N emo the little clown fish loved everything about school. He loved his classmates, he loved his teachers, and he loved to learn.
Every morning, Nemoâs dad, Marlin, took him to school. Along the way, Nemo always asked lots of questions.
âWhat is a whaleâs tongue like, Dad?â Nemo asked. But before his father could answer, Nemo had moved on to the next question.
âHow many clown fish can a shark eat in one gulp?â he wondered. âActually, why are we called clown fish?â
If his dad didnât know the answer, Nemo asked his teachers.
One morning before school, Nemo saw his best friends, Tad, Pearl, and Sheldon. They played tag and âalgae in the middleâ before school started.
Mr. Ray was on school-yard duty that morning. He was everyoneâs favorite teacher. Nemo and his friends swam over and sang a special song they had made up just for him.
âHeâs our favorite teacher.
Hip, hip, hooray
For the big, spotted manta.
We love Mr. Ray!â
Then it was time for school to begin. The first class of the day was music, taught by Señor Seaweed, an octopus. Nemo and his classmates were getting ready for the spring concert. Nemo played the conch shell. Sheldon played the clams. (The clams didnât like it very much!) Tad strummed along on some kelp. And Pearl played the sand-dollar tambourines.
âOne, two, three,â Señor Seaweed said as he moved his legs to the music.
Nemo and his classmates played the song over and over. One time Nemo blew his conch shell too late. Then Tad forgot to strum. And the clams got cranky.
Finally everyone got it right. Then it was time for the next class.
Nemo and his friends swam to science class. The lesson was âYour Ocean Home.â Mr. Ray was the teacher. He called on Nemo. âWhere do you live?â he asked.
âAn enemy, I mean emony, I meanâ¦â said Nemo.
âNemo lives in an anemone,â said Mr. Ray. âWhile the rest of us would be hurt by an anenomeâs stings, Nemo brushes himself against one every day. That way the stings donât bother him.â
The rest of the class looked at Nemo in awe.
âThatâs right!â Nemo said proudly. He liked science class. Mr. Ray always found a way to make it interesting.
Soon it was lunchtime!
There were a lot of lunchroom rules, like no inking in the lunch area and no throwing sand. And absolutely no eating of classmates, no matter how tasty they looked.
Nemo took out his lunch. "I'll trade you my kelp sandwich for your algae pizza," he said to Tad.
"Yum!" said Tad.
After lunch it was time for recess. Everyone had fun playing hide-and-seek, but then Sandy Plankton got into a bit of trouble. She swam into a clam!
Once Sandy was free, it was time for Nemoâs next class. It turned out that there was a guest teacher that dayâDory! She was a regal blue tang fish who was one of Nemo and Marlinâs good friends.
âHi, Elmo!â she cried, waving to Nemo.
The clown fish giggled. Dory was very forgetful.
Dory taught the class how to speak whale.
âRepeat after me,â she instructed. â Eeyouurbawlla kaava . Pwonk! Pwonk! Froooomaafkaplewweyoo. â
âWhat did you say?â the class asked eagerly.
âI just said hello!â Dory exclaimed.
Then it was show-and-tell time. Pearl brought in a cool piece of coral she had found. And Sheldon, the sea horse, had some big newsâhis dad was having babies!
âWho wants to go next?â asked Mr. Hermit.
Nemo
raised his fin. âToday I have some very special visitors for you all to meet. Come right in, guys.â
Anchor, Bruce, and Chum swam in. They were big sharks. The other kids were really scared because they thought the sharks might eat them. But Nemo told everyone how firendly they were.
âPleased to meet you,â said Chum. âDonât worry, kids, we donât eat fish anymore. Well, we try not to,
1802-1870 Alexandre Dumas