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The bell rang, and Mrs. Dempster passed out spelling words. Three of the new words were shrink, shrank, shrunk. At lunch, the dessert was strawberry shortcake. And in Reading, Mrs. Dempster read everybody a book called THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN.

The book was all about a boy who plays games and reads cereal boxes and gets shorter and shorter. He keeps shrinking and shrinking. Then, just when he becomes a normal size again, he turns green!

"Any comments?" Mrs. Dempster asked when the story was over.

Stink raised his hand. "Is that a true story?"

Mrs. D. laughed. "I'm afraid not," she said. "It's fantasy."

"Fantasy's my favorite!" said Sophie of the Elves. "Especially hobbits and elves."

"Are you sure it's fantasy?" asked Stink. "Because that kid is a lot like me. Because I'm . . . I'm . . ." Stink could not make himself say shrinking.

"Because you both turned another color?" asked Webster.

"Um, because I like to read everything on the cereal box, too," said Stink.

"Okay," said Mrs. Dempster. "Let's see. Who's going to carry the milk from the cafeteria today?" Stink was barely paying attention. He never got asked to carry the milk.

"How about Mr. James Moody?" asked Mrs. Dempster.

"Me?" asked Stink. He sat up taller. "I get to carry the milk?"

Stink walked down the second-grade hallway. It looked longer than usual. And wider. He took the stairs down to the cafeteria. Were there always this many stairs? His legs felt shorter. Like they shrink, shrank, shrunk.

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STINK: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING KID by Megan McDonald. Copyright (c) 2005 by Megan McDonald. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.