There are a lot of signs up in the buses and subways about New York’s being a Summer Summer Festival My father once explained how the slogan is a clever advertising campaign to make people want to come to New York City in the summer even though it is so hot then If they stay in air-conditioned hotels and go to air-conditioned movies and air conditioned theaters maybe it’s OK But if you are on your own without a friend in sight the summer is a long hot time in the city and I wasn’t happy about it at all So there it was the best of times and the worst of times If you were Julie or Esther it was the best of times and if you were me Margot Green it was the worst The absolute worst When I got to my fifth-grade room everyone everyone was sitting around and talking to each other I discovered that they were discussing 8
the notice written on the chalkboard Summer Homework No one quite knew what to make of it It was written in the very neat cursive that our teacher Mrs Eldridge uses when she writes on the board When she writes a note to another teacher her handwriting is easily the worst in the class It must be a joke I thought No teacher in the history of school ever gave homework over the summer Mrs Eldridge came into the room She had been down the hall speaking with another teacher Everyone began shouting You can’t give us homework Mrs Eldridge gave a big laugh not a mean one just a real hearty one that showed that she had some joke on us And then she explained I’m going to be your teacher again in the fall We all cheered at that No matter how angry you got at teachers during the year 9
somehow during the last week you realized realized they weren’t so bad And all during the last few days I had been thinking that Mrs Eldridge had thought of some good ideas and that this had been a pretty good year We had gone on some interesting trips and not just to the Museum of Natural History History If you live outside of New York City a trip to the Museum is probably a thrill But if you have lived all of your life in New York then by the time you are eleven you have certainly gone to the Museum 279 times Yet every year whatever teacher we have drags our class there and when we groan and protest the teacher says You don’t know how lucky you are to have such a great museum in your city Well we had visited a court gone ice-skating shopped at the Job Lot Trading Mart which is an enormous store with thousands of things 10
for sale and even if you have only a dollar dollar saved up you can buy about ten different different things with your money Mrs Eldridge was OK and I was glad that we would have her next year I really mean it about the homework she said When all the boos and shouts subsided subsided she explained Let me tell you about it Why do you think it is good to study for ten months of the year and then for two months not do any reading or thinking at all I think called out Fred Brandon I think what score the Mets are going to get in their next game and who is going to win Human beings think every moment they are awake said Mrs Eldridge paying no attention to Fred But it is important to think creatively I want you all to make a summer project for yourself 11
