The Math Problem

By Susan Troutt

Jake has a problema BIG Math problem. A teenage tutor comes to his rescue, and thats when the fun begins. His eagerness to show what hes learned turns into troubleespecially for know-it-all Angela.
Jake gives his teacher Miss Winters a bouquet of poison ivy and steals the show with his wacky Math rap. Pretty soon, marbles are rolling under his teachers feet, and students are shedding their clothes. But when Jake brings a sword to school to teach division, not-to-be outdone Angela, with scissors in hand, shows him how division is really done.
With chaos in the classroom and Jakes gravity- defying hair, who knows what will happen next in the very hilarious story of THE MATH PROBLEM.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477265222

Susan Troutt

As a child, Susan Troutt was blessed with good teachers who introduced her to writing. She wrote and, in return, they displayed her stories in the hallway, entered her essays in contests, praised her pieces, and encouraged her to continue writing. When she grew up, she became a teacher, guiding fourth graders to love the written word and helping them to find their own true joy in writing. Now retired form teaching, Susan Troutt lives in Northern Kentucky with her husband James. She loves reading, Jazzercising, hiking, cooking, quilting, and visiting schools to talk about writing.

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© 2012 Susan Troutt. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 9/26/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6521-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6522-2 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

The Roaring Rowdy

Change Is Good

The Truth Comes Out

Tutor Worries

The New Tutor

Pupils

Setting Jake Straight

Marble Roll

The Substitute

Multiplication Tables

Sponge Brain

The Math Rap

Miss Winters Agrees

Pop Goes the Quiz

Things of Three

Quartered

Divide Me

Punishment

Four Letters

Test, Test, and Away!

For Dillon who has always been good at Math

The Roaring Rowdy

Other kids’ hair grew out. Jake Carter’s dark hair grew up, straight up. He tried to smooth it down. It bounced back like porcupine quills. He thought maybe it was because he was excited.

He didn’t want excitement. He wanted luck. He put on his green good luck sneakers. Everything was better when he wore those sneakers.

This was the day Jake had been waiting for for weeks. In only a moment his teacher, Miss Winters, would hand him his report card. And oh, boy! Then he’d collect his reward.

He tried to be patient. He folded his hands. He twiddled his thumbs. He thought about the promise his father had made.

If you get all A’s and B’s on your report card, I’ll take you to Wild Woolly’s Amusement Park.

Jake could hardly wait to go to Wild Woolly’s! Well, it wasn’t just Wild Woolly’s. It was that new roller coaster, the Roaring Rowdy. He was probably the only kid in fourth grade who hadn’t ridden it. After Dad’s promise, riding that coaster was all he could think about. That was why he’d worked so hard in school.

When Miss Winters walked toward his desk, butterflies twirled in his tummy. He put his hand there to calm things. He swallowed hard. He squeezed his eyes shut.

Oh! There, in his imagination, was the Roaring Rowdy. He could actually hear the safety bars clicking into place. Click! Click! Click! The blue, green, and red roller cars clunked along the tracks, whamp-a-chunka, whamp-a-chunka, to the top of that first rise. Then oh, what a thrill!

The coaster zipped downhill. He threw his hands in the air, waving frantically, as if he were really riding the Roaring Rowdy. Eeeeee! he squealed. EEEEEEEE!

Jake! Jake, are you all right?

Jake’s eyes flew open. There stood Miss Winters.

Huh?

Is everything all right?

Jake looked around. His classmates were staring at him.

Quickly he put his hands down. He refolded them on his desk. Yes. Fine. Yes. Everything was all right. He felt foolish, that’s all.

He looked straight ahead.

Someone giggled. A few more kids laughed out loud.

He wished he were invisible. Was that possible? No. He could see his hands. That meant he was still here. His cheeks turned an embarrassed shade of pink. He glanced down at his green sneakers.

When his eyes came back up, everyone was looking him.

I’m fine, he said. He pretended to clear his throat. Eee. Eee. Just a little mouse stuck in my throat, that’s all.

Miss Winters gave him a reassuring smile. Here’s your report card.

Thank you, Miss Winters, he said politely.

Slowly he drew the report card from its envelope. He saw an A in Reading. Well, of course he’d get an A in Reading. He was a very good reader.

Spelling was an A too because he was good at Spelling.

There was an A in English. He always got A’s in English.

Science was an A. So far, so good.

He ran his finger down the page to the next subject. Social Studies. He wasn’t very good at Social Studies. This might be bad.