to say about her.

“He said, ‘Beatrice has shown marked

improvement in math. She is willing and a

conscientious pupil, who gets along well with her peers. She is a pleasure to have in the

classroom.’”

“May I please be excused?” asked Ramona

and did not wait for an answer.

“Just a minute, young lady,” said Mr.

Quimby.

“Yes, what about your progress report?”

asked Mrs. Quimby.

“Oh . . . that old thing,” said Ramona.

“Yes, that old thing.” Mr. Quimby looked

133

amused, which annoyed Ramona. “Bring it here,” he said.

Ramona faced her father. “I don’t want

to.”

Mr. Quimby was silent.The whole family

was silent, waiting. Even Picky-picky, who

had been washing his face, paused, one paw

in the air, and waited. Ramona turned and

walked slowly to her room and slowly

returned with the envelope. Scowling, she

thrust it at her father who tore it open.

“Does Beezus have to hear?” she asked.

“Beezus, you may be excused,” said Mrs.

Quimby. “Run along and do your home-

work.”

Ramona knew that Beezus was in no

hurry to run along and do her homework.

Beezus was going to listen, that’s what Beezus was going to do. Ramona scowled more

ferociously as her father pulled out the sheet of yellow paper.

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“If you don’t look out, your face might freeze that way,” said Mr. Quimby, which did not help. He studied the yellow paper and

frowned. He handed it to Mrs. Quimby,

who read it and frowned.

“Well,” said Ramona, unable to stand the

suspense,“what does it say?” She would have

grabbed it and tried to read it herself, but she knew it was written in cursive.

Mrs. Quimby read,“ ‘Ramona’s letter for-

mation is excellent, and she is developing

good word-attacking skills.’ ”

Ramona relaxed. This did not sound so

bad, even though she had never thought of

reading as attacking words. She rather liked the idea.

Mrs. Quimby read on. “ ‘She is learning

her numbers readily.’ ”

That mitten counting, thought Ramona

with scorn.

“

‘However, Ramona sometimes shows

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more interest in the seat work of others than in her own. She needs to learn to keep her

hands to herself. She also needs to work on

self-control in the classroom.’ ”

“I do not!” Ramona was angry at the

unfairness of her teacher’s report. What did Mrs. Griggs think she had been working on?

She hardly ever raised her hand anymore,

and she never spoke out the way she used to.

And she wasn’t really interested in Davy’s

seat work. She was trying to help him

because he was having such a hard time.

“Now, Ramona.” Mrs. Quimby’s voice

was gentle. “You must try to grow up.”

Ramona raised her voice. “What do you

think I’m doing?”

“You don’t have to be so noisy about it,”

said Mr. Quimby.

Of course, Beezus had to come butting in

to see what all the fuss was about.“What did Mrs. Griggs say?” she wanted to know, and