Ms. Finney stood up, looked at the class, smiled, turned to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote:
“Ms. Barbara Finney.”
Turning around again, she smiled and said, “That’s my name. I’m your new English teacher, and I hope this year is going to be a good one for all of us.”
I thought about that. First of all, she’d written “Ms.” Was she just trying to be sharp, or was she really into it? And she’d written her first name. Teachers never do that. They never admit to having first names. They’re always Miss or Mr. or Mrs., hardly ever Ms., and never with first names. It’s supposed to be a big mystery, like do teachers really have to go to the bathroom or do anything but teach and go to meetings?
She spoke again.
“I decided to be an English teacher because I care about people communicating with people. That’s why I’m here. I want to do it and help you all to do it too, as effectively as possible. A poet named Theodore Roethke once said, ‘Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries.’ Please, let’s try to move among mysteries together.”
The class looked at her and at one another.
Alan Smith laughed and said, “What is this gonna be, a class of detectives?”
Ms. Finney looked at him without smiling. But she didn’t yell, either.
“I know that this may all seem a little strange to you now. Maybe it won’t work, but let’s try. Take out a piece of paper, and for the rest of the period think about communication and write about what it means to you.”
We all took out paper. I stared at mine and then snuck looks at Ms. Finney. She was young and pretty and seemed nice. She sounded smart. She was different, but I wasn’t sure how, and I didn’t know if I could trust her. I mean, she was a teacher, and an adult.
During one of my looks, she stared right at me and smiled. I lowered my head and pretended to be writing. Dumb teacher. Who did she think she was? What does a blimp know about communication? How could she know what it feels like to be so fat and ugly that you’re ashamed to get into a gymsuit or talk to skinny people? Who wants to say, “This is my friend, the Blimp”?
Class was almost over, and I still hadn’t written anything. I stared at my paper again and began:
The bell rang. Grabbing my books, I rushed up to the front and put my paper face down on the desk. No one else was going to see what I wrote or drew.
Going to gym class, I overheard some of the kids talking about Ms. Finney.
“She seems O.K.”
“Weird.”
“I like her.”
“She’s a creep, like the rest of ’em.”
In the locker room all the girls rushed to get dressed, except for me. I sat on a bench.
Nancy came over and said, “Marcy, not again! You’ll flunk.”
I just sat there. Trying to change into a gymsuit while hiding my mini bra and fat body would have been a gymnastic feat in itself.
Once the class started, I walked up to the gym teacher, Schmidt.
“All right, Lewis. What is it this time?”
“The cat ate my gymsuit.”
She shook her head, frowned, and wrote another zero in her marking book.
I sat down to watch my eighty-millionth volleyball game.
READ ALL OF PAULA DANZIGER’S BELOVED NOVELS!
Marcy Lewis is thrilled when her former teacher, Ms. Finney, asks her to be a junior counselor at a creative arts camp. Finally, she’s on her own for the first time, away from family and school. It’s her big chance to reinvent herself. Marcy’s sure everything will be perfect—until the campers arrive.
“Danziger skillfully balances her insight into the daily trauma of the young adult years with liberal doses of humor.”
—School Library Journal
Cassie Stephens is dealing with a lot: She’s got asthma. She’s running for freshperson class president. World War III is waged daily in her home. Cassie’s not really sure how it started, but eating pistachio nuts always makes her feel better. No matter how weird it sounds, those little red nuts are just the prescription for Cassie’s troubles.
“Funny, well-characterized, and loaded with popular appeal.”
—Booklist
No one wants to ride the Divorce Express. Especially Phoebe. It means leaving her New York City apartment and friends, moving to the country with her dad, and taking the bus every weekend to visit her mom in the city. It means she has to go to ninth grade in a new school, and see her father go on dates. It’s a hectic life with no time to feel she really belongs with the kids in either place. Then, just when Phoebe gets a handle on juggling the pieces of her life, her mother makes a decision that will change everything again. Can Phoebe be herself and still be part of both her parents’ worlds?
“Danziger’s light style laced with humor will continue to attract readers.”
—Booklist
Rosie and Phoebe have been best friends since they met on the Divorce Express, shuttling between their parents on weekends. Now Rosie’s mom and Phoebe’s dad have fallen in love and they’re all moving in together. Rosie has always dreamed of having a “real” family, but having Phoebe as a sister and having Phoebe as a friend are two very different things. And having an extra parent around isn’t easy for anyone to get used to. It seemed like the perfect setup, but can their friendship survive in the same house?
“An honest approach to problems [with] a lively and natural writing style and strong, consistent characterizations.”
—BCCB
Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!
This Place Has No Atmosphere Page 12
