Nithya

Nithya __TABITGB__

Theme __I think the theme is "Believe in yourself". Bradley does not believe in himself. He thinks he cannot do his homework and be good, even if he tries. He thinks that he cannot make friends. But finally after trying his best and with Carla's help he becomes good and makes lots of friends.__

SUMMARY

1-4 The new kid Jeff Fishkin has to sit next to Bradley. Jeff tries to become his friend. Now Bradley's best friend is Jeff Fishkin. Bradley's parents find out that there is a parent teacher conference. Bradley tries to make his Mom miss the parent-teacher conference by saying that his mom promised to take him to the zoo. But his mom meets the new school counselor, Carla Davis.

5-9 Jeff goes to the girls bathroom by mistake on the way to Carla's office. Colleen sees him in the bathroom and screams. Jeff tries to run away from there. Bradley and Jeff have lunch together and Jeff tell Bradley about the how he ended up in the girls bathroom. Bradley lies to Jeff that he likes to go to the girls bathroom often to scare the girls. But Bradley is lying to Jeff, because he actually never went into the girls bathroom. Colleen friends, Melinda and Lori try to find out what Jeff's name is, after Colleen tells them she found him in their bathroom. Bradley goes to see Carla. Bradley scribbles on a paper and says it is a picture of nighttime. Then Carla says that she thinks it is a picture of the floor of a barber shop and Bradley says thats what he meant to say.

10-13 Jeff and Bradley go home together. He really liked Jeff as a friend. They want to do homework together. Colleen goes to Carla's office to ask her help in inviting Jeff to her birthday party, because she likes Jeff. Bradley visit Carla. He tells her that Jeff is his best friend and that Jeff will not be able to make new friends as long as he sticks with Bradley. Because all the kids hate him and he wants to remain friends with Jeff forever.

14-18 Jeff and Bradley leave school to go home together. Melinda and Lori say hello to Jeff and this makes Bradley angry. Bradley wants to try and beat the girls up because he does not want anyone to make friends with Jeff. He is very possessive of Jeff. When they get into a fight, Melinda gives Bradley a black eye. He then goes home and tells his Mom what happened at school. When his Mom asks him who caused him the black eye he lies and says that he did not know, because he did not want his Mom to think that a girl hit him. So he actually tells his mom that the leader of the gang is Jeff. So his mom calls the school and complains that Jeff gave her son a black eye at school. When Jeff goes to school the next day, he gets called into the principals office but does not get into too much trouble, because they assume it was Bradley's fault. The other kids try to make friends with Jeff because they thought he gave Bradley a black eye. Jeff starts to be mean to Bradley. Bradley goes home and plays with his animals. He feels hurt by Jeff's behavior.

19-22 Jeff goes to Carla's office and says that he doesn't need to see her anymore because he has a lot of friends now. Colleen says she's not allowed to see Carla anymore because she her parents do not sign the form to see the counsellor. Bradley goes to Carla's office and lies to her that his doctor said he couldn't talk or he would get sick. Carla tells him to try to do better on tests and tells him to do his homework. He makes a list for them to talk about.

23-26 Bradley goes to Carla's office. They talk about monsters from outer space. He draws a monster from outer space. It has one eye, three arms, two hands on each arm, eight fingers and has green skin. Carla doesn't believe in monsters. She thinks that everyone has good in them. So Bradley draws a heart in the monster to show all the good. Carla puts up the picture that Bradley drew in her office. Bradley starts to like Carla. Colleen tries to invite Jeff to her birthday party and Jeff tells her and her friends to leave him alone and this leads to a fight. Melinda gives him a black eye too!

