Free The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman Page B

asked him where he got it and he said Brenton gave it to him. Well, that didn’t sound right. You don’t just give somebody something like that. I told Sam he had to give it back, but he said Brenton’s father got lots of free computers and he insisted that Brenton didn’t want it. I called up Mrs. Damagatchi and she said it was true. She didn’t know why Brenton didn’t want it anymore. We figured boys will be boys.
    SAM DAWKINS, GRADE 5
    My dad and I had a pretty hot game. My plan from the opening was to get my pieces onto good squares as soon as I could. I did that, and Dad actually made a few blunders. He let his rook get caught in front of his pawns so they couldn’t advance. By the time we reached the middle game, I was two pawns ahead. So I brought out my queen and let her have the run of the board.
    Dad always told me that one of the best forms of defense is to attack, so I did. After I capturedhis rook, he offered to call it a draw. I could have gone for the win, but I guess I just didn’t have that killer instinct yet. But I had my first draw.
    Dad said I wasn’t just a woodpusher anymore. That’s what you call a weak player, a woodpusher. We started another game.
    MISS RASMUSSEN, FIFTH-GRADE TEACHER
    There were all kinds of rumors swirling around, and I wasn’t sure how to handle them. You don’t want to punish students based on some silly gossip in the school paper or what somebody wrote in a bathroom stall.
    I was talking about it in the teachers’ lounge, and one of the other teachers suggested I give the class a surprise test. That would tell me how much the students were remembering from their homework. Normally I don’t like the whole idea of giving tests for students this age, but it seemed like a good idea.
    I made up a multiple-choice test that covered just about everything we had studied all year. The solar system. The explorers. Arizona geography. Everything. The children were a little surprised when I sprung it on them, to say the least.
    SAM DAWKINS, GRADE 5
    It was totally unfair, I thought. Miss Rasmussen tells us all year long that she doesn’t believe in tests. Then, bang, out of nowhere, she hits us with this huge test.
    MISS RASMUSSEN, FIFTH-GRADE TEACHER
    Well, the class did pretty well as a whole. I was pleased about that. Brenton got every question right. No surprise there. Sam and Kelsey failed completely. Their grades were the worst in the class. It was like they had never seen the material before. But they had been turning in excellent homework. That made me very suspicious. They should have done better.
    What was most surprising though, was that Judy got a C. She’s an extremely bright girl who turned in perfect homework every night. There was no reason why she shouldn’t have done better. I had no choice but to believe the rumors about cheating were true. I was preparing to present the evidence to the principal.
    JUDY DOUGLAS, GRADE 5
    I couldn’t believe I got a C. I never got a C before in my life! I was so ashamed. Instead ofbringing the test home to show to my parents, I stuffed it in the back of my locker. If anybody asked where it was, I decided I would pretend it was lost.
    As it turned out, I never had to pretend anything. After what happened, I felt silly for even caring about what I got on the test.
    KELSEY DONNELLY, GRADE 5
    Snik was absent the day we got the test back. I thought maybe he stayed home from school because he knew he failed. But he was absent the next day, too. Then Miss Rasmussen came in after lunch that second day and she was crying. She told us that Snik’s father was killed. I started crying. I know what it’s like to lose your dad.
    SAM DAWKINS, GRADE 5
    I’d rather not talk about what happened to my dad. Is that okay?
    MISS RASMUSSEN, FIFTH-GRADE TEACHER
    I was told that Sam’s father was driving an armored vehicle with three other soldiers and it was ambushed in the