Horrible Harry and the Holidaze Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  The “D” Word

  Two Surprises for Three Kings’ Day

  Heads Up for Kwanzaa

  Crash!

  Hanukkah Fun at Shady Pines

  Flying High for Korean New Year’s

  Secret Santas

  Holiday Resources

  Something strange is going on ....

  At the end of that day, Miss Mackle called Harry up to her desk. Although I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I noticed Harry’s eyebrows. They kept sinking lower and lower as he was talking to the teacher. It made him look mad, then sad. When it was Miss Mackle’s turn to talk, Harry listened. Slowly he lifted his eyebrows higher and higher. None of us found out until later what it was all about.

  BOOKS ABOUT HORRIBLE HARRY AND SONG LEE

  Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion

  Horrible Harry and the Christmas Surprise

  Horrible Harry and the Drop of Doom

  Horrible Harry and the Dungeon

  Horrible Harry and the Green Slime

  Horrible Harry and the Holidaze

  Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding

  Horrible Harry and the Mud Gremlins

  Horrible Harry and the Purple People

  Horrible Harry Goes to the Moon

  Horrible Harry Goes to Sea

  Horrible Harry at Halloween

  Horrible Harry in Room 2B

  Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade

  Horrible Harry’s Secret

  Song Lee and the Hamster Hunt

  Song Lee and the “I Hate You” Notes

  Song Lee and the Leech Man

  Song Lee in Room 2B

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by Penguin Group

  Penguin Young Readers Group,

  345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England

  Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road,

  Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue,

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2

  Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

  First published in the United States of America by Viking,

  a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2003

  Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2004

  Text copyright © Suzy Kline, 2003

  Illustrations copyright © Frank Remkiewicz, 2003

  All rights reserved

  THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE VIKING EDITION AS FOLLOWS: Kline, Suzy.

  Horrible Harry’s holidaze/ by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz. p. cm.

  Summary: Miss Mackle’s third graders share December holiday

  traditions—Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Three Kings Day, and

  Korean New Year—with each other and with Harry’s great

  grandfather, who has just moved into a nursing home.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07685-9

  [ 1.Holidays—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Nursing homes—Fiction.

  4 Grandfathers—Fiction.] I. Remkiewicz, Frank, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.K6797 Hq 2003

  [Fic]—de21 2003000946

  Here Comes Santa Claus

  Words and Music by Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman

  © 1947 (renewed 1975) WESTERN MUSIC PUBLISHING CO.

  All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  Special appreciation to my new editor, Catherine Frank, for her help with this story; to Mom who lovingly shares so many of the activities she does at Mansfield Center for Nursing; to my husband, Rufus, for his valuable insight; to my precious daughter Jennifer, for her enthusiasm and interest; to Jinhi Park Sohn, for her help with the Korean New Year; to my dear friend, Cindy Gelzinis and her class at Southwest School in Torrington, Connecticut, for doing research on head measurements; and to Regina Hayes for creating the title.

  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

  Song Lee in Room 2B

  Song Lee and the Hamster Hunt

  Song Lee and the Leech Man

  Song Lee and the “I Hate You” Notes

  Dedicated to my loving daughter

  Emily, who keeps the holiday spirit

  alive every day.

  The “D” Word

  My name is Doug and I’m in third grade. I write about what happens in Room 3B, but this holiday story was the hardest one to write. Something was the matter with my best friend Harry. I can only come up with one way to describe him that month. Harry was in a daze.

  He didn’t flash his white teeth. He didn’t call Sid a squid. He wasn’t interested in things that were slimy, hairy, or creepy. And he didn’t seem to be in love with Song Lee anymore. Harry just wasn’t his horrible self.

  It all started one morning in early December. “Boys and girls,” Miss Mackle said. “Today is an exciting day! We have a new student in our room, and a new class pet!”

  Everyone looked at the new boy, then at the large pet cage. A white towel was draped over it.

  “This is Yousef Hadad. Tell us about yourself, Yousef!” the teacher said.

  Yousef wasn’t shy. He spoke right up. “Call me ZuZu. That’s a nickname for Joseph in Lebanese. Lebanon is a country on the Mediterranean Sea.”

  Miss Mackle pulled down the wall map and pointed to his homeland.

  ZuZu smiled as he took the white towel off the cage. “And this is JouJou. He’s a tortoiseshell guinea pig.”

  Everyone oohed and ahhed. Song Lee clapped her hands. JouJou looked like one giant auburn, black, and white hairball.

  “What does JouJou mean in Lebanese?” Miss Mackle asked.

  “George,” ZuZu answered. “I’m sure glad you said I could keep him in class, Miss Mackle, I love animals. I know how to take good care of them.”

  “Well, we’re happy to have JouJou in Room 3B. He’s a holiday gift to all of us!”

  I immediately looked over at Harry and put two thumbs up. But Harry wasn’t even looking at JouJou! He was scribbling a bunch of empty circles! What was going on, I thought. Harry loves hairy things.

