A Day at School

Copyright © 2006 Disney/Pixar.

Adapted from the book Fish School, written by Seymour Mackerel, illustrated by Philip Hom, Hom & Hom Illustration, and John Loter, and originally published by Random House. Copyright © 2003 Disney/Pixar. Based on characters from the movie Finding Nemo. Copyright © 2003 Disney/Pixar.

All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney Press, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011-5690.

ISBN: 978-1-4231-6223-0

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N
emo the little clown fish loved everything about school. He loved his classmates, he loved his teachers, and he loved to learn.

Every morning, Nemo's dad, Marlin, took him to school. Along the way, Nemo always asked lots of questions.

“What is a whale's tongue like, Dad?” Nemo asked. But before his father could answer, Nemo had moved on to the next question.

“How many clown fish can a shark eat in one gulp?” he wondered. “Actually, why are we called clown fish?”

If his dad didn't know the answer, Nemo asked his teachers.

One morning before school, Nemo saw his best friends, Tad, Pearl, and Sheldon. They played tag and “algae in the middle” before school started.

Mr. Ray was on school-yard duty that morning. He was everyone's favorite teacher. Nemo and his friends swam over and sang a special song they had made up just for him.

“He's our favorite teacher.

Hip, hip, hooray

For the big, spotted manta.

We love Mr. Ray!”

Then it was time for school to begin. The first class of the day was music, taught by Señor Seaweed, an octopus. Nemo and his classmates were getting ready for the spring concert. Nemo played the conch shell. Sheldon played the clams. (The clams didn't like it very much!) Tad strummed along on some kelp. And Pearl played the sand-dollar tambourines.

“One, two, three,” Señor Seaweed said as he moved his legs to the music.

Nemo and his classmates played the song over and over. One time Nemo blew his conch shell too late. Then Tad forgot to strum. And the clams got cranky.

Finally everyone got it right. Then it was time for the next class.

Nemo and his friends swam to science class. The lesson was “Your Ocean Home.” Mr. Ray was the teacher. He called on Nemo. “Where do you live?” he asked.

“An enemy, I mean emony, I mean…” said Nemo.

“Nemo lives in an anemone,” said Mr. Ray. “While the rest of us would be hurt by an anenome's stings, Nemo brushes himself against one every day. That way the stings don't bother him.”

The rest of the class looked at Nemo in awe.

“That's right!” Nemo said proudly. He liked science class. Mr. Ray always found a way to make it interesting.

Soon it was lunchtime!

There were a lot of lunchroom rules, like no inking in the lunch area and no throwing sand. And absolutely no eating of classmates, no matter how tasty they looked.

Nemo took out his lunch. "I'll trade you my kelp sandwich for your algae pizza," he said to Tad.

"Yum!" said Tad.

After lunch it was time for recess. Everyone had fun playing hide-and-seek, but then Sandy Plankton got into a bit of trouble. She swam into a clam!

Once Sandy was free, it was time for Nemo's next class. It turned out that there was a guest teacher that day—Dory! She was a regal blue tang fish who was one of Nemo and Marlin's good friends.

“Hi, Elmo!” she cried, waving to Nemo.

The clown fish giggled. Dory was very forgetful.

Dory taught the class how to speak whale.

“Repeat after me,” she instructed. “
Eeyouurbawlla kaava
.
Pwonk! Pwonk! Froooomaafkaplewweyoo.
”

“What did you say?” the class asked eagerly.

“I just said hello!” Dory exclaimed.

Then it was show-and-tell time. Pearl brought in a cool piece of coral she had found. And Sheldon, the sea horse, had some big news—his dad was having babies!

“Who wants to go next?” asked Mr. Hermit.

Nemo
raised his fin. “Today I have some very special visitors for you all to meet. Come right in, guys.”

Anchor, Bruce, and Chum swam in. They were big sharks. The other kids were really scared because they thought the sharks might eat them. But Nemo told everyone how firendly they were.

“Pleased to meet you,” said Chum. “Don't worry, kids, we don't eat fish anymore. Well, we try not to, anyway.”

After a brief question-and-answer period, the sharks left. Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief.

All too soon, it was time to go home. Nemo's dad came to get him. “How was your day today, son?” he asked as they swam home.

“Oh, Dad, it was awesome!” Nemo cried. “Sandy got stuck in a clam, Dory taught whale, and I brought in the sharks for show-and-tell. I can't wait till tomorrow!”

Marlin shook his head sadly. “I'm sorry, Nemo, I can't let you go to school tomorrow.”

Nemo frowned. “But why?” he asked.

His dad smiled. “Tomorrow's Saturday!”