What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?: And Other Stories
What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?: And Other Stories
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Overview
Avi charts the turning points in seven young lives in this extraordinary collection of short stories.
In the overlapping years when childhood and adolescence blend and shift like waves and sand, nothing is certain and everything is changing. Now award-winning author Avi creates seven astonishing portraits of life in the middle-school years. In these stories you will meet, among others, William, of "What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?" who wonders why he shouldn't ask questions that have no answers. Is it because he might discover the truth? A minister's son, the baddest of the bad, is dared to be good in "The Goodness of Matt Kaizer." And in the chilling tale, "Pets," Eve is haunted by the ghosts of her cats. Always with a surprise built in, an angle unseen, these are stories that step just beyond the edge of the everyday.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780763688028 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Candlewick Press |
| Publication date: | 02/09/2016 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Lexile: | 500L (what's this?) |
| File size: | 918 KB |
| Age Range: | 10 Years |
About the Author
Avi is part of a family of writers extending back into the nineteenth century. Born in 1937 and raised in New York City, Avi was educated in local schools before going to the Midwest and then back to NYC to complete his education. He started out as a playwright while working for many years as a librarian. He began writing books for young people when the first of his kids came along.
His first book was published in 1970. Since then he has published more than seventy books and won many awards, including the Newbery Medal, two Newbery Honors, two Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, a Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and many children’s choice awards. Avi frequently travels to schools around the country to talk to his readers.
Among his most popular books are Crispin: The Cross of Lead, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Nothing But the Truth, the Poppy books, Midnight Magic, and The Fighting Ground. His other books with Candlewick Press include What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything? and The Most Important Thing: Stories About Sons, Fathers, and Grandfathers. Avi lives in Clark, Colorado, with his wife.
Date of Birth:
December 23, 1937Place of Birth:
New York, New YorkEducation:
University of Wisconsin; M.A. in Library Science from Columbia University, 1964Website:
http://www.avi-writer.comRead an Excerpt
What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?
By Avi
Candlewick
Copyright © 2004
Avi
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0763623199
Every day at three o'clock Mrs. Markham waited for her son, Willie, to come out of school. They walked home together. If asked why she did it, Mrs. Markham would say, "Parents need to watch their children."
As they left the schoolyard, Mrs. Markham inevitably asked, "How was school?"
Willie would begin to talk, then stop. He was never sure his mother was listening. She seemed preoccupied with her own thoughts. She had been like that ever since his dad had abandoned them six months ago. No one knew where he'd gone. Willie had the feeling that his mother was lost too. It made him feel lonely.
One Monday afternoon, as they approached the apartment building where they lived, she suddenly tugged at him. "Don't look that way," she said.
"Where?"
"At that man over there."
Willie stole a look over his shoulder. A man, whom Willie had never seen before, was sitting on a red plastic milk crate near the curb. His matted, streaky gray hair hung like a ragged curtain over his dirty face. His shoes were torn. Rough hands lay upon his knees. One hand was palm up. No one seemed to pay him any mind. Willie was certain he had never seen a man so utterly alone. It was as if he were some spat-out piece of chewing gum on the pavement.
"What's the matter with him?" Willie asked his mother in a hushed voice.
Keeping her eyes straight ahead, Mrs. Markham said, "He's sick." She pulled Williearound. "Don't stare. It's rude."
"What kind of sick?"
As Mrs. Markham searched for an answer, she began to walk faster. "He's unhappy," she said.
"What's he doing?"
"Come on, Willie, you know perfectly well. He's begging."
"Do you think anyone gave him anything?"
"I don't know. Now, come on, don't look."
"Why don't you give him something?"
"We have nothing to spare."
When they got home, Mrs. Markham removed a white cardboard box from the refrigerator. It contained pound cake. Using her thumb as a measure, she carefully cut a half-inch piece of cake and gave it to Willie on a clean plate. The plate lay on a plastic mat decorated with images of roses with diamondlike dewdrops. She also gave him a glass of milk and a folded napkin. She moved slowly.
Willie said, "Can I have a bigger piece of cake?"
Mrs. Markham picked up the cake box and ran a manicured pink fingernail along the nutrition information panel. "A half-inch piece is a portion, and a portion contains the following health requirements. Do you want to hear them?"
"No."
"It's on the box, so you can believe what it says. Scientists study people, then write these things. If you're smart enough you could become a scientist. Like this." Mrs. Markham tapped the box. "It pays well."
Willie ate his cake and drank the milk. When he was done he took care to wipe the crumbs off his face as well as to blot his milk mustache with the napkin. His mother liked him to be neat.
His mother said, "Now go on and do your homework. Carefully. You're in sixth grade. It's important."
Willie gathered up his books that lay on the empty third chair. At the kitchen entrance he paused and looked back at his mother. She was staring sadly at the cake box, but he didn't think she was seeing it. Her unhappiness made him think of the man on the street.
"What KIND of unhappiness do you think he has?" he suddenly asked.
"Who's that?"
"That man."
Mrs. Markham looked puzzled.
"The begging man. The one on the street."
"Oh, could be anything," his mother said, vaguely. "A person can be unhappy for many reasons." She turned to stare out the window as if an answer might be there.
"Is unhappiness a sickness you can cure?"
"I wish you wouldn't ask such questions."
"Why?"
After a moment she said, "Questions that have no answers shouldn't be asked."
"Can I go out?"
"Homework first."
Willie turned to go again.
"Money," Mrs. Markham suddenly said. "Money will cure a lot of unhappiness. That's why that man was begging. A salesman once said to me, 'Maybe you can't buy happiness, but you can rent a lot of it.' You should remember that."
"How much money do we have?"
"Not enough."
"Is that why you're unhappy?"
"Willie, do your homework."
Willie started to ask another question, but decided he would not get an answer. He left the kitchen.
Continues...
Excerpted from What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?
by Avi
Copyright © 2004 by Avi.
Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
| What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything? | 9 | |
| The Goodness of Matt Kaizer | 33 | |
| Talk to Me | 59 | |
| Teacher Tamer | 91 | |
| Pets | 119 | |
| What's Inside | 149 | |
| Fortune Cookie | 169 |