Free Horrible Harry and the Dragon War by Suzy Kline

Clouds of War

    M y name is Doug. I’m in Room 3B. Usually, I write stories about my best friend, Harry. He loves to do horrible things. Sometimes I write about Song Lee. She’s the nicest person in third grade. Once I even wrote about Harry and Song Lee getting married.
    But that’s an old story.
    This is a new one and the most horrible one of all. Harry and Song Lee’s first fight. A fight that turned into a war.
    It all started with dragons.
    We were sitting on the rug having our morning snack. Harry was eating celery sticks with peanut butter. He says the raisins down the middle are ants on a log. Sidney was munching on his usual, an apple with brown spots.
    I was slurping grape juice with my new twisty straw. Miss Mackle, our teacher, was peeling a tangerine when she broke the news. “Our next project is going to be fun. Pick an animal from any story you’ve read and find out all you can about it.”
    Mary waved her yogurt spoon in the air. “I know who I’m doing. Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web! She saved Wilbur’s life.”
    â€œI’m doing Searchlight from Stone Fox,” I said. “I love that dog. She helped little Willy and his grandfather save their farm.”

    â€œDibs on Templeton from Charlotte’s Web,” Sidney called out. He loves to eat like me!” When Sid bit into another brown spot, Mary cringed.
    â€œOnly you would choose a rat,” she groaned. “But I can see why.” Then she pointed to Sid’s snack. “You both like rotten things.”
    Sidney cackled as he wiped the apple juice off his mouth with his shirt sleeve.
    Miss Mackle clapped her hands. “I’m so happy some of you already know which animal you want. Anyone else have an idea?”

    Song Lee raised her hand. “I love dragons. Remember when you read My Father’s Dragon to us?”
    Miss Mackle smiled. “I sure do. It’s one of my favorites!”
    â€œI read it again, myself. Could I do my project on dragons?” Song Lee begged.

    Before Miss Mackle could say yes, Harry jumped up. His celery went flying into the air, hit the blackboard, and fell sticky side down on the braided rug.
    Song Lee giggled as she helped wipe up the peanut butter mess with her pink napkin.
    â€œMy grandmother read St. George and the Dragon to me last night. It was cool. See?” Harry whipped the library book out of his backpack. “I want to do dragons, too!”
    Everyone looked at the terrifying beast on the cover. It was spitting fire.
    â€œHmmm ...” the teacher replied. “Why not? They’re mythical animals. You can both do dragons. You and Song Lee work so well together.”
    While Harry slapped Song Lee five, we all smiled. No one dreamed Miss Mackle’s decision was going to be deadly.
    I think the weather knew, though.
    Dark clouds circled Southeast School and thunder rolled. When a tree branch tapped our classroom window, we stopped talking and looked up. Was the whistling wind trying to tell us something ?
    Yes!
    Doom was coming to Room 3B!

The “S” Word

    T hat stormy morning Miss Mackle set out toilet paper rolls, balloons, newspaper, cardboard, and masking tape on the supply table. She was at the sink mixing something in a bucket. “I’m excited about this new quick-drying art paste for our papier-mâché. But you need to sketch your animals first.”
    â€œYippee!” Harry and I shouted. We loved doing messy projects. Everyone got busy drawing.
    Harry drew a dragon with a huge sail of skin on its back, huge bat wings, five sharp claws, and a spiked tail with a fat arrow at the end. It looked like the picture in his book. It spit fire and poisonous green smoke. “This baby is one mean dragon!” Harry roared.
    â€œMine’s not mean,” Song Lee said softly. “He’s kind, like the one Elmer talked about in My Father’s Dragon. Did you know I was born in the