A Great Idea All over Room Eight small groups talked about books or read them aloud Voices were quiet Mrs Miller was almost never cranky but she didn't like loud indoor voices Meredith Mercer turned her attention from The Secret Garden and looked around the room The classroom was made up of round tables with chairs instead of the rows of desks her mom said students sat in when she was young Meredith didn't think she'd like having a desk that made you an island all by yourself She turned back to her reading group She'd read ahead again over the weekend It was hard to pay attention when her group was reading parts she already knew Still when
her reading group stopped at a really exciting spot Meri just had to know what came next Jasmine's head was bent over her book as she read aloud A broad window with leaded panes looked out upon the moor and over the mantel was another portrait of the stiff plain little girl who seemed to stare at her more curiously than ever She stopped and looked up at David Boomer passing the reading turn to him What do you think leaded panes are David asked I looked it up yesterday when I got to that spot Meri said She opened her reading notebook and flipped pages until she found a note she had made Then she read aloud A window having small panes of glass held in place by lead David looked confused He held up his pencil Like this stuff in a pencil That's not really lead Sonia Wilson said It's called lead David said
We didn't know the difference either Sean said Then someone in second grade stuck Sonia with a pencil and told her she had lead poisoning I was scared Sonia said Then my mom told me it wasn't real lead Lead is some kind of soft squishy metal Sean said David nodded and turned back to his book and read Perhaps she slept here once said Mary She stares at me David stopped reading and his head popped up I want to make a prediction about the book I think there's going to be a ghost in the house It's going to be the girl Mary Lennox keeps seeing in the pictures The ghost is the one crying Everyone wrote down David's prediction Meri wrote it too though she didn't think there was going to be a real ghost The big house in the book was mysterious but she didn't think it was haunted
