Jasper John Dooley, Star of the Week Read Online Free PDF Page A

heard Mom say.
    Dad asked, “What’s he doing down there?”
    Mom said, “Getting the lint out of the dryer, I think.” Then she said his dad’s name in a very serious voice. “David? We need to talk.”
    â€œWhat is it, Gail?” his dad said, also very seriously.
    After that Jasper could only hear whispering between his quiet sawing, and now and then a word. He heard, “Whisper, whisper, baby, whisper, whisper, whisper, maybe we should.” They talked for a long time. Then Jasper heard his parents clomp down the basement stairs. They stood in the door holding hands and smiling big pretend smiles.
    â€œJasper John?” they said. “Could you stop for a minute? We’d like to talk to you.”
    Jasper quickly put down the saw. Mom and Dad didn’t say anything about it. They just came over.
    Mom said, “Jasper, if you’re really unhappy —”
    Dad said, “If the size of our family —”
    â€œIf you’re disappointed in the way we are —,” Mom said.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Jasper asked.
    Dad said, “Maybe we should talk about our too-small family.”
    â€œI’m too busy to talk now,” Jasper told them. “I’m making myself a brother.”

Chapter 7

    It was a miracle that the Star didn’t get the lates on Wednesday. He was up until ten o’clock the night before making his wooden brother Earl with Mom and Dad. When he woke the next morning, Earl’s paint was dry, but Jasper had to rush to get to school on time. He put a pillowcase over Earl’s head so that nobody would meet his brother on the way.
    Jasper just made it, but Ori got the lates again. He staggered in while the class was doing the calendar. The Star of the Week, Jasper, slid the card that said
Wednesday
into the slot on the calendar. He slid in the month and the date. Then Ms. Tosh said, “Hurry, hurry, Ori.”
    Ori joined Isabel and Leon at his table. He looked really, really tired. He looked like nobody had made him brush his hair.
    â€œJasper,” Ms. Tosh began. “Are you going to show the class what you’ve brought?”
    â€œYes,” the Star answered. “I’ve brought my brother.”
    Everybody laughed.
    â€œYour brother, Earl?” Ms. Tosh asked.
    â€œYes,” Jasper said.
    â€œClass? Would you like to meet Earl?”
    â€œYes!” all the kids cried.
    â€œPresenting — Earl!” Jasper tore the pillowcase off his brother. Everybody laughed again. They fell into each other laughing. At first Jasper was hurt, but then he saw that Earl
was
funny looking. He had a purple face and long thin arms and legs and blocks of wood for feet. So many hands were waving in the air. Everybody had a question. They asked:
    â€œAre you really allowed to saw?”
    â€œHave you made other things out of wood?”
    â€œIs making wooden people what you want to do when you grow up?”
    Jasper answered all the questions. He felt proud. Ms. Tosh said she had a question, too. She asked, “Can you tell us, Jasper, how Earl is a Science Experiment?”
    â€œA Science Experiment?” Jasper said.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œIs it Wednesday?” Jasper asked. He looked at the calendar and saw the word
Wednesday
that he had slid into the slot himself. “If it’s Wednesday,” he said, “then Earl is my Science Experiment.”

    Everybody got very quiet waiting to hear what the Star was going to say about his Science Experiment. Jasper waited to hear what the Star was going to say, too. He had no idea.
    â€œJasper?” Ms. Tosh asked.
    â€œEarl is my brother. I named him after the man who came to fix our oven,” Jasper began.
    â€œHe isn’t really your brother,” Isabel said. “He isn’t real.”
    â€œThat’s my Science Experiment,” Jasper said.
    â€œHow is that your Science Experiment?” Ms. Tosh