'My Sister Is a Bookworm'

MY mom and dad say my sister is a bookworm. Sometimes she sits in a chair and reads her book. She puts her book by her plate and reads at dinner time.

Daddy says, "Not during dinner. Pippi Longstocking can wait."

She reads lying on her back on the floor with her legs on a chair and her book on her stomach. On her stomach on the couch with her book on the floor. In bed under the covers with a flashlight until Mama comes and takes it away.

Sometimes she reads to me. She read a little bit about a detective girl trying to solve the mystery of who was picking all the flowers in people's yards. She read a couple of pages about a tired, hungry lost dog trying to get back to his family. She started reading about a princess trying to tame a white dragon to ride. She read a little then stopped.

"It slows me down to read to you."

So I never found out the rest of the story.

She hangs over our swing seat in the backyard with her book on the grass. She climbs up a tree and sits on a branch with her legs hanging down and reads all afternoon.

At dinner time, Mama says, "Where's your sister?"

"Up in the oak tree reading."

"Tell her to bring Judy Moody M.D. and get in here right this minute."

She reads in the bathroom.

When I want to use the bathroom I pound on the door and say, "Hey, I want to use the bathroom."

"Just a sec," she calls and keeps on reading.

Daddy comes and knocks real hard. "Time's up, young lady. That isn't your private room."

One time she was reading in the bathtub and dropped her book. Up she jumped out of the tub, wrapped a towel around her and ran with her dripping book and wet feet into the living room. She cried and cried. "Oh, Mom, I dropped Nancy Drew in the tub. What shall I do? What shall I do?"

Dad went to the library with her and paid for the book.

She even reads in the car and gets sick to her stomach. Then she yells, "Oh, stop the car. Stop! Quick!" When Mom stops, she jumps out and barfs in some bushes or right in the street.

Then Mom says, "You know reading in the car makes you sick. Why do you do it?"

"I know," I say. "It's 'cause she's a bookworm."

"I think you are right," Mom says.

We went to the beach yesterday and my sister rode on Daddy's shoulders. She was holding a book above his head.

"Don't get that book down over my eyes," said Dad. "I don't want 'The Secret in the Old Attic' to make us both fall in a ditch."

"I want to ride too," I said.

"You can't," said my sister. "I can't read while I'm walking."

"I'll bet you can," said my dad. "Now it's your little sister's turn, and he bent down for me to climb up. "I need a book." I said, and grabbed my sister's.

"What for?" she said. "You can't read."

"I'm going to learn. I'm starting school next month."

Yesterday I took one of my sister's books. I lay down on the floor with my legs up on the front of a chair. I opened the book on my stomach.

Daddy said, "Honey, what are you doing?"

"I want to know the rest of those stories. I'm learning to be a bookworm too."

--

Kay Haugaard is the author of "No Place," from Milkweed Editions.