The author gratefully acknowledges
Stephanie Calmenson
for her help
with this book.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
1 Switching Channels
2 The Karen Brewer Show
3 Saturday Plans
4 Let’s Go!
5 Stumped
6 All Aboard!
7 Company for Dinner
8 Touring the City
9 Presidents, Presidents
10 Elizabeth’s Friend
11 Karen’s Ideas
12 Sam I Am!
13 The President’s Schedule
14 Oh, Say Can You See!
15 Read All About It
16 At the Zoo
17 The White House Tour
18 Greetings, Mr. President
19 Getting Ready
20 Presidents’ Partners’ Day
About the Author
Also Available
Copyright
Switching Channels
I was cozy in my bed on a Saturday morning in February. My eyes were closed. I was dreaming that a fuzzy hat sat on my head. It felt nice and warm. I reached up to touch it. The hat nuzzled my hand and purred. Then it pounced onto my shoulder. I opened my eyes.
“You are not a fuzzy hat! You are Pumpkin!” I said. Pumpkin jumped off the bed and raced out of the room. It is hard to keep her in one place for very long. Pumpkin is a kitten — the cute black kitten who lives at the big house. There are other pets here and some more at the little house. I will tell you about my houses and families and pets later. First I will tell you about me.
My name is Karen Brewer. I am seven years old. I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and a bunch of freckles. I am a glasses-wearer. I wear my blue glasses for reading. I wear my pink glasses the rest of the time. I do not need my glasses to sleep or to see the clock on my night table.
I turned to see what time it was. Hmm. It was almost eight o’clock. If I hurried downstairs in my pajamas, I would be just in time to watch a rerun of I Love Lucy. That is one of my favorite TV shows.
I raced to the kitchen. Nannie was giving Emily Michelle her breakfast. (Nannie is my stepgrandmother. Emily is my little sister.)
“Hi, Nannie! Hi, Emily!” I said. “I cannot eat breakfast with you. I Love Lucy is almost on!”
I filled a bowl with Krispy Krunchy cereal and milk and headed for the den. I tried not to slosh milk on the way.
In the den, the TV was already on. Daddy and Elizabeth, my stepmother, were watching the news.
“Good morning, Karen,” said Daddy. “How are you?”
“I am fine. But I wanted to watch I Love Lucy.”
“Can you watch TV after the news?” asked Elizabeth. “It will be over in half an hour.”
“But my show will be over then too,” I said.
“Come sit and watch the news with us,” said Daddy. “The weather is on now. But soon there will be a report about the President. He is visiting some countries in Europe over the weekend. It should be very interesting.”
“I do not like the news so much,” I replied. “Can I watch my show during the commercials?”
“That sounds fair,” said Elizabeth.
I sat through the weather. It was going to be windy and cold. Then the newsman announced the upcoming story. It was about the President’s arrival in France.
“We will be back with this story after the break,” he said.
Daddy handed me the remote control. I switched to I Love Lucy. Lucy and her friend Ethel were stomping around barefoot in a barrel of grapes. They looked so funny. Their feet were purple up to their ankles! I watched for a couple of minutes. Then Daddy said, “I am sorry, Karen. It is time for us to switch back.”
Boo. I wanted to see what Lucy was going to do next. But the next thing I knew, the President was on the screen, waving and smiling. His wife stood by his side. They looked very nice and friendly. But they were not funny. I wondered why Daddy and Elizabeth wanted to watch them instead of Lucy.
Soon another commercial came on. I switched to my station. But a commercial was on there too. I handed the remote back to Daddy.
“Thank you anyway,” I said. “I think I will go get more cereal.”
I went back to the kitchen and found the rest of my family there. I was glad. If I could not watch I Love Lucy, at least I could have fun with my brothers and sisters. I have a lot of them. Oh, right. I was going to tell you about my houses and families and pets. I will do that now.
The Karen Brewer Show
I Love Lucy is my favorite show because there is always something silly going on. There is usually something silly going on in my life too. That is what happens when you have two houses and two families.
A long time ago, things were quieter. I had one family and one house. The one family was Mommy, Daddy, Andrew, and me. (Andrew is my little brother. He is four going on five.) We lived here in this big house in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. It is the house Daddy grew up in.
Then Mommy and Daddy started arguing a lot. They tried to work things out, but they could not do it. They told Andrew and me that they loved us very much. But they did not want to be married to each other anymore. So they got divorced.
Mommy moved out with Andrew and me to a little house not far away. Soon she met a nice man named Seth. She and Seth got married, and now Seth is my stepfather.
That makes four people in the little house. We have some pets there too. They are Emily Junior, my rat; Bob, Andrew’s hermit crab; Midgie, Seth’s dog; and Rocky, Seth’s cat. (Rocky is a lot older than Pumpkin, who is only a kitten.)
Daddy stayed in the big house after he and Mommy got divorced. Later he met and married Elizabeth, which is how she became my stepmother.
Elizabeth was married once before and has four children. They are my stepbrothers and stepsister. They are David Michael, who is seven like me; Kristy, who is thirteen and the best stepsister ever; and Sam and Charlie, who are so old they are in high school.
