Chapter 1



In second grade, we all look great!

It is not only Mallory who looks great.

That’s what Ms. Patel says.

Ms. Patel is our Class 2B teacher.

She is very beautiful.

She has mooshy-gooshy arms.

She has smile-crinkles near her eyes.

And earrings. Sometimes she has a barrette in her hair.

We all look different, Ms. Patel said yesterday.

But everybody in the whole second grade looks GREAT!

Mallory has glitter folders and bright orange sneakers and a huge pink eraser.

And Mallory has cat ears on her headband.



Chapter 2



Today Anna came to school with cat ears on her headband, too.

She was showing it off to everybody, all day.

“You look great,” Mallory told Anna.

“We both do!” said Anna. “We both look great!”

They jumped around in a circle holding hands, yelling, “Don’t we look great?”

“Yes!” Bucky told them. “You look like cats! I love cats!”

Bucky is my best friend.

He did not say I look like a cat.

He did not say I look great.

Cat ears on your headband is not the only way to look great.

But it is a very good way.



Chapter 3



I don’t have cat ears on my anything.

I don’t have any headband at all.

Mine got lost.

Headbands squish my brains out.

That’s why I had to take it off so much.

And then I don’t know what happened to it.

It wasn’t my fault.

My unsquished head felt very naked and not-great the whole large recess time today.



Chapter 4



“I need a cat-ears headband!” I told Mom after school.

“A what?” she asked.

“Right away!” I yelled. “I NEED one!”

“Elizabeth,” Mom said. She said it like Eeeeee-lizzzz-ahhhh-bethhhhh.

She says my name soooo slowly when she does not understand that something is an emergency.

“This is an emergency,” I explained. “We have to go to the headband store right away!”

“Buckle your seat belt,” said Mom.

I did.

I buckled right up for speeding to the headband store.

“Do we have a siren and red swirly lights on our car?” I asked.

Sirens and red swirly lights make cars go very fast.

Like police and fire trucks and an ambulance.


Text copyright © 2020 by Rachel Vail

Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Paige Keiser.