here!” I answered. I wanted to say “Here I am, the next Junior Champion Speller!” But I did not. I just grabbed my strawberry eraser and slipped it in my pocket for good luck.

  When we were all lined up, Ms. Colman explained how the spelling bee worked.

  “I will give you a word. You say the word, spell it, then say it again. If you spell the word correctly, I will ask you to walk to the end of the line. If you make a mistake, I will ask you to sit down at your desk. You may do crossword puzzles, read, or talk quietly. And, remember, making a mistake is not a terrible thing. It is easy to forget a word, or to get nervous.”

  A few kids asked questions. Ricky Torres asked how long we had to spell a word. Ms. Colman just said we should not take all day.

  Then the contest started. I got to go first.

  “Karen, please spell apple,” said Ms. Colman.

  Boy, was I lucky. That was easy!

  “Apple. A-P-P-L-E. Apple,” I said.

  “That is correct,” said Ms. Colman. “You may go to the end of the line.”

  I took a few bows, then skipped to the end.

  “Let’s not get carried away,” said Ms. Colman. “Walking will be fine.”

  Three more kids spelled words right. Then Leslie Morris made a mistake. She put an extra n in banana and had to go to her seat.

  Soon there were a bunch of kids sitting down. Pamela and Jannie. Even Hannie and Ricky Torres had missed their words.

  But nobody was doing puzzles, or anything. Except Pamela. She was reading a book. Everyone else was watching. And it was my turn, so they were watching me!

  “Karen, your next word is igloo,” said Ms. Colman.

  “What a great word! Igloo. I-G-L-O-O. Igloo. Brrr!” I said.

  Ms. Colman sent me to the end of the line. Hurray!

  The next word was noisy. I could not believe it. Three kids got it wrong! Then guess who was left? Just me and Nancy. It was my turn.

  “Noisy. N-O-I-S-Y. Noisy,” I said.

  “That is correct,” said Ms. Colman.

  Everyone started jumping up and down.

  “Calm down, girls. We’re not finished,” said Ms. Colman. She gave me and Nancy more words. We kept getting them right.

  “The next one is for you, Nancy,” said Ms. Colman. “Please spell hurricane.”

  “Hurricane. H-E-R-R-I-C-A-N-E. Hurricane,” said Nancy.

  “I’m sorry. That is not correct,” said Ms. Colman.

  Poor Nancy. I knew she just got careless. That was one of the words Mommy gave us in the car. And Nancy had spelled it right then.

  “Karen, if you can spell hurricane right, you are our class winner,” said Ms. Colman.

  I wanted to make sure everyone could hear me. In my almost outdoor voice, I said, “Hurricane. H-U-R-R-I-C-A-N-E. Hurricane!”

  Then I started jumping up and down. I knew — I just knew — I had gotten it right.

  The rest of the class knew, too. Almost everyone was clapping like crazy! Except for Pamela. She just turned a page in her book. I bet she was jealous.

  Guess what happened then! I got a prize. Ms. Colman gave me a copy of a book called The Phantom Tollbooth.

  “Congratulations, Karen,” said Ms. Colman. “Next Monday, you will compete against the other first-, second-, and third-grade winners in our school.”

  Wow! I won! I really won! I could hardly wait to get home and tell everybody.

  Sore Winner

  “Do I look the same as I did this morning?” I asked Mommy and Andrew when they picked me up at school. “Well, I’m not!” I said before they had a chance to answer. “I am now the winner of my class spelling bee!”

  “Hurray!” said Andrew.

  “That is wonderful!” said Mommy. “I am proud of you.”

  “I even won a prize,” I said. I showed them my book.

  At home, I gobbled up my snack. (I was gigundo hungry.)

  “Mommy, I’m going to Nancy’s house!” I called. Nancy lives next door to Mommy. I could not wait to tell Mrs. Dawes about the spelling bee.

  But she already knew. Nancy told her. “That’s great, Karen!” said Mrs. Dawes. “Nan-cy! Karen’s here.”

  I went to Nancy’s room. She had made a big blue ribbon for me.

  “Wow! What a great best friend,” I said. “We need to give you a red ribbon for being the runner-up.”

  “Nah. I gave myself a blue one, too. Only it’s a little smaller,” said Nancy.

  We started giggling and buzzing like bees because we were the best spellers in the class!
<
br />   When I got back home, I asked Mommy if I could make a few phone calls before I studied. (Ms. Colman had given me a long list of new words.) Mommy said yes.

  First I called the big house. I wanted everyone there to know, especially Daddy and Kristy. And David Michael, because he thinks he is so smart. And Sam and Charlie. And —

  Ring! Ring!

  Kristy answered. Hurray!

  “Hi, Kristy! It’s Karen. You want to know what happened today? I won the spelling bee!” I said.

  Kristy was really proud. She promised to tell Daddy and everyone else. I knew I could count on Kristy.

  Then I called all of my grandmas and grandpas. (I have a lot of them.) I was thinking about who to call next when Seth came home.

  I almost knocked him down in the doorway.

  “I won! I won!” I said.

  “Mommy told me! That’s terrific!” said Seth.

  While Seth was washing up, I asked him to give me words to spell.

  While he and Mommy were making dinner, I told them they could take turns giving me more words.

  And at dinner, when Seth asked me to pass the potatoes, I said, “Only if you give me a word first.”

  “Let’s take a break now, Karen,” said Seth.

  “How do you play a spelling bee?” asked Andrew.

  “What a dumb question,” I said. “It isn’t a game.”

  “Karen, that wasn’t nice,” said Mommy. “Please apologize.”

  “Apologize!” I said. “That’s on my list. A-P-O-L-O — ”

  “Please answer your brother’s question,” said Seth.

  “A spelling bee is when everyone lines up and gets to spell words,” I said.

  “Which words?” asked Andrew.

  “The words on the list the teacher gives you. But that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I’m going to be the best junior speller in the state of Connecticut. C-O-N-N-E-C-T-I-C-U-T! You know what a state is, don’t you?”

  “Nope,” said Andrew.

  “I can’t believe it! You don’t know anything!” I said.

  “I do too know things. I know you’re a sore winner!” said Andrew.

  Luckily dinner was almost finished. I excused myself and went upstairs to study.