Dictionary Dave

Dictionary Dave

The First Day It was Ben's first day at his new school, and he was worried that he wouldn't make any friends. He was small for his age, and everyone here sounded funny. " It's because we're from Mississippi, ' his dad explained when Ben asked why. " We sound just as funny to them. " " You should walk up to someone and introduce yourself, " his mom said. " You'll make friends in no time. "

Ben did just that on the bus. He shared a seat with Cindy, and they got to talking. “ What's your favorite subject?" Cindy asked him. " Language arts, because I love words more than anything, " Ben replied. " Then you should talk to Dictionary Dave, " she said. “ He knows all sorts of big words. He uses them all the time. "

Meeting Dave During recess, Ben found Dave with a bunch of other boys. " Hi, I'm Ben, " he said. “ What are y'all doing?" The boys looked Ben over. Dave raised an eyebrow and in his proudest voice stated, “ We're looking at a very pungent comic book. "

" May I see it?" Ben asked. Dave paused, then handed the comic book to Ben. Ben sniffed it and said, " I don't smell anything. You said it was pungent. " " It is, " Dave snapped and grabbed back the book. " Look at these adamant drawings. "

Ben tilted his head and looked confused. “ Wait . . . " he said. “ You know that pungent means it has a strong smell, and adamant means it's unchanging or stubborn, right?" Dave looked panicky for a moment, then started to laugh. It was a nervous laugh that became more confident as the other boys joined in. Ben felt his face grow hot as he walked away. He knew he had the definitions right, but people talked strangely up here. Maybe words meant different things, too. As he did whenever he was unsure of a word's meaning, Ben went to the dictionary. He looked up pungent and adamant. The definitions matched the ones he remembered from his dictionary at home. Something else had to be going on here.