Karen's School Picture

by Ann M. Martin

  “Oh, great! Do you know what you’re going to wear?”

  “Yes. I know about everything except my glasses. I can’t decide whether to wear them. Ricky Torres says I’m an Ugly-duck.”

  “You are not an Ugly-duck,” said Kristy. She sat down on the bed and put her arm around me.

  “I think I look like a dork with my glasses on.”

  “Then don’t wear them.”

  “Mommy gets mad when I don’t wear them,” I replied.

  “She won’t mind for just a minute.”

  “She might. Besides, Mommy never takes off her glasses when she has her picture taken. Neither does Natalie. Neither does Ms. Colman. I think,” I said finally, “that I will feel like a dork if I leave them on, and I will feel like a wimp if I take them off. I do not know what to do.”

  Kristy gave me a butterfly kiss on my cheek. “I have an idea,” she said. “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Try to go to sleep now, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said. “Thank you, Kristy.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I fell asleep right away.

  Spectacles

  “Today,” Kristy told me at breakfast on Saturday, “we are going to the library, Karen.” “And I will drive you there,” Charlie added grandly.

  “Why are we going to the library?” I asked. I like the library a lot, but Kristy and Charlie sounded quite mysterious.

  “You’ll see,” was all Kristy would answer.

  “Hey, Professor,” said David Michael from across the table. “Will you return my library books for me?”

  “Sure,” I replied. I still could not decide whether I liked being called Professor.

  * * *

  Charlie dropped Kristy and me off at the library just as it was opening. Kristy led me into the children’s room. We were the only people there, except for a librarian.

  “May I help you?” she asked us.

  “Thank you,” said Kristy, “but we have to do this ourselves. I want to show my sister some pictures of people who wear glasses.”

  The librarian smiled. I frowned. What was Kristy up to?

  Kristy took me by the hand. She walked me to a shelf labeled HOLIDAY BOOKS. She pulled out a bunch of Christmas stories.

  “Notice anything?” she asked as we leafed through the books.

  “Santa Claus wears glasses!” I exclaimed. “So does Mrs. Claus sometimes.”

  Then Kristy went to another shelf. She handed me a copy of Winnie-the-Pooh. I love that book.

  “Take a look through it,” said Kristy.

  “Owl wears glasses!” I cried. Then I remembered that I was in a library and should keep my voice down.

  Next, Kristy handed me a huge, fat book of stories with pictures by a man named Walt Disney. “Look!” I whispered loudly. “Geppetto wears glasses in Pinocchio, and the White Rabbit wears them in Alice in Wonderland, and John in Peter Pan, and even Scrooge McDuck. And Doc! He’s my favorite dwarf. Kristy, let’s see if Jacob Two-Two wears glasses.”

  We checked, but he doesn’t. I was disappointed — until Kristy helped me find a book called Spectacles about a pair of magic glasses.

  “Boy,” I said as we left the library with Spectacles under my arm. “An awful lot of important people wear glasses — even if most of them are boys!”

  School-Picture Day

  On Monday morning, I woke up in my bed at the little house. It was school-picture day. I still did not know whether I was going to wear my glasses. I liked my glasses okay. I just did not know whether to wear them. “Karen?” said Mommy. She stuck her head in my door. “Are you awake?”

  “Mmm,” I replied. I was mostly awake.

  “Don’t forget what day this is.”

  “I already remembered.”

  Mommy laughed. “Do you want some help choosing your clothes, or do you know what you’re going to wear?”

  “I think I will wear my dress that is blue on top and blue and black plaid on the bottom. I will wear a blue ribbon in my hair.”

  “Perfect,” said Mommy. “That is a very good choice.”

  * * *

  Mommy drove Nancy and me to school that morning. Nancy was ready for her picture, too. She was wearing a red sweater over a white blouse. On the collar of the blouse were red flowers with green leaves. And tied on one side of her head was a huge red bow.

  We were very excited.

  The ride to school seemed to take forever. When Mommy finally pulled up in front of Stoneybrook Academy, she turned to look at me.

  “Karen?” she asked. “Are you going to wear your glasses when the photographer takes your picture?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know, Mommy,” I answered. “I really don’t know.”

  “That’s okay, sweetie,” she said.

  But she didn’t say whether to wear them or not. I knew I would have to decide for myself. At least Mommy would not be mad if I took the glasses off for my picture. That just showed how much Ricky knew.

  Nyah, nyah, nyah.

  Now all I had to do was decide whether to be a dork or a wimp.

  Nancy and I walked to our classroom. Every kid who came in looked very dressed up. Some of the boys were even wearing suits and ties.

  I checked the glasses-wearers. Natalie’s were on. So were Ricky’s But he might take them off later. My pink ones were on, of course.

  When Ms. Colman came into the room, she clapped her hands.

  “Please take your seats, boys and girls,” she said.

  We sat down. We stopped talking.

  “The cameraman is here,” announced Ms. Colman. “He is setting up his equipment in the gym. The kindergarteners and first-graders will have their pictures taken soon. Then it will be our turn. You will have your individual pictures taken first. Afterward, we will have our class picture taken.”

  Well, the little kids sure took their time. Our class waited and waited for them. What could possibly take so long?

  But at last the school secretary called Ms. Colman on the intercom.

  “Your class may go to the gym now,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Ms. Colman replied. “Okay, class. Line up at the door — quietly.”

  We lined up, but I don’t know how quiet we were. It’s hard to be quiet when you are very, very excited.

  I wiggled in between Hannie and Nancy. I noticed that Ricky was at the head of the line.

  He is so pushy.