I already told you about Emily Michelle. She is two and a half. I love her so much that I named my rat after her. Daddy and Elizabeth adopted her from a faraway country called Vietnam.
Nannie, who is Elizabeth’s mother, came to live at the big house to help with Emily Michelle. But really she helps with everyone.
Now I will tell you the names of the big-house pets. They are Shannon, David Michael’s big Bernese mountain dog puppy; Scout, our training-to-be-a-guide-dog puppy; Crystal Light the Second, my goldfish; and Goldfishie, Andrew’s flea. (Just kidding!)
Andrew and I switch houses almost every month. We spend one month at the big house, then one month at the little house. I gave us special names. I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. (I thought up those names after my teacher read a book to our class. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.) I call us those names because we have two of so many things. We have two families, two mommies, and two daddies. We have two sets of toys and clothes and books. We have two bicycles, one at each house. I have two stuffed cats. Goosie lives at the little house. Moosie lives at the big house.
I also have two best friends. Hannie Papadakis lives across the street and one house over from the big house. Nancy Dawes lives next door to the little house. We spend so much time together that we call ourselves the Three Musketeers.
I was just finishing my second bowl of Krispy Krunchy cereal when I looked at Emily Michelle and burst out laughing. A banana was sticking out of her mouth and the peel was draped over her head. She was scratching her sides like a monkey.
I popped up from my chair and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. I copied Emily.
Sam passed out the rest of the bananas. We all started jumping
up and down, scratching our sides, and screeching. It sounded like a jungle.
“Help! I am living with a barrel of monkeys!” said Nannie.
Daddy and Elizabeth came to join the fun. We were definitely silly enough to be on TV. Who knows? Someday there could be a show about my family and me. Ladies and gentlemen, it is The Karen Brewer Show!
Saturday Plans
When the fun was over, everyone got dressed. Then I looked around for something fun to do. After all, it was Saturday.
Dingdong. The doorbell rang. I ran downstairs to see who was there. It was a couple of Sam’s friends.
“Hi, Brian. Hi, Mark,” I said.
“Hi, Karen. We came to help Sam with his campaign,” said Brian.
“Here I am!” called Sam. “Come on up.”
Sam had been talking all week long about his campaign. The elections for his class officers were going to be held next month, and Sam wanted to be president. He and his friends were reading about winning campaigns to get ideas.
“Are you sure you do not want to hear about my class elections? There were some very excellent campaigns,” I called up to Sam.
“Thank you. I am very sure,” Sam replied.
I had asked Sam to listen to my ideas before. But he said he was not interested in ideas from second-graders. I told him he did not know what he was missing. But I did not really mind. Working on a campaign did not sound like Saturday fun to me.
I decided to see what Kristy was up to. If she did not have a baby-sitting job, maybe we could do something fun. (Kristy is the president of a sitting business she and her friends started. It is called the Baby-sitters Club.) Kristy’s door was closed, so I headed for Andrew’s room.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I am making rubbings of pennies,” Andrew replied. He held up a penny. “Look. There is a President’s head on it.”
“I know,” I said. “It is President Lincoln. We learned that at school.”
Tracing Lincoln’s head did not sound like Saturday fun to me either. I checked on David Michael. He was heading out with Charlie.
“Where are you two going?” I asked.
“We are going to the library,” said Charlie. “I have to read about how a bill becomes a law.”
“I thought a bill was what they give you when you eat at a restaurant,” I replied.
“This is a different kind of bill,” said Charlie.
“I am going to help with the assignment,” said David Michael.
Just then Kristy came out of her room. She was dressed to go outside too.
“Are you going to baby-sit?” I asked.
“No. I am going to the library with Charlie and David Michael,” Kristy replied. “I have to work on a school project about America’s First Ladies.”
“David Michael is helping Charlie. Can I help you?” I asked.
“Sure,” replied Kristy. “Hurry and put your coat on. We have a lot to do.”
My coat was on in no time. We said goodbye to Daddy and Elizabeth, then piled into the Junk Bucket. That is the name of Charlie’s old car.
“What do you need to know about First Ladies?” I asked Kristy. “I can tell you who Jackie Kennedy was.”
“I am sure you can. She was one of our most famous First Ladies. But there were others who did a lot to help our country,” said Kristy. “Take Edith Gault Wilson, for example. She helped run the country when her husband was sick.”
“Really? How did she know how to do that?” I asked.
“She worked closely with her husband when he was well. So she knew a lot by the time he became sick,” said Kristy.
A few minutes later we were pulling up in front of the library. We all had a lot of important work to do — even on Saturday!
Let’s Go!
Saturday at the library turned out to be work and fun. My favorite parts were lunch and running into people we knew. That night at dinner, we all talked about our day.
“I still have not come up with a plan for my campaign,” said Sam. “I have to do some more investigating.”
“I learned about how a bill becomes a law,” said Charlie.
“I had excellent pepperoni pizza!” I said.