  “Who would like to help ZuZu look after JouJou this week?” the teacher asked.

  Song Lee raised her hand first. Although she’s shy, she loves animals. Last year she brought three to our class: Chungju, a salamander; Bong, a water frog; and Yi, a hamster.

  The rest of us waved our hands madly in the air, too. Except for Harry. He just looked mad.

  For a while, I was the only person who noticed Harry was in a daze. Song Lee was too busy helping ZuZu.

  “I can fill the water bottle,” she said.

  “I can get the wet and dry food out,” ZuZu replied. “I brought carrots and potato peelings in baggies, but I keep the cerea
l in this can. It has a nice tight lid.”

  When I stopped by Harry’s desk, he was still doodling. His scribbled circles looked like the Grand Canyon. “What’s the matter with you?” I asked. “You look like a scowling statue.”

  Harry didn’t answer, but he did move. He shrugged his shoulders once.

  After lunch things got even busier. Miss Mackle wrote the word holidays on the blackboard and underlined the “s” ending. “We are so lucky this year!” she exclaimed. “Remember when I sent a letter to your parents asking about the winter holidays you celebrate at home? Well, I found out that Room 3B families celebrate five!”

  “Five?” Sidney gasped. “I thought there was just one holiday Christmas.”

  Mary blew her bangs up in the air. She does that when she gets angry. “Haven’t you ever heard of Hanukkah, Sid?”

  “Or Kwanzaa?” Ida added.

  “Or Three Kings’ Day?” Dexter replied.

  “Mother is going to help me share our Korean New Year’s,” Song Lee said softly.

  Miss Mackle beamed. “Thanks to our parent volunteers everyone in our class will get to know five winter holidays this year!”

  “My dad’s coming this afternoon,” Dexter blurted out. “Any minute now!”

  Everyone cheered as Miss Mackle pushed a long table in front of the room. Then we waited politely.

  As soon as we heard footsteps coming down the hall, we all looked over at the doorway. Even Harry. I was hopeful he might snap out of his daze.

  Two Surprises for Three Kings’ Day

  The tall man who entered our room was carrying a huge cake and had a bag over his shoulders. I noticed he was wearing a T-shirt that had a guitar on it. Now I know why Dexter is such an Elvis fan.

  “Boys and girls,” the teacher said, “this is Mr. Sanchez, Dexter’s father. He’s going to tell us about a holiday his family celebrates.”

  “Three Kings’ Day!” Dexter shouted out.

  “That’s right!” his father replied, setting his things down on the long table. “Three Kings’ Day is celebrated all over Latin America, Spain, and other parts of Europe. Dex, why don’t you tell the class about the things I brought.”

  We all watched Mr. Sanchez empty the contents of his bag: one shoe, six walnuts, a piece of coal, a bucket, and a framed picture.

  Dexter picked up the framed picture first. “Actually, my family celebrates both Christmas and Three Kings’ Day. This is a picture of the three wise men who visited the stable when Jesus was born. On January sixth, the twelfth day after Christmas, we believe they visit our house and bring gifts like Santa Claus does. Only they don’t leave them in Christmas stockings by the fireplace. They leave them in shoes. Some people leave their shoes by their bed. We leave them by the door.”

  “Man,” Sidney said. “You get presents twice?”

  Dexter beamed. “Yeah!”

  “What if the present is Tinker Toys?” Sid asked. “How would it fit in a shoe?”

  “It happens a lot,” Dexter answered. “Last year the wise men left me an Elvis video, Fun in Acapulco, by the door. It was too big for my shoe.”

  “What about the walnuts?” Sid asked.

  “Oh, we leave nuts and a bucket of water for the wise men’s camels,” Dexter explained.

  “Do you leave them coal, too?” Mary asked.

  “No,” Dexter groaned. “That’s what you get in your shoe if you’ve been bad all year.”

  Mary laughed. “That’s like Christmas. I bet Harry finds coal in his stocking!”

  When Harry didn’t raise his fist or say anything, ZuZu did. “Mary, that’s a mean thing to say.”

  “Yeah,” Sid said with a big grin. He liked it when Mary got zapped. It didn’t happen very often. Slowly she sank down in her seat. Room 3B had a new judge. ZuZu.

  Miss Mackle’s next announcement made things fun again. “Please take off one of your shoes and put it next to the doorway.”

  “Neat-o,” Sid said. “We get to go barefoot.”

  “Not barefoot,” the teacher objected. “Leave your socks on.”

  As soon as all the shoes were near the door, Mary held her nose. “It smells in here.”

  It didn’t bother Song Lee. She giggled. She doesn’t mind slimy or smelly things. That’s one reason why Harry likes her.

  “Close your eyes,” the teacher said. “The Three Wise Men are coming!”

  “But Miss Mackle, it’s not January sixth,” ZuZu objected.

  “Good listening,” the teacher replied. “I mean let’s pretend that it’s January sixth.”

