5 Ch5-Mrs. Roopy's Hero

Chapter 5 Mrs. Roopy's Hero Everybody in our class was excited before the next library period. We all wanted to see if George Washington would be there again. When we got to the library, there was just this lady who looked a little bit like George Washington except she didn't

have on an army uniform or a wig. She looked like a normal lady. "Good morning, second graders," she said. "My name is Mrs. Roopy. I'm sorry I couldn't be here the other day for your library period." "But you were here!" Ryan shouted. "You must be

mistaken," Mrs. Roopy said. "I was home sick in bed." "Can we see your wooden teeth again?" Michael asked. "Yeah, can we?" "Wooden teeth? Did you know that George Washington didn't have wooden teeth at all? His mouth was filled with cow's teeth." "Ewww!" we all shouted. I asked Mrs. Roopy, "Did the cow have George Washington's teeth in her mouth?" "But that was you, wasn't it, acting like George Washington?" said Michael. Mrs. Roopy's forehead got all wrinkly just like George Washington's did when we told him about computers. "I don't

know what you're talking about." We all looked at one another. I wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not. "If I were George Washington, would I have this?" Mrs. Roopy asked. Then she picked up her shirt and showed us her belly. She had a little tattoo of a heart right over her belly but- ton. It was cool. I had to admit that George Washington would never have a heart- shaped tattoo over his belly button. So maybe that army guy with the

wig wasn't Mrs. Roopy after all. "Let me show you around the library," Mrs. Roopy said. "Did you know that books can take you to places you have never been before? They help us explore our world. We have books here on just about every subject you can think of. This is the fiction section. Does anyone know the difference between fiction and nonfiction books?" "Nonfiction books are books that are not fiction," Ryan said. "Because 'non' means not, like nonfat milk has no fat in it." "And nonsense has no sense in it," Michael added. "That's true," Mrs. Roopy said, "but there's a little more to it."

"Fiction is what you get when you rub two things together," I said. Everybody laughed even though I didn't say anything funny. "That's friction, A.J.," Andrea Young said. "Fiction is a made-up story, and non-fiction is based on facts." "That's correct," said Mrs. Roopy, and she smiled at Andrea. I wished Andrea would shut up. "Oh, who cares what the difference between fiction and nonfiction is?" I said. "All books are boring." Everybody went "Ooooooh!" like I had said something really terrible. "But everybody needs to know how to read, A.J.," Mrs. Roopy said.