Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion

Table of Contents

 

 

 

PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

 

First published in the United States by Viking Penguin,
a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1989
Published in Puffin Books, 1991
Reissued 1998
20

Text copyright © Suzy Kline, 1989 Illustrations copyright © Frank Remkiewicz, 1989

All rights reserved

 

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE PREVIOUS PUFFIN BOOKS EDITION
UNDER CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 91-53152

eISBN : 978-1-101-07679-8

 

 

RL: 2.5

For my class who launched the original ant invasion at Southwest School:

When Harry and I walked into Room 2B, we couldn't believe our eyes.

“Look at that!” I said.

“Wow! What is it, Doug?” Harry asked me.

“It's an ant city.”

“Ants ...” Harry grinned. Then he rubbed his hands together.

Harry loves anything that crawls, slithers, or slides. He loves slimy things, hairy things, and creepy things.

Harry loves anything horrible.

“The ants haven't arrived yet,” Miss Mackle said. “But they should come any day now in the mail.”

“The mail?” Sidney made a face. “Eeyew. There's going to be ants in Miss Mackle's mailbox.”

Harry flashed his white teeth, “Neato ...” he said. “Are we going to have an ant monitor?”

Miss Mackle looked at the list of jobs on the Monitor Chart. “We're going to need one. Would you be interested, Harry?”

Harry smiled so wide his silver fillings showed in the back.

Miss Mackle printed Harry's name next to Ant Monitor.

One week later when the class was lined up in the hall by the office, Miss Mackle checked her mailbox. She found a small manila envelope in it.

When she opened it up, she pulled out a plastic vial. There were a lot of black, hairy things moving around in it.

“THE ANTS!” the class shouted.

The school secretary, Mrs. Foxworth, poked her head around the corner. “Ants ... ?” she replied.

“We're going to observe their behavior,” Miss Mackle said.

Mrs. Foxworth tried to smile, but she was shaking so much the pencil that was sitting on her ear dropped to the floor.

Harry picked it up and handed it to her. “Are you afraid of ants?”

Mrs. Foxworth ran back to her typewriter.

Harry grinned. “She's afraid of ants.”

“Well,” Miss Mackle said, “the directions on this small package say to put the vial in a refrigerator for ten minutes so the ants will go to sleep. It's easier to put sleeping ants in the ant city.”

Harry stepped forward. “I'm the ant monitor. I'll take it to the teachers' refrigerator for you.”

Miss Mackle raised her eyebrows.

“Can I pick an assistant?” Harry asked.

Miss Mackle nodded as she looked at the waving hands.

“I pick ... Doug,” Harry said.

I beamed.

Miss Mackle looked relieved.

We walked down the hall to the teachers' room with the vial of ants.

When we opened the refrigerator, we looked for a place to set the vial.

“Gee,” I said, “there's so much diet soda in here, it's hard to find room.”

Harry finally set the vial on top of a container of banana yogurt.

Then we walked back down the hall.

Mrs. Foxworth was coming toward us. “Hello, boys,” she said in a cheery voice.

“Taking your morning break?” Harry asked.

Mrs. Foxworth nodded. “Thought I would have a little banana yogurt.”

Harry and I stopped. We looked at each other.

Mrs. Foxworth closed the teachers' room door.

Then we heard it. A shrill scream!

Harry and I walked back to Room 2B laughing.

Ten minutes later Miss Mackle brought the vial of ants back to the classroom.

Everyone gathered around the science table. “I think I should do this, boys and girls,” Miss Mackle said. “Some ants bite. I don't want
any
of you to touch one. Is that clear?”

Everyone nodded their heads.

Miss Mackle took the roof off an ant house. Then she took the cap off the vial. We all watched her pour the ants into the small opening.

“Their bodies look like raisins,” Ida said.

“That's the way they sleep, Ida, all rolled up,” Miss Mackle replied.

“Eeyew,” Sidney groaned. “They're gross.”

The teacher looked at Sidney. “We are scientists. We are observing ant behavior. Someday, someone in Room 2B may be a great scientist and make great discoveries in a lab.”

Harry and I pointed at each other. We were planning to be great scientists. Someday.

Just as Miss Mackle finished pouring the sleeping ants into the hole, the ants at the bottom of the vial started to wake up.

“Goodness!” Miss Mackle exclaimed.

Sidney screamed when three ants crawled out of the vial onto the science table.

Miss Mackle stood up. “No one move or touch anything. I will get the ants.”

“One is on the floor!” Mary called.