the year of billy miller by kevin henkes

Eventually he decides to write a poem about his mom that he can perform at the end-of-the-year show. And boy does he think this is a challenge. In fact, Billy decides to give Sal his special dragon pearl and write her a neat note with his cool dragon-stamped envelope.īy the time second grade is almost over, Billy has one more challenge to overcome: writing a poem. Now the bad news is that Sal and Billy end up falling asleep, so that stinks, but the good news is that they also form a seriously tight bond. The big headline that night is that Billy wants to try to stay up all night for the first time ever, and he recruits Sal to be his partner-in-crime. And seriously, these art pieces rock-Billy's dad even sells some at a gallery.Īnd speaking of that gallery, when Mama and Papa are away at the art show in Chicago, Sal and Billy have a babysitter named Gabby. Billy's Papa has been searching for some inspiration, and Billy gives him the idea of working on dioramas. Just like that, Billy changes his tune and figures the glitter is a-okay. After freaking out for a bit, Papa comes up with a solution-the glitter is like a sparkly mineral called mica. Everything is going well with the diorama until Sal decides to pour glitter on Billy's bat cave. Surprising Event (1): The Glitter Debacle. So there are two surprising events that happen all thanks to these dioramas: Yep, Papa puts together different odds and ends that he finds around town to make seriously cool pieces of art. Billy makes a pretty awesome bat cave alongside his pal Ned, and his little sis, and he gets loads of help from Papa, since his pops is both a stay-at-home dad and an artist. S is really into being creative in the classroom? She asks the kids to make dioramas of their chosen animal habitat. S tells Billy that she thinks he's smart, which rocks.

S as an I'm-really-a-nice-guy-I-swear present and everything is cool. Uh oh… So Billy finds some cool silver objects to give Ms. When Billy pokes fun at Emma, he worries that he's also accidentally insulted Ms. She teases Billy from the get-go and, well, Billy teases her right back. What's not-so-great, however, is the class know-it-all, Emma Sparks. Silver and she's got creative education in the bag. When Billy starts school, he realizes that his teacher is pretty great. Good thing Billy has a supportive Mama and Papa and a pesky but fun little sis named Sal to keep him company no matter what. You see, it's time for Billy to start second grade and now he's worried that it might be the worst year yet. His fall leaves a ginormous lump on his head and some major fears about the upcoming school year. Picture this: It's the end of summer vacation and Billy slips big time. Okay, okay, there's a lot more to the story. It starts out rough, but by the end he's actually had a pretty awesome year. Here's the long and short of it, folks: Billy survives second grade.

The year of billy miller by kevin henkes