Winter According to Humphrey (9781101591222) by Betty G. Birney Page A

“I don’t have a family. I mean, I used to, but I hardly remember them.”
    I must admit, I do remember the wonderful smell of my mom. And I remember quite a few tiny brothers and sisters. But that’s about it.
    â€œBOING-BOING-BOING!” Og twanged in his weird way.
    â€œOh, no!” I said. It just slipped out. But I suddenly remembered a lesson on frogs we had long ago, when Og first came to Room 26.
    As it turns out, frogs are amphibians. They come out of eggs! So Og probably didn’t remember his mom at all. I wondered if he remembered his egg.
    Not only that, frogs come out as little tadpoles. They aren’t even frogs yet.
    I wondered if he remembered being a tadpole.
    I stared through the glass at my neighbor, with his green skin, his huge mouth and his googly eyes.
    â€œBOING!” he repeated.
    â€œI know, Og,” I said. “It’s okay. I’m sure we’ll spend the holiday . . . well, I don’t know where, but with some family.”
    He began to splash around in his water.
    â€œBesides,” I squeaked softly, “I kind of think that maybe, well, you and I are like a family. Because we live together and we share what goes on here. What do you think ? ”
    Og splashed and splashed and splashed some more.
    His splashing made me feel a lot better. It turns out that having a frog in the family is a GREAT-GREAT-GREAT idea!
    HUMPHREY’S WINTER WONDERINGS: I wonder if my family ever wonders what happened to me, because sometimes I wonder what happened to them.

8
    Sad Lad, Glad Dad

    T he next day, after our morning math and vocabulary, Ms. Lark came back to help our class rehearse for the Winter Wonderland program.
    First, the girls practiced their snowflake song. They were getting better and better.
    Then the boys sang “Jingle Bells.” They sounded good! Maybe it was because Joey wasn’t singing along. He kept his mouth firmly closed.
    â€œYou know, Joey, I miss hearing your voice,” Ms. Lark said when the song had finished. “Please join in with the others.”
    â€œThat’s okay,” Just-Joey said.
    â€œWell, I want you to,” Ms. Lark told him.
    â€œSo do I,” Mrs. Brisbane said, smiling brightly at Joey.
    I was smiling, too. At least I was smiling inside.
    The boys sang “Jingle Bells” again. Joey sang along—in a softer voice—but I have to admit, he did sound a little bit like a frog.
    Next, Ms. Lark talked about the costumes.
    And what costumes they would be!
    The girls would wear white shirts. Then they were going to make big snowflakes to wear on their backs and smaller ones to wear on their wrists. They’d be shiny and glittery and the girls would spin around like falling snowflakes.
    The thought of all that spinning made me head straight for my wheel. After all, spinning is something I’m VERY-VERY-VERY good at.
    The boys were going to make tails to wear and they’d have bells that would jingle and jangle as they pranced around like horses.
    I hopped off my wheel and tried prancing. I’m not sure I looked like a horse, though.
    My classmates were as excited as I was about the costumes, and after Ms. Lark left, Mrs. Brisbane had a little trouble getting them to settle down.
    But Mrs. Brisbane is such a good teacher, she knew exactly what to do.
    She started talking about snowflakes again, and this time, she told us there are seven different types of snowflakes. She showed pictures of interesting shapes and patterns and then my friends got to draw their own snowflakes.
    â€œOg, don’t you think snowflakes are beautiful ? ” I squeaked to my neighbor as the class was busily drawing.
    â€œBOING!” he replied. He dived into the water side of his tank and splashed like crazy.
    The bell for lunch break rang and most of my friends hurried out of the classroom.
    All except Hurry-Up-Harry. He came over to my cage and said, “Hey, Humphrey, I’ve got