When everyone finished laughing, Daddy asked Charlie to tell us what he learned about bills becoming laws.
“It starts when someone has an idea he thinks should become a law. He contacts his local congressperson. If the congressperson likes the idea, he or she writes it up. Once the idea has been written up, it is called a bill. The bill is discussed in Congress. Congress is the House of Representatives and the Senate. The committees in Congress talk about the bill. If the bill gets a good report, the people in the House of Representatives vote on it. If they vote to pass the bill, it goes to the Senate. If the Senate votes to pass the bill, it goes to the President. The final decision is the President’s. If the President signs the bill, it becomes a law.”
“That was an excellent explanation,” said Daddy. “As you will learn, the process becomes more involved as it goes along. But that is a very good start.”
Next it was my turn to tell my family what I had learned. I told them a few things about First Ladies.
“Jacqueline Kennedy was called ‘Number One Lady Goodwill Ambassador’ because people in different countries liked her so much,” I said. “And Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a book called It’s Up to the Women. She said women are important to politics and the future of our country.”
“That is excellent,” said Elizabeth. “I notice that your projects all have something in common. They would all benefit from a trip to Washington, D.C.”
“Did you say trip?” I shouted.
“Indoor voice, please, Karen,” said Elizabeth. “The answer is yes, I did say trip. The question is when.”
“School will be closed in a week for winter vacation,” said Kristy.
“That is right. The first weekend of vacation is right before Presidents’ Day,” I said.
“That sounds like the perfect time for a visit to the capital,” said Daddy. “Has anyone made other plans yet?”
No one had made any other plans.
“Then I suggest we take a vote,” said Daddy. “Whoever wants to go to Washington, D.C., say aye.”
“Aye!” my whole family cried. (Except for Emily Michelle. She was napping in her high chair.)
“I will stay home for this trip,” said Nannie. “I will watch Emily Michelle and the pets.”
“Are you sure?” said Daddy. Nannie nodded. “The rest of us will go, then. Kids, Elizabeth and I will start planning our trip right away. We will let you know the details as soon as we have them.”
That night Daddy and Elizabeth made lots of phone calls. On Sunday they told us the plan.
“We will leave early next Saturday. We will take the train from Stoneybrook to Grand Central Station in New York,” said Daddy. “Then we will go to Penn Station and board the Amtrak train for Washington. The whole trip will take about five hours.”
“I will call an old friend of mine who lives in Washington,” said Elizabeth. “I am not sure what she is doing these days, but maybe she could show us around.”
All right! I love taking trips. I could hardly wait to tell everyone at school about this.
Stumped
I decided I could not wait until Monday to tell Hannie and Nancy my great news. (We are all in Ms. Colman’s second-grade class.) So instead of waiting, I called them each on Sunday night. Neither of them had plans yet for winter break. But they were both excited about mine. That is because they are my best friends.
The next morning I told a few of my classmates my news on the playground. I told Ms. Colman as soon as she walked into the room.
“That sounds wonderful, Karen,” she said. “I have an assignment to tell the class about later. You might be able to do some research on it while you are in Washington.”
Cool! Now I would have important research to do, like my brothers and sister. But first I had an importan
t assignment to do in class. It was my turn to take attendance. Ms. Colman handed me her book and a blue pencil. I started checking off names.
I checked my own name off first. Then I checked off the other kids who sit in the front row with me. (I used to sit at the back of the room with Hannie and Nancy. Then I got my glasses. Ms. Colman moved me up front where I could see better.)
I checked off Natalie Springer. I knew she was there, even though I could not see her face. She was ducking under her desk, pulling up her socks. Natalie’s socks are always drooping.
I checked off Ricky Torres, my pretend husband. We got married on the playground one day at recess.
I checked off Addie Sidney. She was lining up pens and pencils on her wheelchair tray. She looked at me and smiled.
Next I checked off my best enemy. Her name is Pamela Harding. She can be a meanie-mo sometimes. Her friends are Jannie Gilbert and Leslie Morris. I checked off their names too.
I checked off Bobby Gianelli, Hank Reubens, and Omar Harris.
Terri and Tammy Barkan, who are twins, were in class. So was Audrey Green. Check. Check. Check.
I checked off Hannie and Nancy and waved to them.
I checked off a few more names before I handed the book and pencil back to Ms. Colman.
“Thank you, Karen,” she said. “Now I would like to talk to you about your assignment for winter break. Presidents’ Day is coming up, and I would like you to think about what you would do if you were elected President. Do any ideas come to mind?”
Omar Harris raised his hand.
“If I were President, I would make all school days into holidays. And I would make the holidays into school days,” he said.
“That would not leave much time for school,” said Ms. Colman.
“I know,” said Omar, smiling. “School is fun, but holidays are the best!”
Ms. Colman called on Addie next.
“I would give all pets, including cats, dogs, birds, fish, and turtles, the right to vote,” she said.
I thought this was an excellent idea. I knew Pumpkin would like it too. She would probably vote for tuna dinners every night. A few more kids had ideas. They were all good and funny.