Stories for 8 to 9 year olds

Chapter 1 Charlie In Trouble

"Stand up,Charles Sweet!" said Miss Snike, the class teacher, fiercely. The whole class went very quiet as Charlie Sweet stood up. "I have everyone's homework book except yours. Where is your homework?" Miss Snike glared at Charlie with one eye. The other eye was glaring into the corner of the classroom. This was because Miss Snike had eyes that pointed in different directions. The children were sure it was so she could keep watch on the whole class with out moving her head. They never dared to misbehave. "Well?" said Miss Snike, bristling with anger. Charlie gulped. Her spiky hair looked even spikier than usual-in fact she looked just like a brush.

"I forgot it Miss," he said, shakily. "YOU ARE ALWAYS FORGETTING YOUR HOMEWORK!" roared Miss Snike, "NOW YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!" Everyone in the class went white. Miss Snike's punishments were terrible. Rebecca McPearce once had to wash up all the school dinner plates, dishes and cutlery just for making a blob in her exercise book. Miss Snike waved a finger at Charlie. "You will go out and clear all the snow from the school field. I will come out and inspect it later!" The whole class gasped. It was a huge field and there was a blizzard blowing outside. Charlie collected a spade from Mrs Clutterbuck, the caretaker and began to clear the field. The icy wind chilled his bones as he shovelled the snow into a big pile. It wasn't his fault that he kept forgetting his homework. He was always forgetting things. He just didn't have a good memory. He had tried making notes in his diary to remind himself but he kept forgetting to look at them. And he could never remember what knots in his handkerchief were for. Charlie got colder and colder. The freezing wind blew around his ears and down his neck but at last he finished clearing the field. He knocked on the classroom door and went in. "Good Charles," said Miss Snike. "You're just in time to hear about tonight's homework. Now, children, there are ten maths questions for you to do. You will need your exercise books and your blue maths workbooks. The sums are on page twenty three....and Charles. If your homework isn't here tomorrow morning like everyone else, there will be TROUBLE!" "Yes Miss," trembled Charlie.

Chapter 2 The Exercise Book

After school, Charlie collected his exercise book and walked across the snowy yard. Guarding the school gates was Miss Snike's pet crocodile called Fang. Fang roamed the school grounds during the day as far as his long lead would allow.

He loved to chase anything he liked the look of and usually that was children. In Miss Snike's company the crocodile was always very well behaved so nobody could tell her he was dangerous and ought to be in a zoo. Fang particularly liked to chase children as they left the school gates. Most of all he liked to chase Charlie. Charlie had managed to avoid being chased in the last few months because builders had been repairing the school wall. He would climb the scaffolding and get over the wall where Fang couldn't reach him. Today however, Miss Snike had come out to inspect his snow clearing so he had to leave school by the proper entrance. Today, Fang was particularly grumpy. Being a tropical animal he didn't like the cold and the woolly jacket that Miss Snike had knitted him made him itch. He was in the mood for a good run. Fang waited until Charlie was a short distance ahead and then gave chase. He jerked on his lead so hard that it snapped. Charlie managed to reach the park gates just in time to shut the crocodile out. But Fang got into the park through a gap in the hedge and was soon after Charlie again. There was nothing Charlie could do. The crocodile was gaining on him. Charlie threw his exercise book at Fang and Fang caught it neatly between his sharp teeth. "Fang!" called Miss Snike in the sweet, sing-song voice she reserved only for her pet. "Come here, boy!" Fang stopped dead in his tracks, dropped the exercise book in a puddle and trotted happily back in the direction of school. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief and then stared sadly at his exercise book floating in the puddle. He fished it out and picked off the dead leaves. It was soaked through. He certainly couldn't do his homework on the wet pages. When he got home he explained what had happened to his mum. "Don't worry, dear," said mum. "We'll dry the book out and then I'll iron the pages for you. Look, the ink hasn't run so I'm sure it will be alright." "But I can't do my homework until the book is dry," wailed Charlie. "Why don't you do the homework on a separate piece of paper and stick it into your exercise book later," mum suggested. "Great!" said Charlie. He rushed up to his room, got out a pen and some paper and prepared to do his homework. "Oh no!" he said, suddenly. "I've forgotten my blue maths workbook with the questions in it!"

Chapter 3 The Blue Maths Workbook

Charlie couldn't do his homework without the questions so he dashed down the stairs, out of the door and across the park. Mrs Clutterbuck, the caretaker was just closing the school gates. "Please let me in." pleaded Charlie. "I need to get my maths book so that I can do my homework." "That's what they all say. You've been in trouble once today. I'll bet you just want to vandalise the school. Anyway, I've locked the classrooms up and now I want my tea!" Mrs Clutterbuck locked the school gates and went into her house next door to the school. Charlie plodded home through the snow. Now what could he do? Two children in his class lived close by. He could copy down the questions from one of their workbooks. First he called at Boris Splott's house. Boris answered the door. "I'm sorry,Charlie," grinned Boris, nastily."You should have remembered your workbook. You're going to be in BIG trouble tomorrow!" Next, Charlie called on Gloria Glubb. "I'm afraid I never lend things to people," she said. Charlie should have guessed. Gloria was the meanest person in the class. At school she kept her locker full of sweets but never gave any away. "What's the matter?" asked mum when Charlie got home. "I can't do my homework because I left my blue maths workbook at school." said Charlie, looking very worried. "Oh Charlie," sighed mum. "I'm sure Miss Snike will understand. Anyway, tea will be ready soon and it's your favourite. Fish." Fish! Of course! It had given Charlie an idea. He rushed up to his room and grabbed his fishing rod. "I won't be long, mum," he called as he disappeared out of the front door. He ran across the park once again and soon got to the school gates. He climbed the scaffolding left by the builders and walked along the top of the wall until he came to a place where he could see in through his classroom window. The top window pane had been accidently broken by one of the builders and there was now a piece of board covering the hole. Charlie used the blunt end of his fishing rod to poke out the piece of board. It went clattering onto the floor inside the classroom. He looked around furtively but noone had heard him. Charlie was good at fishing and very accurate at casting his line. He hoped to get the line through the window in order to hook his maths workbook. He sat on the wall and flicked the rod behind him in order to cast out the line. The hook caught on a pair of Mrs Clutterbuck's knickers hanging out to dry. They flew through the air and got caught in a tree. "Drat!" said Charlie. He ripped the hook free and tried again. This time the line and hook sailed neatly over his head and through the window. By moving his fishing rod, Charlie tried to hook the handle of his school locker. The hook knocked over several jars on the nature table spilling the contents on the floor. One jar had been full of spiders.... Finally Charlie succeeded and with a slight tug on the line the locker drawer opened. It was now getting dark and the classroom was very gloomy but he could just see his workbook. He carefully hooked it and reeled in the line with the book dangling on the end. Then he hurried home.