  Our line filed out of our classroom and headed for the gym.

  “Here we go!” I said to Hannie and Nancy.

  CLICK!

  When we reached the gym, the first-graders were still there. They were not finished yet. Boo. “The secretary called us too early,” I told Hannie and Nancy. “Now we will have to wait in line.”

  I do not like waiting in line.

  But at last the first-graders left. The photographer turned to our class.

  “Is everybody ready?” he asked.

  “Yes!” we cried.

  “Who’s first?”

  “Me! I’m first!” said Ricky. He was still at the head of the line.

  The photographer led Ricky to a chair in front of a pale blue screen. He stood behind his big camera. “Smile!” he said to Ricky.

  “Okay,” Ricky replied. But before he smiled, he took off his glasses. He looked at me and stuck out his tongue. Then he looked at the photographer and smiled.

  “What a wimp,” I whispered to Hannie and Nancy. But I wasn’t sure I meant it. If I took my glasses off, too, then I could give my best movie-star smile.

  CLICK! The photographer took Ricky’s picture.

  Natalie was next. She sat in front of the blue screen.

  “Smile!” said the photographer.

  Natalie smiled. She was wearing her glasses.

  I looked at Ms. Colman. I imagined her standing with our class when we had the group picture taken. Her glasses would be on. And suddenly I knew what I was going to do. Only I had to get something out of my desk in our classroom first.


  “Save my place!” I whispered loudly to Hannie.

  “Where are you going?” she asked me.

  “Can’t tell. It’s a secret.”

  I ran to Ms. Colman. I whispered my secret in her ear. Ms. Colman smiled. Then she gave me permission to go to our classroom. When I reached it, I took something out of my desk and ran back to the gym.

  I got there just in time. Hannie was having her picture taken. My turn would come next.

  When the photographer called to me, I walked proudly to the chair in front of the screen. I left my pink glasses on. Then I pulled the something out of the pocket of my dress — my blue glasses. They were fastened to a chain that the optometrist had given me. I had not used the chain before, but I needed it now. I slipped the chain over my head so that I was wearing the blue glasses like a necklace.

  Now it was my turn to stick my tongue out at Ricky. Then I smiled at the photographer and his camera went CLICK! I had worn both pairs of glasses in my picture.

  Ricky stared at me with his mouth open.

  When all of my classmates had had their pictures taken, the photographer led us to some risers against the wall of the gym.

  “Okay,” he said, “taller kids in back, shorter kids in front.”

  When we were finally organized I was standing between Nancy and Yicky Ricky. Hannie was next to Nancy. Everyone was smiling.

  And Ricky was wearing his glasses.

  That afternoon on the playground I saw Ricky sitting on a swing by himself. I left Hannie and Nancy and ran over to him.

  “Hey, Ricky,” I said.

  “Hey,” he answered.

  “Did you know,” I began, “that Geppetto and the White Rabbit and Santa Claus all wear glasses?”

  “Really?” replied Ricky. He sounded interested. So I told him about Owl and Doc and John and Scrooge McDuck, too.

  When I was finished, Ricky said, “I’m sorry I called you names.”

  I decided that maybe Yicky Ricky wasn’t yicky after all.

  Love, Karen

  One week and four days later was a very special day. It was a Going-to-Daddy’s Friday. It was also the day we got our school pictures back. That was so much fun! I just love opening the envelope and seeing the pictures inside. There are two big, big ones. There are four medium-sized ones. There are sixteen tiny ones. The tiny ones are in rows on a sheet, and you have to cut them apart. And then there is the class picture, with everyone together.

  I looked happily at the class picture. There I was, wearing both pairs of glasses. There was Ricky with his glasses and Ms. Colman with her glasses and Natalie with her glasses. It was the most wonderful picture I had ever seen.

  “What do you think?” I asked Hannie and Nancy. They were examining their pictures, too.

  “Great!” said Hannie.

  “Neat!” said Nancy.

  I think Mommy was surprised when she looked at the pictures and saw that I was wearing two pairs of glasses. But then she said, “I am proud of you, Karen.” So I still felt happy.

  Mommy kept one big picture and two medium pictures for her and Seth. The other big picture and medium pictures were for Daddy and Elizabeth. All the little ones were for me. So was the class picture.

  When Andrew and I got to Daddy’s that night, I was so, so, so excited.

  “Here are my pictures! Here are my pictures!” I cried, before I had even taken my jacket off.

  “Pretty nice, Professor,” said David Michael.

  “Beautiful,” said Daddy and Elizabeth.

  “They look just like my Karen,” said Kristy.

  After dinner, I took the little pictures up to my bedroom. I found a pair of scissors and sat down at my table. Then I put on my blue glasses. Very carefully, I cut the pictures apart.

  “There,” I said to Moosie. “Now I have to sign them.”

  I wrote “Love, Karen” on the back of every picture.

  Here are the people the pictures were for: Mommy, Daddy, Seth, Elizabeth (for their wallets), Nannie, Kristy, Charlie, Sam, David Michael, Andrew, Emily, Hannie, Nancy, Natalie, my friend Amanda Delaney, and Ricky Torres.

  I knew just how I would give people my pictures, too. I would hold each one out and say, “Here. This is for you from me.”

  Except for Ricky’s picture. I would hide Ricky’s picture in his desk and let him find it by himself.

  I sighed. That was a good idea. Then I took off my blue glasses. I put on the pink ones. I ran downstairs. It was time to start handing out my school pictures.

  About the Author

  ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.

  Copyright © 1989 by Ann M. Martin

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First edition, 1989

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-04451-5