SEPTEMBER
Follow the Leader
 
Shermy's sister, Brynn, sat down at the kitchen table, sniffing. "How come it smells like flowers in here?"
   Shermy wiggled on his chair. "Smells like toast to me."
   "And why is your hair so stiff?" Brynn squinted. "Did you use my gel?"
   Shermy took a gigantic bite of scrambled eggs so it would be rude to talk. Brynn could be so picky. Besides, he had only used a teeny-tiny bit. He needed it to look like a real second grader.
   Brynn glowered at him. "I bought that with my own money. You owe me twenty-five cents."
   "I'm sure you won't miss such a small amount." Dad set a plate of eggs in front of Brynn. "But, Shermy, remember to ask permission before using other people's stuff."
   It wasn't other people. It was Brynn. But Shermy apologized anyway. Then he grabbed his lunch box and backpack. He didn't want to be late for the walking bus. He'd been waiting since kindergarten to walk to school with all the kids from his neighborhood. There were parents, too, to make sure people looked both ways at the corners and didn't get into pine cone fights.
   "Hey, where's my hug?" Mom held out her arms.
   "MO-om." Shermy ducked out of the way as she tried to ruffle his hair. He checked himself out in the front hall mirror. Still looking good.
   "Have a great day, buddy." Dad opened the door.
   "Shermy!" Clair waved. "How's your rhino?"
   "You have a rhino?" Jaxon turned around. He never talked to anybody unless they were carrying a soccer ball. Being a second grader was even cooler than Shermy had imagined.
   "Can you bring it to school?" Edgar asked. "And can I have a ride?"
   Squirmy worms of uncool wiggled in Shermy's stomach. He pushed his glasses up on his nose.  "It was pretend. Shake and I did it to win a prize."
   "Who's Shake?" asked Jaxon.
   "Mrs. Brown's grandson. He stayed with her this summer." At first, Shake and Shermy had been like mismatched socks. But by the time Shake left, a few weeks ago, they were a mostly pretty good pair.
   "What prize?" Edgar juggled a pine cone.
   "The Animal Fair prize. We put thorns on our noses." Shermy shifted his lunch box to demonstrate. "It was my idea."
   "Rhinos are awesome." Jaxon nodded his approval. "Want to play soccer at recess?"
   Jaxon had never asked Shermy to play before. This was even better than winning the Animal Fair prize.
   At school, the kids headed for their classrooms and the walking bus parents headed for Rosie's Coffee Shop. Shermy's teacher, Mr. Craig, had plastered the Room 8 windows with posters. One showed a big moose saying welcome to our neck of the woods! Another said make the moost out of second grade.
   Mr. Craig opened the door, a stuffed moose in his hand. "Hello, friends. Moosie and I are glad to meet you!"
   Shermy said hello back, then walked right in. Not like the first-grade Shermy who hid behind Mom's legs when she dropped him off. This was the new-and-improved second-grade Shermy. The Shermy with fancy hair and a soccer invitation.
   Shermy wandered around a tall tree with paper-bag bark to check out the classroom. Big construction paper leaves dotted the walls. Moose prints led to the pencil sharpener and to the sink at the back of the room. And there were moose everywhere, made out of paper or plastic or plush and even a breakable one on top of a bookcase. Shermy found his desk in pod four. It was labeled with a moose name tag that said Sherman.
   "My name is Shermy," said the new-and-improved Shermy.
   "Good to know." Mr. Craig rummaged around on his messy desk until he found a thick black marker. He handed it over.
   "I can mark it up?" Shermy asked.
   "Go for it!" When Mr. Craig smiled, his eyes got squinty in a friendly way. "Take charge."
   Shermy hung his jacket and backpack on a hook, then uncapped the marker. He turned the an into a y.
   Connor stopped by his desk. "Did Mr. Craig say you could?"
   Shermy snapped the cap back on the marker. "Yep."
   "We can change our name tags?" Isabella asked.
   Shermy handed over the marker. "Go for it."
   She shortened her name tag to Izzy.
   Pretty soon, lots of kids were changing their name tags. Dellana became Della.
   "Nobody in my family calls me Christopher." Chris waved his fixed-up name tag.
   Shermy felt like the leader in Follow the Leader.
   He'd never felt like the leader in Follow the Leader before.
   Hazel slumped in her chair. "I don't have a nickname."
   "Some names are better without nicknames," Shermy said. Leaders were supposed to encourage others.
   "Well, my name does have five letters, and five is my lucky number."
   "Moose-tastic!" Shermy gave a thumbs-up.
   Hazel grinned. Her pigtails bounced like they were happy, too.
   The second bell rang and Mr. Craig held up two fingers for "quiet." But kids did not stop talking.     Shermy held up his fingers, too.
   Jaxon tapped his pencil box on his desk. "Can't you guys see Shermy?" he asked.
   Everyone stopped talking. Shermy sat up taller.
   People listened to leaders.
   "Thanks, friends. I'm excited to get things started!"
   Mr. Craig shared his smile around the room, but Shermy was pretty sure he got the biggest slice of it. "First order of business is making a W chart. It will help us keep track of the who, what, why, where, and when of the stories we read."
   The only thing Shermy loved more than making charts was filling them out.
   Mr. Craig shuffled through a pile of papers and folders and snack bars on his desk. "Now, where did I put that clipboard?" The lesson stopped while they all joined the search. Izzy found it in Moosie's bed.
   Next up was making a Moose Journal out of stapled-together pages. Second graders wrote every day. Shermy had the perfect pen. It could write in three colors: red, green, or blue. But before they could start, they had to find the classroom stapler to staple the pages. Clair found it in Harry the plant's pot.
   When the recess bell rang, Mr. Craig called Shermy forward. "I need your help."
   Shermy agreed. Mr. Craig  was a superstar when it came to teaching spelling and science and making moose puns. But he was very absentminded when it came to math manipulatives, clipboards, and staplers. He needed someone to help him get organized. Someone like Shermy!
   Mr. Craig opened his computer. "I got a message that we're getting a new student this afternoon. His name is Sean Drake," he said. "Would you be his school buddy? Help him settle in?"
   Shermy the leader, reporting for duty. "Sure!"
   "Could you stay in from recess to make him a welcome card?" Mr. Craig shuffled through stacks on his desk. "There's some construction paper around here somewhere."
   Recess? But Jaxon had asked him to play soccer. The first time he had ever asked.
   But this was also the first time Shermy had been asked to be a school buddy. A good leader couldn't let Mr. Craig down.
   Shermy tracked down the paper, along with some moose stickers, and got to work. He wrote welcome, sean on the front. It looked awesome-possum. That's what Grandpa Gordy would say. Shermy thought for a second, then wrote his suggestions on the inside:

