Horrible Harry and the Missing Diamond Read online

  Other Books by Suzy Kline

  Horrible Harry in Room 2B

  Horrible Harry and the Green Slime

  Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion

  Horrible Harry’s Secret

  Horrible Harry and the Christmas Surprise

  Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding

  Horrible Harry and the Dungeon

  Horrible Harry and the Purple People

  Horrible Harry and the Drop of Doom

  Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade

  Horrible Harry Goes to the Moon

  Horrible Harry at Halloween

  Horrible Harry Goes to Sea

  Horrible Harry and the Dragon War

  Horrible Harry and the Mud Gremlins

  Horrible Harry and the Holidaze

  Horrible Harry and the Locked Closet

  Horrible Harry and The Goog

  Horrible Harry Takes the Cake

  Horrible Harry and the Triple Revenge

  Horrible Harry Cracks the Code

  Horrible Harry Bugs the Three Bears

  Horrible Harry and the Dead Letters

  Horrible Harry on the Ropes

  Horrible Harry Goes Cuckoo

  Horrible Harry and the Secret Treasure

  Horrible Harry and the June Box

  Horrible Harry and the Scarlet Scissors

  Horrible Harry and the Stolen Cookie

  VIKING

  An imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  For more information about the Penguin Group visit www.penguin.com

  First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2013

  Text copyright © Suzy Kline, 2013

  Illustrations copyright © Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Kline, Suzy.

  Horrible Harry and the missing diamond / by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer.

  p. cm.

  Summary: "Best friends Harry and Doug must find their teacher's missing diamond in time for the class talent show."—Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-101-62135-6

  [1. Lost and found possessions—Fiction. 2. Talent shows—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction. 4. Ability—Fiction.] I. Wummer, Amy, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.K6797Hnqm 2013 [E]—dc23 2012031078

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility

  for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Contents

  Also by Suzy Kline

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Special appreciation and thanks . . .

  What's Your Talent?

  The Lost Diamond

  The Search Begins

  Where's Harry?

  Chocolate Clues

  Double Gross

  Recess Rehearsals

  Almost Showtime

  Harry's Secret Raid

  The Nose Knows

  The Talent Show

  The lnside Story

  Dedicated to my very loving and handsome grandson Holden David Hurtuk.

  Thank you for all the joy you bring to my daily life. I love you!

  Gamma

  Special appreciation and thanks . . .

  To Old Farmers Road School in Long Valley, New Jersey, where I got the missing diamond seed for this story.

  To Mrs. Lombo and my granddaughter

  Gabby’s fourth grade class at Peter Woodbury Elementary School in Bedford, New Hampshire, for giving me the teacher’s chocolate drawer idea!

  To my granddaughter Saylor, who had a great third grade “talent show” birthday party.

  To Jamie at Wheelock School in Medfield, Massachusetts, who suggested the title “Horrible Harry and the Quadruple Revenge” for Doug’s next story.

  To my patient and caring husband, Rufus, who talked to me many times about my writing.

  And to my very hardworking editor, Leila Sales, who helped me greatly.

  A heartfelt thank you!

  What's Your Talent?

  When something is missing, I usually know where to look for it.

  Like a sock.

  Mom’s keys.

  Or a library book.

  But what if the thing you’re missing is your talent? Where do you look for that?

  My name is Doug, and I write stories about my best friend, Harry, and me in Room 3B. This story is about two missing things that were very valuable and very hard to find.

  The ending was a big surprise to me. I couldn’t believe where we found them.

  It all started with a sign that was posted on our classroom bulletin board two weeks ago:

  WHAT’S YOUR TALENT?

  Share it with our two third grade classes on April 10th

  Miss Mackle said that everyone had to do something, and that we would host the show in our room. I didn’t have a clue what I could do.

  Play the piano? No, I’d only had two lessons.

  Share my artwork? The only things I can draw well are tepees.

  Do a magic trick? I couldn’t pull a rabbit out of a hat, or a quarter from behind my ear.

  Sing or dance? No way! I’d rather be backstage.

  Now it was two days before the talent show, and I still didn’t know what my act would be. It was silent reading time and Dexter’s turn to sit in the blue beanbag chair. He looked very comfortable, sprawled out with his biography of Elvis Presley. Maybe Dexter would sing an Elvis song for his talent.

  Harry was reading a Hardy Boys book, Mystery of Smugglers Cove. Harry loves being a detective. He could demonstrate how a private eye cracks a case for his talent. Or he could do an animal show with his creepy pets: a tarantula, a milk snake, and a giant African millipede. Harry knows lots of fascinating facts about those horrible critters.

