Read Horrible Harry and the Scarlet Scissors Online
Authors: Suzy Kline
Horrible Harry and the Scarlet Scissors
HORRIBLE HARRY
and the Scarlet Scissors
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
and the Scarlet Scissors
BY
SUZY KLINE
PICTURES BY
AMY WUMMER
VIKING
An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
VIKING
Published by Penguin Group
Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario,
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in 2012 by Viking, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Text copyright © Suzy Kline, 2012
Illustrations copyright © Viking Children’s Books, 2012
Illustrations by Amy Wummer
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Kline, Suzy.
Horrible Harry and the scarlet scissors / by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer.
p. cm.— (Horrible Harry ; 28)
Summary: “The kids in Room 3B are asked to draw posters of things that they love, and one
of them will get to share his or her poster on TV”— Provided by publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-101-57203-0
[1. Contests—Fiction. 2. Drawing—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction. 4. Behavior—Fiction.] I. Wummer, Amy, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.K6797Hnsc 2012 [E]—dc23 2011035952
Manufactured in China
Set in New Century Schoolbook
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
To my beautiful granddaughter,
Kenna Rose Hurtuk,
who had lots of fun making an art poster
at her school. Keep being a wonderful writer!
I love you,
Gamma
Special appreciation to…
Noah Wallace School in Farmington, Connecticut, for inspiring this story. I loved the unicorn posters in the hallways!
And heartfelt appreciation to Randy Sparks and Barry McGuire, of the New Christy Minstrels, for allowing me to use the lyrics from their wonderful song “Green, Green.”
And to many Southwest School students in Torrington, Connecticut, for responding to the quotation
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
.
And appreciation for two great thinkers: Plato, who inspired the famous quotation in this book, and Leo Tolstoy, who wrote the wonderful essay “What Is Art?”
I also want to thank my dear husband, Rufus, for his valuable suggestions.
And very special thanks to my perceptive editor, Leila Sales, for the conversations we had about this book. Her thoughtful criticism and questions greatly helped me write this story.
M
y name is Doug. I write stories about my friend Harry and me in Room 3B. I never thought I’d be writing about an art show.
Harry and art?
Are you kidding?
Harry and I are not good artists. Actually, Harry is a horrible artist. And although he loves horrible things, he can’t draw them. His pictures of snakes
and worms look like sticks. So if you were to tell me Harry’s work was going to be in an art show, I would say…
That is
not
going to happen!
But it did.
You have to read this story to find out
how
.
There are plenty of surprises along the way. And the ending? Well, it was on TV!
It all started one Monday morning, a few days before Saint Patrick’s Day. Kids in Room 3B were taking off their coats, hats, and gloves. Harry was looking out the window at the school playground and the vacant lot just beyond the school fence. “Oh, man,” he groaned. “The snow is still everywhere. I can’t believe it’s the second week of March! Where’s the grass, anyway?”
Mary was at her desk, showing Song Lee and Ida her little doll. It had lots of hair. Mary reached for her art supply box. “I’m going to trim my doll’s bangs with these,” she said, holding up a pair of scissors with red handles. “My brand-new scarlet scissors!”
“Ohhh…scarlet,” Ida replied. “I love that bright red color.”
“Me too,” Song Lee said. “It reminds me of a candy apple.” They watched
Mary carefully cut her doll’s yellow hair.
Just as the last morning bell rang, our teacher, Miss Mackle, hurried into the classroom. “Boys and girls, get to your seats, please!” she called out. “At nine o’clock, South School is going on TV!”
“TV? Yahoo!” Sid blurted out.
Song Lee and Ida quickly returned to their seats.
South School on TV? That’s a first!
I thought.
Harry plopped in his chair. He sat between Mary and me. “Have you guys seen any grass that’s
not
covered with snow?” he moaned.
I shook my head.
Mary didn’t answer Harry’s question until she had put her doll in her backpack
and brushed the yellow doll hairs off her desk. “Harry,” she finally replied. “How can you talk about the grass right now? We’re going on TV!” Then she took out her hand mirror and checked her teeth.
Harry just shrugged.
Miss Mackle reached for the remote control and clicked the
ON
button. “Keep your eyes on the screen, boys and girls,” she ordered. “Oh, I’m so excited!”
We were all excited, too—except for Harry.
