16

A Short Chapter About a Long Book

Read a book. Write a book report. Draw a picture.

That was the assignment Mrs. Jewls put up on the board.

(Don’t worry. You haven’t already read this chapter. Mrs. Jewls assigned lots of book reports. For some reason, she thought reading was important.)

Whenever Jason looked at the board, he got a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach—almost as heavy as the 999-page book he lugged around in his backpack. It was like his own Cloud of Doom that he took wherever he went.

He didn’t know how he’d ever read it. His book report was already three weeks late.

One time his bookmark fell out. It took him twenty minutes just to find his place.

He was very disappointed to discover he was only on page six.

“Jason, is your book report ready yet?” Mrs. Jewls asked him each day he walked into class.

“Sorry, Mrs. Jewls,” he told her. “It’s a really, really, really long book.”

He always answered the same way, although the number of reallys varied.

“How do you like your book?” Allison asked him.

“Have you finished it yet?” asked Rondi.

The two girls giggled.

He wondered if anyone had ever read a book with 999 pages. Maybe the author never even finished writing it. Perhaps she quit after 300 pages, figuring nobody would ever get that far anyway.

That evening, however, something strange happened.

Jason was trying to get through page twenty-six, when suddenly he laughed. He read some more, and laughed again.

It was as if he and the character had become friends. He read for an entire hour without realizing it.

When he reached page seventy, something sad happened, and he hoped his sister didn’t notice his tears.

He stayed up all night. He read about exciting battles, and strange and goofy animals. No matter how tired he got, he kept needing to know what happened next.

The next day during recess, while everyone else played, Jason preferred to sit by himself with his book. He even liked the kissing parts, but had to keep glancing around, to make sure Allison and Rondi couldn’t see what he was reading.

The two girls came toward him.

“He’ll never finish it,” said Allison.

“No way,” Rondi agreed.

“Shh,” said Jason. “I’m trying to read.”