4
Mr. Megaphone
The first time I heard Emmaâs tapping shoes was during show-and-tell.
Ms. Diz, my teacher, lets us bring all kinds of weird stuff to share with the class.
She is a brand-new teacher, so she likes to experiment on us.
Once Dewan brought a ferret. Which islike a stretched-out guinea pig.
After that, Ms. Diz made up the No Show-and-Tells that Can Bite rule.
Maya brought her grandpaâs artificial leg to another show-and-tell.
After that, Ms. Diz made up the No Show-and-Tells Without Permission of the Owner rule.
The same day Emma brought her new tap shoes to school, I brought something from my Noisy Stuff collection.
I always bring noisy stuff for show-and-tell.
I LOVE noise!
Weird noise.
Funny noise.
And of course, best of all, LOUD noise.
Hereâs what Iâve collected so far:
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#1 BIRTHDAY-PARTY HORN
HONK!
#2 WHOOPEE CUSHION
PFFFT!
#3 TOY FIRE ENGINE
WHEE-OO-WHEE-OO!
#4 BONGO DRUMS
BUM-BA-BUM-BA-BUM!
#5 JUNIOR ROCK STAR ELECTRIC GUITAR
SCREEEECH!
#6 COWBELL
DONG!
#7 OLIVER, MY STUFFED ELEPHANT
ELEPHANT HELLO (HARD TO DESCRIBE, BUT IT SOUNDS A LOT LIKE MY GRANDPA WHEN HE BLOWS HIS NOSE)
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The newest addition to my Noisy Stuff collection is my Mr. Megaphone.
It looks like a giant ice-cream cone made of plastic.
When you talk into the mouth hole, it changes your voice so you sound like a megamonster.
A loud megamonster with a bad cold.
When it was my turn for show-and-tell, I yelled, âTake me to your leader, first graders of the Earth!â into the megaphone.
Half the class covered their ears.
The other half went âWHOA!â
âRoscoe, thatâs a fine addition to your Noisy Stuff collection,â Ms. Diz said. âThank you for sharing it.â
âI can pass it around,â I offered.
âPlease, NO!â Ms. Diz said. âI mean, we have other people who want to share this morning. Speaking of things that make noise, Emma, you have something specialto show us today, donât you?â
Emma held up two black shoes with metal tappers on the bottom.
âThese are my tap shoes,â she said. âThey make noise when you step.â
Shoes with built-in noise? I thought. What will they think of next?
And thatâs how it all began.
5
The Amazing Coolness of Noisy Shoes
âI just had my first tap dance lesson yesterday,â Emma said.
She put on the shoes. When she walked on the carpet, they just sounded like plain old everyday shoes.
But on the hard floor, an amazing thing happened!
Emmaâs feet went click! click! click!
Those tappers made some serious noise.
Emma tapped and twirled, and we all clapped for her.
âAmazing tapping, Earth girl,â I said into my Mr. Megaphone.
âVery nice, Emma,â said Ms. Diz. âAnd thatâs probably enough Mr. Megaphone for today, Roscoe. For the year, actually.â
I put down the megaphone and raised my hand. âCan boys do tap dancing?â I asked.
Wyatt laughed. âGuys donât tap-dance,â he said. âGuys do football and soccer.â
âGirls can do soccer,â Emma said.
Coco stood up. She put her hands on her hips. âAlso, I would like to point out that girls rule and boys drool.â
âCoco, please watch your words,â Ms.
Diz said.
Gus raised his hand. âMs. Diz?â he said. âDogs drool. Cats not so much.â
âThank you for that, Gus,â said Ms. Diz.
She took a deep breath.
She breathes a lot, actually.
âAs it happens, Wyatt, there are many famous male tap dancers,â said Ms. Diz. âAnd Emma is right. Some of the best soccer players in the world are girls.â
She thought for a second. Then she snapped her fingers.
âThereâs something I want you all to see,â Ms. Diz said. âIâll give Ms. Bunelli a quick call right now!â
Ms. Bunelli is the school media center specialist.
But she says just call her the Library