Important Stuff About Our School
1. You can check out three books at one time from Mr. Shuman, our librarian
2. No running on the sidewalk
3. If you need to shorten your name on your name tag, go for it!

   His welcome card was double awesome-possum: moose stickers and helpful hints. Now all Shermy needed was the New Kid.
   "Finished?" Mr. Craig asked. "Why don't you head on out for the last of recess."
   Shermy dashed out to play with Jaxon, but Edgar pounced on him. "Our team needs you! Jaxon called dibs on the New Kid and he's really good."
   Sean was already here? He'd skipped the classroom and gone straight to recess? Now Shermy wouldn't be the first person to welcome him. That must be against some school buddy rule. Shermy scurried onto the field to check things out, then--smack!--got whapped by the soccer ball. He and his glasses went flying.
   "OW!" He rubbed the sore spot on his head, not even caring that he'd totally messed up his hair.
   "We win!" Jaxon jumped up and down. "I want Sean on my team tomorrow, too!" Everyone dogpiled on the New Kid. Nobody had ever dogpiled on Shermy.
   The New Kid wriggled out from under the others. "Everybody calls me Shake," announced a familiar voice. Then he helped Shermy to his feet. "Isn't it great, Shermy? I go to your school now!"
   "What? How?" This was amazing news. Or at least, it was amazing until Shermy picked up his glasses and put them on. All the second graders on the soccer field were staring at Shake like he was a cereal box prize. Or a leader.
   And no one was looking at Shermy at all.

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Excerpted from Shermy and Shake, the Not-So-New Kid by Kirby Larson
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.