Educating Esmé Read Online Free PDF Page A

his feet. Finally, Billy called out, “I’ll kick the ass of anyone who makes fun of you!”
    â€œYeah, me too!” said Kirk.
    â€œYeah, Ash! You just tell us if anyone from another class messes with you, we’ll beat their ass up and down!”
    Yeah, yeah, yeah! The class became united in the spirit of ass-kicking. Ashworth sighed and smiled at me. The power of literature!
September 29
    New girl, Esther, from Haiti. Dark, eyes darting, frightened. “She’s got a record of fighting from her other school,” Ms. Coil explained. Who asked her?
    â€œ
Salut, mon amie!
” I welcomed her. Her shoulders dropped, relaxed. Her smile is beautiful and full of mischief.
    T HE KIDS LIKE something new I made: the Thinking Cap. It’s an oversized hat made of prismatic gold paper, with a long prismatic paper tree coming out about two feet off of the top. It says THINKING CAP in black press-on letters across the front. Kids who need more time to give a good answer use it. The kids have become very thoughtful since it’s been introduced.
September 30
    Shira is Filipino and speaks mostly Tagalog. Sometimes she goes into fetal position under her desk. She has four brothers, named Vincent I, Vincent II, Vincent III, and Vincent IV.
    Today Shira was crying because she felt Twanette took her pen. Twanette said no, it was her pen, she got it for 10¢ at Walgreen’s. The pen looked more expensive than that, so I didn’t really believe it. Plus, I know those kind are sold in sets. And finally, Shira had work in her notebook in that pink ink.
    After school, Shira’s stepfather came in and told me that Shira complained that Twanette took Shira’s menstrual pad out of the garbage in the bathroom and showed it to other girls.
    Twanette also chews big wads of gum and took neon green glue she was not supposed to use and gooped up a whole table, almost ruining some expensive books.
    So when I saw Twanette’s mom had come to pick her up after school, I asked to talk with her. I started by telling her that Twanette has really been improving in completing her work and that I was proud of her efforts. Then I told her the rest, explaining that I hadn’t actually seen the menstrual pad thing but that the father complained and we had to be extra sensitive because Shira had been in the country only a couple of months and had trouble speaking up for herself.
    Right about then, the mom started wonking Twanette over the head with a rolled-up magazine she was holding. She assured me that she would whip Twanette with a belt at home, adding apologetically that she usually whips Twanette every six months, but she’s been behind schedule.
    When I suggested that perhaps a belt would not be effective in changing Twanette’s attitude, the mom assured me, “Twanette’s attitude’s gone change after this, believe you me, you won’t have
no
more problems with
this
girl!”
    Twanette was hysterical and denying everything. Mom called her a “big dork” and other things. It was very depressing, and I felt responsible. I acted very calm, but when they left I dry-heaved into the waste-basket. I felt like hell.
    I hope Twanette doesn’t shoot me tomorrow for telling on her.
October 1
    Twanette didn’t shoot me today. She wrote me a thank you note for saying something good about her toher mom. We also had the alphabet museum. Three kindergarten classes came through. It was a big success.
    The kids keep journals. They can write in them during Free Reading if they choose. If they don’t want me to read something, they put an E with a circle and a line through it at the top of the page, a symbol for “No Esmés allowed.” I read them anyway, but I don’t tell. I find out interesting things. For instance, Ash-worth was upset all day because I wore pants, and I never wear pants. He thought his real teacher must have been abducted by aliens.
October 5, my