Story
Page 80-85
Page 80
All week
Bradley worked
on his list of topics
to discuss with Carla.
It’s not homework,
he kept telling himself.
In fact,
it’s the opposite
of homework!
Because if I think
of some good topics,
then we won’t
have to talk
about homework.
He didn’t scribble
during class.
He listened closely
to what Mrs. Ebbel
and the other kids said
in order to get ideas
for his list.
He took it with him
wherever he went.
At recess,
he kept his eyes
and ears open,
constantly on the lookout
for a new topic.
The other kids
were meaner to him
than they’d ever been
before.
They were no longer
afraid of him.
They called him names,
and when he didn’t
do anything about it,
they called him
more names.
A fourth-grade boy
who wanted
to show off
to his friends
ran up to him
and said,
“You’re not even human!
You’re a monster!
You’re a monster
from outer space!”
The boy ran away,
but Bradley
didn’t chase him.
He added
three new topics
to his list:
Humans, Monsters,
and Outer Space.
Monday was Halloween.
Most of the kids
brought costumes,
which they were allowed
to put on at lunch.
Brian,
one of Jeff s friends,
didn’t bring a costume.
So he borrowed
a black Magic Marker
from Mrs. Ebbel
and colored a circle
around one eye
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When he came back
from lunch,
he told everyone
he was
a Bradley Chalkers.
While everyone laughed,
Bradley busily worked
on his list.
It covered both sides
of three sheets
of paper.
1. Trees that lose their leaves
2. Gold stars
3. Chalk
4. Tape
5. Are chickens really afraid?
6. Why people laugh
7. What does it feel like
to be shot in the leg?
8. Pencils
9. Pencil sharpeners
10. Accidents
11. Coffee
12. Military school
13. Canes
14. Basketball
15. Friends
16. Enemies
17. Hopscotch
18. Dodgeball
19. Four square
20. One potato
21. Two potato
22. Three potato
23. Four
24. Five potato
25. Six potato
26. Seven potato
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27. More
28. Less
29. Nothing at all
30. What’s it like
to be in jail?
31. Good boys
32. Bad boys
33. Breakfast
34. Lunch
35. Dinner
36. Have you ever been
to the White House?
37. Who shot my father?
38. Why did he get away?
39. Peanut butter and jelly
40. Gold stars
41. Black eyes
42. Fighting
43. Girls with big mouths!
44. What’s it like
inside a girls’ bathroom?
45. Saying hello
46. Reflexes
47. Hate
48. When will I
be able to grow
a beard?
49. Things that smell bad
50. Things you like
about yourself
51. Things you don’t like
about yourself
52. Things nobody likes
about yourself
53. Things you don’t like
about anybody else
54. Gold stars
55. Does my head
look like a chili bowl?
56. Closets
57. Hiding places
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58. Dreaming
59. Bad dreams
60. I wish I could fly.
61. Kids with glasses
62. Glasses you drink from
63. Why people
like some people
and hate other people
64. Breaking things
65. I wish I was invisible.
66. Cry babies
67. What happens to you
when you grow old?
68. Humans
69. Monsters
70. Outer space
71. Why is Halloween
a holiday?
72. Pirates
73. Princesses
74. Ghosts
75. What happens
when you die?
76. What if you were never born?
77. Can someone else be you?
78. Can you be someone else?
79. If I was someone else,
I wouldn’t make fun of me.
80. Magic
81. Markers
He didn’t go
trick-or-treating
that evening,
though Ronnie
and Bartholomew did.
The other animals
gave them lots of candy.
”I’m making a list
of topics to talk about
with my counselor,”
he told them.
Page 84
”Do you have
any ideas?”
”How about rabbits?”
suggested Ronnie.
“That’s a good one,”
said Bradley.
He added “Rabbits”
to his list.
“Bears,”
said Bartholomew.
“That’s good too.”
Claudia barged
into his room.
Bradley quickly
shoved his list
under the pillow
on his bed.
“How about
what Dad’s going
to do to you
when he finds out
you’re flunking?”
she asked.
“That’s a good topic.”
“What are you
talking about?”
asked Bradley.
”The list.”
“What list?”
“Oh, I don’t know,”
said Claudia.
She slowly wandered
toward the bed,
then lunged
for the pillow.
Bradley dived for it,
too, but Claudia
beat him to it.
She held the list
above her head
and read it.
As she looked
at each new page,
she cracked up laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
he demanded.
“Your list!”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“This isn’t
the kind of stuff
you talk about
with a counselor.”
“How do you know?”
“Chalk?”
asked Claudia.
“What can you say
about chalk?”
”A lot!”
he insisted.
Page 85
Claudia laughed.
“One potato!
Two potato!
Your counselor’s
going to be mad
when she sees this.
“Give it to me!”
“Yes,” she answered
as if he had
asked a question.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes. Your head
looks like a chili bowl.”
She laughed.
“Shut up!”
” ‘Who shot my father?’ ”
read Claudia.
“How’s she going
to know that?”
Bradley shrugged.
Claudia gave him back
the list.
“You wrote ‘Gold stars’
three times,”
she said,
shaking her head.
Bradley grabbed it
from her hand
and looked
at what he’d written.
…
“That’s
the stupidest list
I’ve ever seen,”
said Claudia.
…
“Your counselor’s
not going to want
to talk about anything
on that list.”
”You don’t know her,”
he replied.
“She’ll talk about anything
I want to talk about.
She listens to me.
She likes me!”
“No she doesn’t,”
scoffed Claudia.
“That’s just her job!”
She walked
out of his room,
laughing.
Bradley watched
her go.
Then he added
two new topics
to his list:
Sisters and Jobs.
…
Tears filled his eyes
as he tried to think
of another topic.
He crossed off
two of the “Gold stars,”
then crumpled the list
into a ball
and threw it in
his trash basket.
The End
ThEnd
This part captures something important
Claudia sowing seeds of doubt
Causing existing doubts to increase
Why do people discourage others
how to reduce doubts
how to encouage others who doubt themselves
increase confidence in ability to learn