  Mary was reading The Guidebook of Fabulous Hairdos. She could style someone’s hair for the talent show. On St. Patrick’s Day, she had given Harry a green spiked hairdo.

  I looked at the teacher, Miss Mackle. She was reading a big picture book at her desk in the back of the room. She always did that the first ten minutes of silent reading. When she finished looking at the picture book, she left her desk, then went up to her big chair in front of the class and began reading a chapter book.

  I couldn’t think about the talent show anymore. It was time to give my brain a break. I opened my book, The Indian in the Cupboard, and began reading where I left off.

  It was so peaceful for the next three minutes.

  Then Song Lee shrieked!

  The Lost Diamond

  Song Lee’s scream startled everyone. Sidney and Ida dropped their books.

  “Miss Mackle!” Song Lee blurted out. She was pointing to Miss Mackle’s left hand.

  The teacher glanced down at her engagement ring. It had three diamonds.
Only when she looked at it now, she froze.

  “My middle diamond is missing!” she exclaimed.

  Everyone gasped.

  Harry popped out of his seat and immediately started questioning the teacher like Sergeant Friday on old-time TV. Harry really did have a talent for being a nosy detective.

  “When did you last see all three diamonds?” he asked.

  The teacher seemed stunned. She didn’t even tell Harry to sit down. “Why . . . just this morning, in the Teachers’ Room. I was showing my engagement ring to the new art teacher, Mrs. Matalata. I was telling her how it belonged to my fiancé’s grandmother.” The teacher sighed. “All three diamonds were there, then.”

  “Did you leave the building at lunchtime?” Harry inquired.

  “No.”

  “Did you go outside to the playground?”

  “No. I’ve been indoors all day.”

  “So . . .” Harry raised a finger. “You lost it here at South School, today.” He took out a notebook and jotted something down.

  Miss Mackle shook her head as she stared at her ring.

  Harry continued his questioning.

  “Retrace your steps. Where have you been the past four and a half hours?”

  Man, I thought, if I could be an investigator like Harry, I could find my talent!

  Miss Mackle closed her book. “That’s pretty easy, actually. The Teachers’ Room, the hallway, and . . . Room 3B.”

  Harry wasn’t satisfied. “No other place? You’re sure?”

  “Well, the teachers’ bathroom.”

  Lots of kids giggled but not Harry. He was all business. He added another fact to his pocket notebook. “Okay!” he concluded. “Can we start here in Room 3B?” he asked.

  Miss Mackle looked at the rest of us. “Boys and girls, do you want to help look for my diamond?”

  “Yes!” we shouted.

  “I’ll set my timer for eight minutes,” the teacher announced. “I don’t want to take up too much class time.”

  Sid leaped out of his seat, throwing one fist high in the air. “The search begins!”

  The Search Begins

  I grabbed my journal and started listing places where kids searched. I wanted to save the details for a future story.

  Harry made a beeline for the garbage can.

  Song Lee and ZuZu dropped to their knees and began hunting for the teacher’s diamond on the floor. Mary examined the moon rug in the library corner. Dexter scanned the beanbag chair. Ida danced around the room, twirling and pointing her toes. I don’t think she was looking for anything. I think Ida was just practicing her talent show act.

  Suddenly Sidney yelled, “I found it!”

  Everyone stopped and looked at him. He was by the sink.

  “Oops, sorry,” he said. “It’s just a silver star sticker.”

  Miss Mackle put a hand over her heart.

  Harry got out pieces of newspaper from the art supply bin and dumped the garbage can onto them.

  “Harry!” Mary objected, “You’re making a mess!”

  “No, that’s a good idea,” Miss Mackle said, and she joined him. Together they went through every scrap of paper, every pencil stub, broken crayon, wrapper, and plastic snack bag.

  “I found it!” Sidney called out again.

  We all turned.

  “Ohhh,” he groaned, “it’s just some glitter.”

  Mary marched up to him. “Sidney LaFleur,” she said firmly, “will you puh-leese double-check before you call out again. You’re giving me a heart attack!”

  Harry took out his magnifying glass from under his T-shirt. The magnifying glass hung from an old army dog-tag chain around Harry’s neck. His great-grandpa Spooger wore that chain in World War II. Harry studied each crumpled-up piece of masking tape that stuck to the sides of the garbage can. “Did you tape something to the bulletin board this morning before the bell?”

  “Yes, new name cards for the monitor chart,” Miss Mackle answered.

  “Did you mess up some of the tape?” Harry quizzed.

  “I did.”

  “Well,” Harry replied, “one of these sticky globs could be hiding your diamond! I’m sure they loosened it.”

  Miss Mackle must have agreed, because she sat down on the floor and began looking closely at the masking tape, too.

  A few minutes later, she got up and went to her desk. She wrote something on a pink piece of paper, then held it up.

