4. Mr. Megaphone

Chapter 4 Mr. Megaphone The first time I heard Emma's tapping shoes was during show-and-tell. Ms. Diz, my teacher, lets us bring all kinds of weird stuff to share with the class. She is a brand-new teacher, so she likes to experiment on us. Once Dewan brought a ferret. Which is like a stretched-out guinea pig. After that, Ms. Diz made up the No Show-and-Tells that Can Bite rule.

Maya brought her grandpa's artificial leg to another show-and-tell. After that, Ms. Diz made up the No Show-and-Tells Without Permission of the Owner rule. The same day Emma brought her new tap shoes to school, I brought something from my Noisy Stuff collection. I always bring noisy stuff for show-and-tell. I LOVE noise! Weird noise. Funny noise. And of course, best of all, LOUD noise. Here's what I've collected so far: #1 BIRTHDAY-PARTY HORN HONK! #2 WHOOPEE CUSHION

PFFFT! #3 TOY FIRE ENGINE WHEE-OO-WHEE-OO! #4 BONGO DRUMS BUM-BA-BUM-BA-BUM! #5 JUNIOR ROCK STAR ELECTRIC GUITAR SCREEEECH! #6 COWBELL DONG! #7 OLIVER, MY STUFFED ELEPHANT ELEPHANT HELLO (HARD TO DESCRIBE, BUT IT SOUNDS A LOT LIKE MY GRANDPA WHEN HE BLOWS HIS NOSE)

The newest addition to my Noisy Stuff collection is my Mr. Megaphone.

It looks like a giant ice-cream cone made of plastic. When you talk into the mouth hole, it changes your voice so you sound like a megamonster. A loud megamonster with a bad cold. When it was my turn for show-and-tell, I yelled, "Take me to your leader, first graders of the

Earth!" into the megaphone. Half the class covered their ears. The other half went "WHOA!" "Roscoe, that's a fine addition to your Noisy Stuff collection," Ms. Diz said. "Thank you for sharing it." "I can pass it around," I offered. "Please, NO!" Ms. Diz said. "I mean, we have other people who want to share this morning. Speaking of things that make noise, Emma, you have something special to show us today, don't you?" Emma held up two black shoes with metal tappers on the bottom. "These are my tap shoes," she said. "They make noise when you step." Shoes with built-in noise? I thought. What will they think of next?