Bright, Shiny Skylar

Bounciness

Lots of things are easy for Skylar at school. She’s good at writing, reading, and math. But the thing that’s hardest for her is sitting quietly in her seat. She just feels like she has to jump up and call out answers. Miss Sparks has to remind Skylar that she must raise her hand when she has something to say. But when Skylar has the answer for the next question, she raises her hand and says “I know! I know! Miss Sparks! Me! Me! Call on me.” And then before Miss Sparks can call on Skylar, she just shouts out the answer, like it was a soda bottle bubbling inside her and overflowing over the top.

All the children look at Skylar. Skylar realizes she jumped out of her seat and called the answer out again. Miss Sparks’ glasses aren’t shimmering like they usually are. Skylar sinks down in her seat.

Miss Sparks can see that Skylar is a smart girl. But her bounciness is getting her into trouble, and Miss Sparks isn’t pleased. And the other children don’t like Skylar’s jumping up and calling out answers either.

So, Skylar has an idea. She chains together a lot of rubber bands and loops it around her waist and connects it to her chair. Hopefully it’ll help keep her seated. But during math, Gwen makes a mistake on the chalkboard. Skylar jumps out of her seat to give Gwen a hand. And then the rubber bands go Boing! They all break and fly through the room.

The next day, Skylar makes her belt of paper clips. But when Skylar jumps out of her seat, they go Poing! and all break. The next day, Skylar puts sticky tape on the seat of her pants. But when Skylar jumps up to retrieve Razzi, who’s hiding behind the reading tub, all the tape rips. Skylar is disappointed. She’s so bouncy that nothing can keep her in her seat.