Tears and Frowns Elisa Michaels was four years old She lived in an apartment house in New York City with her parents and her big brother Russell Russell was eight years old which was very grown-up But every day Elisa was getting more grown-up too Her biggest wish was to catch up with Russell These days Elisa was old enough to go
to the Sunshine Nursery School That made her feel happy and proud Still even though she was happy most of the time it seemed as if rarely a day went by without at least a few tears running down Elisa’s cheeks She’s a crybaby grumbled Russell Everyone cries sometimes said his mother I cried when I watched a sad movie on television last night And just yesterday you cried when you broke the model of the dinosaur that you were building Yeah Russell admitted reluctantly But Elisa cries all the time Elisa cried when she discovered that her favorite red shirt was in the laundry and she couldn’t wear it to school Elisa cried when the box of cereal was empty
and she had to have toast for breakfast instead She cried when she fell in the playground and she cried when her balloon broke at the zoo Elisa cried when Russell found a nickel on the sidewalk and she didn’t Crybaby Crybaby Elisa is a crybaby taunted Russell Russell’s words always made Elisa cry even more She didn’t like it when Russell teased her Stop said Mrs Michaels When you were her age you had awful tantrums that Russell What are tantrums Elisa wanted to know Tantrums are loud crying and kicking and yelling They are not very nice Neither Russell nor Elisa could