  “Does anyone know where Mr. Beausoleil’s mailbox is?” she asked.

  Harry was the only one who answered. “It’s right outside the boiler room,” he announced. “On the left side of his door.”

  “Yes!” Miss Mackle replied. She handed the note to Harry. “Please take this down to him. If he’s not there, just leave it in his box. I want the custodian to know about my missing diamond.”

  Harry bolted out the door just as the oven timer buzzed on the teacher’s desk.

  “Boys and girls,” Miss Mackle called out. “Thank you for trying to look for my diamond. Unfortunately, things get lost. We just have to carry on.”

  So we all went back to our silent reading. I don’t think the teacher read much, though. She only turned the page once.

  When Harry didn’t return shortly, I started to get worried. Was Harry snooping somewhere he shouldn’t?

  I held up one finger. That meant I was asking permission to go to the bathroom. As soon as Miss Mackle noticed my hand sign, she nodded a yes.

  Then I took off. I had to find Harry before he got into trouble!

  Where's Harry?

  As soon as I got to the boiler room, I could see the pink note sticking out of Mr. Beausoleil’s mailbox. Harry had been there already. I checked the boys’ bathroom but Harry wasn’t there.

  I raced up the stairs to the main hallway. When I got to the Teachers’ Room, I noticed the door was ajar. How convenient, I thought, so I took a quick peak around the door.

  The table was empty except for half of a jelly doughnut in a big open box, and one yellow coffee mug. No one was there, but I did hear a shuffling noise coming from beneath the table. I quickly ducked into the room, squatted down, and lifted up the flowered plastic tablecloth.

  Harry looked like a turtle under the table, inspecting every inch of the wooden floor with his magnifying glass.

  “Harry!” I whispered. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”

  Harry looked up. “Oh, it’s you, Doug! Hey, I finally have an important case. A missing diamond! It sounds like something Sherlock Holmes would investigate. I have to find that diamond for Miss Mackle. This is the last place she remembered seeing it.”

  “Okay, but we can’t search now. We’ll get in trouble. If you wait until after school, I’ll go with you. My mom will be in the cafeteria with my brother’s Cub Scout troop, so I need to stay late, anyway. We could explore then.”

  Harry crawled out from under the table. “It’s a deal,” he said, and we hurried to the door.

  Unfortunately, Mr. Cardini, the principal, was just coming in. “What are you two doing here?” he asked.

  We’re doomed! I thought.

  And that’s when Harry reached for the coffee cup on the table. It had a big happy face on it. “Miss Mackle’s mug,” he answered. Now I recognized it. The teacher drank from it sometimes in class.

  Mr. Cardini nodded. “Okay, boys,” he said. “Have fun at the talent show on Friday! I hope to stop by and catch a few of the acts.”

  Talent show? I’d call it the torture show. I did not want to think about Friday!

  The principal went over to the table and checked out the leftover jelly doughnut while Harry and I scooted down the hallway with Miss Mackle’s mug.

  “You just told a fat fib!” I whispered.

  “No, I didn’t!” Harry insisted. “This is M
iss Mackle’s mug. I got it from the rack on the wall. I had it ready for an alibi, in case someone walked into the room. I didn’t say she wanted it. I said it belonged to her.”

  Then Harry smiled like a jack-o’-lantern.

  Harry! I thought.

  When we got back to class, everyone was still reading silently. Harry slid the cup behind the June Box on the teacher’s desk and returned to his seat.

  The only person who said anything was Mary. “What took you guys so long?” she whispered.

  “Do you really want to know the smelly bathroom details?” Harry said, plopping into his chair.

  Mary cringed, then went back to reading her hairdo book.

  I looked up at our classroom clock and calculated the time. In one hundred and sixteen minutes Harry and I could snoop after school!

  Chocolate Clues

  At three thirty, Harry and I went to the cafeteria. School was out, so the only other kids in the building were six Tiger Pack Cub Scouts. My mom was passing out pretzels and pouring juice when we showed up. Supplies for building birdhouses sat on the table. My brother, Baxter, was punching the big sack of birdseed like it was a boxing bag. Even though he was just a first grader, Baxter hit like a heavyweight champion. I knew all about his punches.

  “Mom!” I said. “Guess what?”

  “I know,” Mom groaned. “Baxter’s teacher told me what happened. Poor Miss Mackle.”

  “Can we go help her look for the diamond?” I asked.

  “What a good idea. Just come back here when Miss Mackle goes home.”

  “Okay!”

  Then Mom added, “Doug, I was thinking that you could demonstrate how to make a birdhouse for your talent show tomorrow. What do you think?”

  I’d rather go to New Zealand. That’s what I thought.