Going Batty Read Free

to have lots of information. We spent the whole morning in the school library yesterday.”
    “We spent the morning out on the field,” George said.
    “That’s what I mean,” Suzanne continued. “What can you learn on a field?”
    “Actually, we learned all about bats and echolocation,” Katie told her.
    “What’s that?” Becky asked Katie.
    Katie handed Kevin the flour from one of the cabinets. She opened her mouth to answer Becky. But Suzanne butted in before she could say a word.
    “Who cares what it is?” Suzanne said. “The class 4B kids definitely have the better animals to study. While your class is stuck learning about yucky night animals like bats, we’re learning about cute day animals.”
    “That’s true,” Becky said. “Like horses. They’re my favorite!”
    “We know,” Suzanne said, rolling her eyes. “You’re always talking about your horseback riding lessons—when you’re not talking about gymnastics, that is.”
    Katie frowned. Obviously, Suzanne was still mad about what had happened on the monkey bars yesterday.
    “Well at least I’m good at something,” Becky said. “I have medals for gymnastics and ribbons for my horseback riding.”
    “Oh yeah?” Suzanne started. “Well I . . .”
    “Speaking of horses,” George butted in. “Do you guys know what it means when you find a horseshoe?”
    “What?” Kevin asked.
    “It means some horse is walking around in just his socks!” George answered. Then he started laughing at his own joke.
    Ding-dong. Just then the doorbell rang.
    “I’ll get it,” Mrs. Carew told the kids. “You guys keep on measuring that flour.”
    “Will do, Mom,” Katie said.
    A few seconds later the kids heard Katie’s mom say, “Hi, Jeremy. You’re just in time to help mix the dough.”
    “Great,” Jeremy said. “I came here as soon as my soccer game was over.”
    Katie was really glad Jeremy had shown up to be part of the cooking club this week. But she wasn’t nearly as happy as Becky was.
    “Jeremy!” Becky squealed. “You’re here!” Then she raised up her arms, and flipped over.
    It was a perfect back handspring—until Becky’s foot tapped the table leg, knocking off the bag of flour.
    “Hey!” George shouted out as a stream of white flour poured onto his black jeans.
    “Whoops,” Becky said as she stood up straight. “Sorry about that.”
    George looked down at his black-and-white legs and frowned. Then, suddenly he smiled. “Do you guys know what’s black and white with red dots?” he asked the kids.
    “What?” Katie asked him.

    “A zebra with chicken pox!” George said. He started laughing again.
    Katie, Jeremy, Becky, and Kevin all laughed, too. But Suzanne wasn’t in the mood to laugh. She was in the mood to be angry with Becky.
    “Now that Becky’s spilled all the flour, what are we supposed to use for our cookies?” Suzanne asked.
    “Don’t worry,” Katie’s mom told Suzanne. “I have another bag.”
    “I’ll clean up the mess, Mrs. Carew,” Becky said. “Where’s the broom?”
    “In the closet,” Mrs. Carew said, pointing toward the broom closet in the corner of the room.
    “I told you Becky was a show-off,” Suzanne whispered to Katie. Only her whisper wasn’t a quiet whisper. It was a loud one. Suzanne wanted to make sure Becky heard her.
    Katie couldn’t take it anymore. She had to get away from Suzanne and Becky, and all the fighting. So she headed off toward the living room.
    “Where are you going, Katie Kazoo?” George asked her.
    “To the computer,” Katie told him. “I want to go on the Cherrydale Zoo website. I’m going to make cookies that look like nocturnal animals. I want to print out some pictures.”
    “Good idea,” Kevin said. “Can you print out a picture of a raccoon for me?”
    “Sure,” Katie told him.
    While Becky cleaned up, and the other kids began to mix the batter, Katie went on to the zoo website. As soon as the animal pictures popped up on her screen,