Chapter 4 The Homework

After tea Charlie went upstairs, opened his workbook and did the ten questions on the piece of paper. They were easy questions so it didn't take him long to finish them. Afterwards he watched television until bedtime. At bedtime he said goodnight to his mum and dad and went upstairs to his room. The homework had gone from his table! "Mum, have you moved my homework?" he called down the stairs. "No dear, I haven't touched your homework. I just opened your window to let in a bit of fresh air." "Oh no!" groaned Charlie. He had just realised what had happened. His homework had been blown out of the window. He peered out into the darkness. There was something white caught in a tree over the wall in the park. Charlie grabbed his torch and rushed downstairs again. He quickly explained to his mum and dad where he was going and then crossed the road into the park. Now that he was close to the tree he could see that it was definitely his homework caught in the branches. He threw snowballs up into the tree hoping to dislodge the piece of paper. One of the snowballs missed the tree and hit a cat sitting on the wall. The cat howled and ran off down the street. At the same time, Miss Snike was taking Fang for his bedtime walk. When Fang saw the cat his eyes lit up and he bounded off after it. Miss Snike couldn't stop him. Her feet kept slipping and sliding on the snow and ice. Suddenly she slid into a tree and let go of Fang's lead. Meanwhile Charlie had succeeded in knocking his homework from the tree. The sheet of paper fluttered down, dangerously close to a muddy puddle. Charlie dived and caught it before it landed but got covered in mud himself. "You're filthy! Look at your coat!" said mum when he returned home. "Sorry mum-but I've got my homework," said Charlie, brightly. "Good," said mum. "Now you ought to go to bed." Charlie put his homework in his coat pocket so that he wouldn't forget it and then he went to bed.

Chapter 5 The Next Morning

Charlie got up early the next morning, had breakfast and got ready for school. Mum had washed his coat and ironed the pages of his exercise book. Apart from a few small smudges the book looked fine. He felt in his pocket for the homework. It was still there. Then he took a pot of glue from the shelf and hurried to school. He would have plenty of time to stick his homework in the exercise book when he got there. The first thing the children saw when they got to school was a pair of knickers blowing about in a tree. Everyone thought it was very funny except Mrs Clutterbuck who was up a ladder trying to get them down.

The children hurried into the classroom. Miss Snike's punishment for being late was a whole week's litter duty. Gloria Glubb put her exercise book in her locker. "AAAAEEEEE!" she screamed. There were spiders all over her sweets. Charlie sat down and opened his exercise book. Then he took out the glue and the piece of paper with his homework on it. The paper was blank! There was not a single word, number or mark on it! "Oh no!" yelled Charlie. "Mum has washed my coat with my homework still in the pocket! All the ink has been washed off!" "It looks like trouble for you" sniggered Boris, "and there's lots of really messy litter in the playground to pick up today." Boris felt a strange wriggling in his trousers..."Ugh! A caterpillar has just crawled up my leg! Where did that come from?" Charlie didn't say anything but there was another empty jar on the nature table. Charlie was very worried. What would Miss Snike do? The bell rang for the start of school. Miss Snike was always on time but today there was no sign of her. "I heard that she's had an accident," said one of the children. "She was taken to hospital so she won't be in today." Everyone cheered-but there was a sudden silence as in walked Miss Snike wearing a purple woolly hat. She took off the hat revealing a big white bandage wrapped around her head.

"Now dear children.How are you all today?" she said. The children were amazed. Miss Snike never usually cared about how they were-and why was she speaking in that soft, kindly voice? Normally she would shout at them when she walked in. "What about the homework, Miss?" Boris called out. All the children glared at him. "Homework? What homework?" said Miss Snike, sweetly."Little darlings like you shouldn't have homework. Now this morning we're going to have an art lesson so let's get out all the paints." She gave them all a big, beamy smile. The children just stared at her in disbelief. They never ever had art with Miss Snike. She said it was too messy and a waste of time. At playtime the children heard one of the teachers talking about what had happened to their teacher. They heard about how she had bumped into a tree and been taken to hospital. The bump had not been too serious but it had somehow suddenly made her a much nicer person. Now she was the nicest teacher in the school and she never gave them any more homework. Fang didn't like Miss Snike being nice to everyone. She also told him off for chasing children. He became very sulky and went off his food. In the end Miss Snike did the kindest thing and gave him to a local zoo.