Gooney the Fabulous by Lois Lowry Page A

hunting. The males are very lazy) announced. "Gnu for breakfast!
    "Go!" she said. And the lions leapt out of the tall grass, in attack mode, and dashed to the place where the gnus had been.
    But the vast plain was empty. Oh, there was a snake slithering past, and a couple of vultures sitting on the branch of one crummy-looking tree. But the herd of gnus had disappeared. They were far away, having a nice drink of water.
    "Bummer," said the lions. "We'll have to have that old leftover zebra for breakfast."
    "The end," said Gooney Bird and Nicholas together. They bowed, and the class clapped.
    "Good fable!" Mrs. Pidgeon said, getting up from her chair. "And I suppose the moral is something about being watchful and vigilant?"
    Gooney Bird and Nicholas shook their heads. "Here's the moral," they said together. "
No gnus is good news.
"

13.

    "May I march with you?" Mr. Leroy asked.
    The children of Mrs. Pidgeon's second grade were lining up in the school hallway on Friday afternoon, the last day of school before the holiday vacation. They all had their bits and pieces of costumes on, and wore nametags revealing the names of their animals. They were wiggling and giggling and shuffling their feet and practicing chanting the rap that Tyrone had prepared for the parade.
    "Ask Gooney Bird," Beanie told the principal. "She's in charge."
    Gooney Bird Greene was at the head of the parade, wearing her beard and a pair of plaid pajamas. "Well," she said dubiously when Mr. Leroy asked permission to join the group, "we're all animals. You have to be an animal. And," she added, looking at his suit, "you have to have some kind of costume. See Mrs. Pidgeon, in her black shirt and white vest? She's a panda.
    "And I'm a gnu," she added, stroking her beard, in case he hadn't already read her nametag or figured it out. "The animal
has to begin with the first letter of your name. Gnu has a silent G."
    "Yes, I understand," the principal said. "I was in your classroom when Tyrone did the T. rex fable. But I think I can fulfill the requirement. My first name is John: a J. But my middle name is Thomas, so I do have a T, as well. And look! Here's my costume!"
    He flipped his necktie, today a bright green one with candy canes on it, so that it dangled in front of his buttoned suit jacket.
    "Can I be a tiger? Get it? Tie-ger?" he asked.
    Gooney Bird sighed. She put her hands on her hips. "If you were in second grade, Mr. John Thomas Leroy," she told him, "I would tell you that you are trying to bend the rules just a
little
too far. But since you're the principal, I'm going to say yes. You may march."
    "Thank you, Gooney Bird." Mr. Leroy turned to find a place in the line.
    "Alphabetical!" Gooney Bird called to him. "We're lining up alphabetically. "You'll go back there"—she thought for a moment, then pointed—"after panda and before tortoise.
    "I should be there with Nicholas, behind the flamingo," she explained, "but since I'm the leader, I'm marching in front."
    "Why isn't Nicholas between kangaroo and mandrill?" Mr. Leroy asked, after he had looked around.
    "Oh, Mr. Leroy, it's a very long story," Gooney Bird told him.
    "Ready? Let's go!" Gooney Bird called.
    "
Startin' with a gnu, and we goin' right thru
..." the children chanted, along with Mrs. Pidgeon, and, after a moment, Mr. Leroy, who had to listen first to grasp the words, since he had not been there for the rehearsal.
    The parade, with Gooney Bird leading, began to shuffle and dance down the hall toward the multipurpose room. The other schoolchildren were there waiting, but Mr. Furillo stood in the hall with his large push broom. "
Goin' right through
!" the custodian joined in, giving his broom a few rhythmic swishes on the tile floor.
    Bruno, the Saint Bernard, who had been asleep near the utility closet door, was startled awake. He looked terrified. Quickly he rose to his feet, dropped his tail between his legs, and loped off toward the administration office, where he could