Bradley wants to be good. He wants to get a gold start. He gets so excited about this that he puts on 2 different colored socks. When he goes down for breakfast and he starts to complain about it. Then he remembers that he wants to be good and he stops complaining. But by mistake he spills his orange juice. He goes to school and instead of scribbling, he starts paying attention to the teacher. He notices that Jeff got a black eye too! A girl named Shawne makes fun of both of them with their black eyes. Jeff gets mad at her and tells her to turn her ugly face away and she thinks Bradley said that. The rest of his morning he pays attention and when he goes for his recess he expects a gold star next to his name. Jeff's friends think that Bradley gave him a black eye. Then all the boys start to fight. When Bradley runs away then he goes to the library to hide from the kids. He then goes back to class and he gets late. For lunch break he tries to go out the other door to avoid Jeff and his friends who are waiting to fight with him. He tries to go back to the library but it is locked. So he goes to the girls bathroom to hide in one of the stalls. After sometime he hears a door open and close and thinks there is no one in the bathroom. But 2 girls see him and scream. He then runs to Carla's office.

27 - 29 Bradley tells Carla that he went into the girls bathroom. He has lunch with her. He tells her everything that happened that day. Bradley tells Carla that he is amazed that there are so many books in the library made out of just 26 alphabets! He tells her that the librarian does not allow him to check out any books because he used to rip them out before. He says that he is trying to be good but nobody is giving him a chance. Carla encourages him by saying that slowly people will give him a chance. They spend some time talking about her checkered shirt and his mixed up socks and laugh about it. Carla tells Bradley to do his homework to get a gold star. He almost cries and says that he can't do his homework because he does not know which page they are on. Then Carla feels bad for him and hugs him. He asks his teacher what page the homework was on. That evening he goes home to do his homework. He pretends that his animals are trying to tell him how to do it. He kepts erasing and re-writing and makes a big mess of his paper. He then goes and asks his mom for help. He was never allowed to touch things on his Dad's desk, but when his mom asks him to go get some paper from there, he is surprised. His mom then helps him with his homework. His sister was watching while he was working on this math and says that this is not how it is done and offers to help him with it. They spend the rest of the afternoon doing homework together. After dinner his Dad helps him to finish his homework. That night he was very excited about getting a gold star. But is also worried about what could go wrong. Bradley starts getting worried if he heard his teacher correctly about what homework he is supposed to do. The next day he goes to school and sits at his desk. He does not know what to do with his homework. He sees the other kids put sheets of paper on the teachers desk and assumes it is the homework. He is just about to turn it in but he rips it up at the last second because he is so nervous.

30 - 34 He goes to his teacher, Mrs. Ebbel and asks her for the hall pass so he could go to Carla's office. He goes to Carla's office and tells her what happened. He says he will do his homework from now on. Bradley tells her he has a book report that is due next week but he doesn't have a book. Carla gives him her favorite book: __My parents didn't steal an elephant__ for his book report. He reads the first sentence and he thinks it is funny. He goes home and continues to read the book. The book made him think a lot since it did not make sense. His mom comes in and tell him that she got a letter from the "The Concerned Parents Organization" to ask her to come to a meeting if she has any complaints against Carla. His mom asks Bradley if she should go and he says that he does not think so. His sister Claudia teases him that he is in love with Carla for which he gets a little embarrassed. His mom also joins her in teasing him. The next day when he goes to school he pays attention to Mrs. Ebbel in the arithmetic class. He spends most of his day reading at the library, which pleases the librarian. He felt like the book was his lucky charm. He goes to Carla's office to ask if she will have lunch with him. But she has an appointment with the principle. So after lunch he goes on to read his book. Jeff and his friends tease him that he is just looking at the pictures and does not know how to read. Jeff was about to get into a fight again with Bradley, but Bradley says hi to him. Jeff automatically responds with a "hi" to Bradley. Then they all become friends and play basketball together. Bradley keeps passing the ball to others in the team because he is not sure of shooting the ball. But all his teammates encourage him and he finally shoots the balls. And scores a basket. After a good game he goes back to his book. Jeff goes to the bathroom to wash his face and Colleen walks in on him and screams and runs out. He goes to Carla's office and finds Colleen also there. Jeff tells Carla that Colleen went into the boys bathroom. Colleen is embarrassed that she is caught and apologizes to Jeff that she kept saying "hi" to him when he did not want her to. But then Carla explains that it is a good thing in Zen religion that you respond to anyone who says hi. Colleen feels terrible that she had ignored Bradley after lunch that day when he said hi to her. She then invites Jeff to her birthday and tells him that she is going to invite just one other boy to her party.

