Surprises According to Humphrey

BOOK: Surprises According to Humphrey
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The best surprise ever!

I-Heard-That-Kirk came bounding into the room with a big smile on his face.

“Mrs. Brisbane, I’m sorry about yesterday. To make up for it, I have a surprise for Humphrey. Can I give it to him now?” he asked.

A surprise for
me
? That got my whiskers wiggling.

And it started Gail giggling. “What is it?” she said. “Let me see!”

Soon, the other students were gathered around Kirk, begging him to let them see the surprise.

“Okay, Kirk. What is it?” asked Mrs. Brisbane. Her arms were folded, and she had a suspicious look on her face. After all, Kirk had done a few things that would make any teacher unhappy.

This time, Mrs. Brisbane held out her hand. “Let me see it, Kirk,” she said. Boy, she sure didn’t trust him.

Kirk reached in his backpack and pulled out something I couldn’t see. All of my friends went “ooh” and “aah,” which made my heart thump faster and faster.

“Can you see it, Og?” I squeaked to my tablemate.

There was no answer.

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Betty G. Birney

PUFFIN BOOKS

PUFFIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

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Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published in the United States of America by G. P. Putnam’s Sons,

a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008

Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2009

1  3  5  7  9  10  8  6  4  2

Copyright © Betty G. Birney, 2008

All rights reserved

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS EDITION AS FOLLOWS:

Birney, Betty G.

Surprises according to Humphrey / Betty G. Birney. p.   cm.

Summary: While continuing to help his classmates solve their problems, Humphrey, pet hamster of Longfellow School’s Room 26, faces many surprises, like rolling in a hamster ball, a substitute janitor who might be an alien, and the possibility of Mrs. Brisbane retiring.

[1. Hamsters—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Interpersonal relations—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.B5229Su 2008

[Fic]—dc22  2007007457

ISBN: 978-1-101-65369-2

Printed in the United States of America

Designed by Katrina Damkoehler

Text set in Stempel Schneidler

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

To the GREATS—

Samantha and Carter Radman

Rita and Josie de Leeuw

and Ethan Birney.

Contents

1:
Spring Has Sprung

2:
Stop, Drop and More Surprises

3:
Hamster on a Roll

4:
Spring Fever

5:
Surprise from Outer Space

6:
The Space Alien Squeaks

7:
Surprise Attack

8:
The Hunt Continues

9:
No Surprises

10:
The Return of
Mi Amigo

11:
Hoppin’ with Heidi

12:
Testing, Testing

13:
The Big Break

14:
A Day at Maycrest Manor

15:
Suggestions and Surprises

Humphrey’s Top Ten Good Surprises

Spring Has Sprung

M
onday mornings are different than other mornings. That’s just one of many things I’ve learned in the months I’ve lived in Room 26 of Longfellow School.

For one thing, on Mondays, I’m usually tired from a weekend spent visiting the home of one of my fellow classmates. That’s the BEST-BEST-BEST part of my job as classroom hamster.

My friends are also quieter than usual on Mondays. It takes them at least half a day to get back up to speed after their weekends away from school.

Don’t-Complain-Mandy Payne complains more than usual on Mondays. Today, she complained that it was too hot. Our teacher, Mrs. Brisbane, opened a window.

Sit-Still-Seth Stevenson jitters in his seat more on Monday mornings. But he tries to sit still; he really does.

And even Lower-Your-Voice-A.J. Thomas, who can rattle the walls with his loud voice, is quieter on Monday mornings. It’s weird.

Mrs. Brisbane, however, is always up to speed, and she likes to get Monday mornings rolling with something interesting.

“Class, in case you hadn’t noticed, spring has sprung!” Mrs. Brisbane announced one Monday.

I don’t know about the other students, but I’d certainly noticed that the March rains had stopped and everything had changed. The world, which had been drippy and dreary, was now bright green. The trees, the grass—just about everything outside—matched the color of my goofy green neighbor, Og the Frog, who lives in a tank next to my cage.

For some reason, all that green made me feel like springing up onto my bridge ladder, which goes across my big cage.

Mrs. Brisbane kept talking. “Today, I have a special spring surprise for you!”

Surprise? Surprises are fun, like birthday presents. But surprises can be not so fun, like unexpected storms with LOUD-LOUD-LOUD thunder that can hurt the ears of small, sensitive creatures like me. Just thinking about thunder made me bobble, then wobble. I tried to catch my balance but tumbled off my ladder with a loud
thump!
Luckily, I landed in a pile of soft bedding (and not in my poo corner), but still, I was very surprised and quite startled.

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