Gooney the Fabulous by Lois Lowry

Nicholas had to lean down to add the final animal at the end of it. Carefully, with the chalk, he made a capital G.
    "I
knew
you were going to let Nicholas cheat!" Malcolm called. "He can't be a G animal!"

    "Wait, Nicholas," Gooney Bird said. "Do not write any more until I deal with this." She put her hands on her hips and looked sternly at Malcolm.
    "Malcolm," she said, "it is very important to have all the information before you come to a conclusion.
    "For example," she went on, "if a stranger looked at you, that stranger might think, 'That poor boy has a very bad cold. See how bright pink his nose is.'"
    "I don't have a cold," Malcolm argued.
    "Of course you don't. The stranger wouldn't have all the information. The stranger wouldn't know that your very pink nose was a leftover mandrill."
    "My mom scrubbed it," Malcolm said.
    "Nonetheless," Gooney Bird replied, "do you see what I mean, about needing the information?"
    "I guess so," Malcolm said. He rubbed his nose.
    "Nicholas," Gooney Bird said, "please continue."
    Nicholas, holding his beard out of the way with one hand, printed the remaining letters: NU.
    "The title of our fable is 'Two Gnus,'" Gooney Bird announced.
    "The G is silent," she added.
    "If we were doing a story about medieval times," Nicholas said, "I could be a knight, because the K is silent!"
    Malcolm frowned. "When does an M get to be silent?" he asked.
    "I don't believe an M is ever silent," Gooney Bird said.
    "
Malcolm
is never silent," Barry added.
    "G's are special," Nicholas said proudly, "and they make my N special."
    "Tho thecial," Felicia Ann said with a happy smile.
    "Class," Mrs. Pidgeon announced, "maybe after vacation, maybe in January, we will do a whole unit about silent letters, and let's see, homonyms, and synonyms, and—oh yes—
palindromes;
those are especially interesting. But right now, it is time for a fable."
    Gooney Bird and Nicholas, side by side, wearing their beards, unfolded their papers and read their fable together.
Two Gnus
    Once there were two gnus, a female gnu and a male gnu. They were friends. Both had beards. All gnus, female and male, have beards.
    They were part of a large herd and they moved slowly across the African plains, eating grasses.
    Several lions were watching them and making plans for an attack.
    "Oh, no!" said Keiko.
    "It's okay," Gooney Bird reassured her. "It has a happy ending. Just a little suspense, and a
suddenly.
"
    The fable continued. Keiko looked nervous but she was quiet.
The lions decided to attack late at night, when it was dark and the gnus were asleep. They planned to carry
away several young gnus and have them all for breakfast the next morning.
    Gooney Bird looked over at Keiko and whispered, "It's okay. Don't worry."
The lions decided to rest for the early part of the night, so that they would have lots of energy for the big attack. They curled up in a heap in the tall grass and slept. They didn't need an alarm clock. Lions are very good at knowing when to wake up.
    The gnus gathered in their herd and prepared to sleep, too. But they were thirsty. It was a time of drought.
    "
Drought
has a silent G
and
a silent H," Gooney Bird pointed out to the class. "But we'll talk about those next month."
    "Are you
sure
there's no silent M?" Malcolm asked.
    "Almost positive," Gooney Bird said. Malcolm scowled.
Suddenly the chief gnu sniffed the air and smelled some water far ahead.
    "We really need water," he murmured softly. "We haven't had water in a long time. I think maybe we should skip tonight's sleep and move forward to get a drink."
    He made the special gestures, tossing his head and
stamping his foot, that told the entire herd to get moving. And off they went, some of them yawning because they had been almost asleep.
    In the middle of the night, at the very darkest time, the lions, who were very rested now and full of energy, woke up. "Time to attack!" the chief lion (a female, by the way. It is always the females who do the