  Everyone put their heads down on their desk and closed their eyes except me. I wanted to see if Harry was peeking. He wasn’t. Harry wasn’t being horrible at all.

  A few minutes later, Miss Mackle called, “Come and see the surprise in your shoe.”

  Sidney made a beeline for his sneaker. Mary was behind him holding her nose with two fingers. “Crayons!” she exclaimed in a nasal voice.

  “These are flashy ones,” I said.

  Harry was the last one to walk over and empty his shoe.

  “Did you see what kind they are, Harry?” Miss Mackle asked. “They’re fluorescent.”

  “Yeah,” Harry replied. “But I like my old crayon stubs better.”

  Miss Mackle lowered her voice. “Are you okay, Harry?” she asked. “You seem a little out of sorts.”

  Before Harry could answer, Sidney blurted out, “Hey, can we leave our shoes off all day?”

  “No,” the teacher replied firmly.

  Sid made a face as he slipped on his shoe. He didn’t bother tying the long shoelaces.

  “Thank goodness!” Mary gasped, unplugging her nose. “I can breathe again.”

  “Thank you for my crayons,” Song Lee said softly.

  “Thank you, Wise Men,” ZuZu pretended.

  “Thank you!” we all chimed in.

  “Okay, boys and girls,” Mr. Sanchez said. “Now it’s time for the second surprise, the crown cake!”

  Everyone watched Dexter’s father lift the lid off the cake carrier.

  “Look what’s on top of the snowy icing!” Mary said. “Cherries and pineapples ! They look like shimmering jewels.”

  “Look at the hole in the middle of the cake,” I said. “It looks like a crown.”

  “I bet it would fit my head perfectly.” Sid chuckled. “I think I’ll try it on.”

  “Sidney, you don’t wear cake,” ZuZu corrected. “You eat it.”

  “Lighten up, Zu. I was just kidding,” Sid replied.

  Dexter tapped his dad on the shoulder. “Can I tell them now? Can I?”

  “Yes!” Mr. Sanchez said.

  “There is something really special about the crown cake we eat on Three Kings’ Day. It has one surprise baked inside. Whoever finds it will have a lucky year.”

  Many of us crossed our fingers.

  But Harry? I couldn’t believe it. He made prayer hands. He really wanted that surprise.

  After everyone took a bite of the delicious creamy cake, we looked around to see who had it.

  “I got it! I got it!” Sidney screamed as he jumped out of his seat, tripped on his long shoelace, and tumbled to the floor.

  “Are you okay, Sid?” Miss Mackle asked.

  “Of course I am,” Sid replied as he stood tall holding the little surprise. “I’m gonna have a lucky year! I’ve got this!”

  We all stared at the tiny clay doll. “You lucky dog!” Dexter cried out.

  Harry made a fist, thumped it on his desk, and gritted his teeth. “If I had gotten that doll,” he said, “it might have changed things.”

  Miss Mackle and Mr. Sanchez looked at Harry, then at each other. I wasn’t the only one who wanted to know, What was going on with Harry?

  Heads Up for Kwanzaa

  At the end of that day, Miss Mackle called Harry up to her desk. Although I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I noticed Harry’s eyebrows. They kept sinking lower and lower as he was talking to the t
eacher. It made him look mad, then sad. When it was Miss Mackle’s turn to talk, Harry listened. Slowly he lifted his eyebrows higher and higher. None of us found out until later what it was all about.

  The next day, Ida was really excited because her mom was coming to school.

  At one o’clock, Miss Mackle introduced her. “Boys and girls, welcome Mrs. Burrell!”

  Everyone looked at Ida’s mom. She was holding a large basket and wearing a turban, big gold earrings, and a long dress. “Hi, boys and girls,” she said cheerfully.

  Ida popped out of her seat and proudly stood next to her mom. “Kwanzaa is a celebration of our African American heritage and our future,” Mrs. Burrell explained. “Dr. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966.”

  “This is going to be fun,” Ida said. “Can I start now, Mom?”

  “Yes,” her mother answered.

  Ida pulled a flag out of the basket. “This is our African American flag. The red band stands for our struggle for freedom. The black stands for the color of our people, and the green represents the land of Africa and our hope for the future.”

  Ida reached in the basket again. This time she pulled out a mat. “This is a mkeka (mm-KEH-kah). That’s a Swahili word for a handwoven mat. It is an example of things we make by hand.”

  Mrs. Burrell nodded, then added, “It also shows that who we are and what we do are woven together.”

  When Ida pulled out a large candleholder, her mother said, “Kwanzaa starts on December twenty-sixth and lasts seven days, through January first. Each night we light a candle. This candleholder is called a kinara. It symbolizes our ancestors. See, it has seven candles in Kwanzaa colors: three red, three green, and one black one in the middle.”

  Mary raised her hand. “Kwanzaa must be like Hanukkah. We have a candleholder too. Only it’s called a menorah and has two more candles. We light a new candle each night just like you do, but Hanukkah lasts eight days, not seven.”