Presents were piled on top.
Ms. Vincent had opened them right after lunch.
Linda really did have a great present.
It was a white vase.
It had a yellow rose on one side.
Emily had a present for Ms. Vincent too.
Her mother had bought it.
It was a bowl for potato chips.
It was green.
And ugly.
Just then Ms. Rooney clapped her hands. ‘Time to show your inventions.”
Emily went to the science table.
Linda pulled the cover off the robot.
He had a fat pink head.
Linda had drawn two blue eyes.
Alex had made a red Magic Marker smile.
The robot's wrench arm was holding a white paper cup.
“This is the Snaggle Doodles Robot” Linda said. “He can hold things by himself.”
‘That's a terrific name,” said Ms. Vincent.
“It was Emily's idea,” Linda said.
“What does it mean?” Ms. Rooney asked.
“Being happy,” Emily said. “Or mad … or anything you want it to.”
“Wonderful,” said Ms. Vincent.
Everybody clapped.
Then Jason's group showed their invention. It was a tree.
A paper tree.
Wayne's group had a tree too.
It was a plate tree.
“Excellent work,” Ms. Rooney said. “Everyone tried hard.”
Ms. Rooney looked at Ms. Vincent. “Time for the surprise, I think.”
Ms. Vincent went to the front of the room.
Her face was pink. She was smiling.
“I spoke with Mr. Mancina, the principal,” she said. “And then I spoke with Ms. Rooney.”
Suddenly Emily knew what Ms. Vincent was going to say.
She crossed her fingers.
She crossed her toes.
“Everyone is invited to the church,” said Ms. Vincents Please come to my wedding
Ms. Rooney was nodding her head. ‘Til bring the whole class.”
“Wow” said Beast. “No math tomorrow. No spelling.”
“I'll have to get a new dress this afternoon,” Dawn said.
Emily smiled. She'd wear her best dress. And her shiny black shoes. She hoped she could find them in her closet.
Tomorrow would be a perfect day.
She was finally going to a wedding.
Their invention was the best.
If only she had had a good present for Ms. Vincent.
She took another piece of cake.
Linda and Alex and Matthew were standing around the robot.
She went over to them.
‘‘Hey,” Linda said suddenly.
She looked at Emily. “I just thought of something.”
“Linda's always thinking of things,” Matthew said.
Linda looked around. “It's a secret, though.”
Emily moved a little closer.
Linda pulled something out of the science table drawer. “Wait till you hear this idea, Emily,” she said. “It's the greatest.”
Emily looked around the room.
Everyone looked different today.
“That's a nice blue suit,” Emily told Beast.
Beast raised one shoulder. “My mother made me wear it. I wanted to wear black pants.”
“We're going to leave in two minutes,” Ms. Rooney said. “I hope everyone is ready.”
“I'm ready,” Matthew said. He was wearing his same old T-shirt. But today he had on a tie. It was green with little red dots.
‘Til be ready in one minute,” Beast said.
He was bent over his desk. He was drawing a picture of a bride and groom.
The bride looked like Ms. Vincent.
Dawn leaned over. “How do you like my dress? It's brand new.”
“It's the best in the class,” Sherri Dent said.
Emily nodded a little.
She didn't care.
She was wearing her pink party dress.
There was a little ice cream stain on the skirt.
But her mother said you could hardly see it.
The main thing was they were going to the wedding.
Ms. Vincent's wedding.
Emily pulled the package out of her desk.
It was wrapped in white paper.
It had a pink ribbon on top.
Emily was going to give it to Ms. Vincent after the wedding.
Emily smiled at Linda Lorca.
She waved the package around a little.
She and Linda had worked for an hour after school.
They had worked on the S-A-L-E place mat.
It didn't say S-A-L-E anymore.
It said S-N-A-G-G-L-E.
Underneath, instead of a flower, was a big D.
D for doodles.
Ms. Rooney told them to line up.
Emily walked around the science table.
She smiled at the robot.
He looked as if he were smiling back.
Ms. Rooney's class marched down the hall.
Mr. Mancina, the principal, waved at them. “Tell Ms. Vincent good luck,” he called.
They went out the door and down the street.
The sun was shining.
Emily took Uni out of her pocket.
Even Uni was going to see this wedding.
They crossed Linden Avenue.
They turned in at the church.
Ms. Rooney put her finger on her lips. “Don't make too much noise,” she said.
They marched into the church.
Emily blinked a little at the darkness.
She let Beast and Matthew get ahead of her.
She had a seat right on the end.
Linda Lorca had a seat on the end too.
She was one row in front of Emily.
She turned around. “I like the music, don't you?”
Emily nodded. “I wanted to tell you,” she said. “You were a great leader.”
“Thanks,” Linda said. “You were great too.”
Just then the music stopped for a minute.
Then it started up again.
“Here comes the bride,” the organ played.
Emily turned around.
Ms. Vincent was coming down the aisle.
Her dress was white. It had a bunch of lace on the bottom.
She was wearing a tiny white hat.
It had a puffy veil.
She was carrying white flowers.
Emily had never seen anyone more beautiful.
She couldn't wait until she was a bride too. Emily leaned out of the aisle a little. She wanted to make sure Ms. Vincent would see her pink party dress.
Ms. Vincent did. She smiled. She stopped for a minute. She looked at Emily. “Snaggle doodles,” she said.
Published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc., New York
Text copyright © 1985 by Patricia Reilly Giff
Illustrations copyright © 1985 by Blanche Sims
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
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eISBN: 978-0-307-54677-7
v3.0
Patricia Reilly Giff, Snaggle Doodles
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