35 - 36 Before dinner Bradley's Dad teaches him how to dribble the ball. The next morning at school, Colleen invites Bradley to her birthday party. He is surprised and very happy. He then goes to play basketball with his friends. Colleens friends ask her if she is inviting Bradley for her party. Lori still feels that Bradley is not good, but Melinda does not think so. That night when Bradley was reading his book he pretends that he is reading it to his animals. His Dad comes in to his room to ask how the dribbling went that day and says they could practice a little more the next time. Bradley gets very excited the next day and wants to tell Carla everything that happened the day before. He tells her that everything is turning out good because of Carla and the book she gave him. Carla tells him that it is because of his effort that he is turning to be good. Bradley starts crying and is overwhelmed that he is invited to Colleen's birthday and he was never invited to a birthday party since he was in third grade. He gets worried that he will mess up everything all over again at the party. He asks her if he should take a present for Colleen and what he should get her. He thinks maybe a shower curtain will be a good idea and then he returns to class.

37 - 40 The meeting between "The Concerned Parents Organization" and Carla happens in second grade classroom number 8. One of the parents gets a chart that if they fire the counsellor then there will be enough money to put a computer in every classroom. All the other parents like the idea of a computer in every class room. But the principle tells the parents to ask Carla questions. A few parents get mad at Carla about what she said to their children. Colleen's mother says that she never signed a form giving permission for Colleen to see Carla. But Carla tells her that she met Colleen in an emergency. The mom does not like Carla because she thinks she is making her daughter change religions. So Carla explains to the parents that she just listens to the kids problems and never tells them what do. She tells them that she helps them think for themselves. She tries to reason out bad behavior with the kids and let them figure out why they shouldn't be doing the things they do. But Carla thinks that the parents want to fire her even after her explanation. Bradley was showing Carla his book report. She tells him that she really liked it. He returns the book to Carla, but she lets him keep it as a present. Carla tells Bradley that the next day was her last day at that school. Bradley gets very upset and starts to get mad at Carla. He thinks that it is not fair to leave him to do his homework without her help. He rips the book report and he leaves the book in her office. He feels he does not want to go to Colleen's party and be Jeff's friend anymore nor do his tests. He goes home and falls sick and misses school the next day. When he goes back to school the following day, Mrs. Ebbel calls him and tells him she likes his book report. Carla had taped it back and took it to Mrs. Ebbel. He finally get a Gold Star for the report. He feels very sad and decides to go to Carla to say goodbye to her. He did not play with his friends that day and sat in a far corner of the playground. Jeff comes to him and tells him that Carla wanted to see Bradley in her office. But Bradley does not want to meet her and goes home.

41 - 43 Bradley's mom wants to take him for a haircut before Colleen's party. But he is thinking of going to school to meet Carla. He does not want to get a haircut. But he finally goes to the barber and after the haircut he asks his mom to drive him to school. He runs inside the building to Carla office and finds it all empty and starts crying. He finds an envelope in his name on her desk. He takes the letter out to the playground to read it. Carla writes to him that she gave the book as a present from her heart and tells him that he is a very likable person and thanks him for coming to see her. He tries to write a letter back to Carla but did not know what to write and ends up just playing with his animals. Colleen was waiting for her guests to arrive for her party. Except for Lori and Melinda none of the other girls knew she invited boys to her party. The last to arrive were Jeff and Bradley.

44 - 46 Jeff goes to Bradley's house to pick him up to go to the party. He asks Jeff to tell him what he is supposed to do at the party. They get to Colleen's house and give her the presents. They all go outside to play games. Bradley has a lot of fun with Colleen's dog, Chicken and all her other friends. They are all very nice to him and he wins most of the games. As a prize he got to pick a harmonica. They all have ice cream and cake. Colleen then opens her presents. She reads the card that Bradley gives her. He signs it "Love, Bradley". All her friends starts teasing them. She really likes his gift. It was the replica of the human heart. Bradley and Jeff head home after a great party.

47 Bradley writes a letter to Carla. He thanks her for the book in his letter to her and sends Ronnie, his rabbit, as a present. He says it is a gift from his heart.