Amelia Bedelia Shapes Up

Amelia Bedelia Shapes Up is the fifth book in the Young Amelia Bedelia series.

Heads Up
It starts, explaining that when Amelia Bedelia was a kid, she unwillingly looked silly in front of her friends twice. After doing fractions, Mrs.Robbins let her class out for recess, and Rose had yelled "Last one to the fountain has to add up ten fractions, except Amelia Bedelia!", because she was the one who had let them out early, she had given her teacher a headache. The reason for the headache-giving was she had said "What if I gave you a pie", which Amelia had thought was a real one and thanked her. The teacher had explained it was pretend and said that what if eight people wanted a piece, to which Amelia had said that she would cut it into eight equal pieces. Mrs.Robbins continued that what if she served half, then four more people showed up. Amelia had said that she would bake them pretend cupcakes, so Mrs.Robbins asked her to pretend she couldn't bake. Amelia had then gotten mixed up with the words "fraction" (thinking it was a flavor) and "whole" (thinking holes were nothing), and then she then said that she would buy another pie, then mishears "cents" as "sense", and has to pretend she doesn't have money. The kids had laughed, and recess was called. The children had then drunk from the water fountain and then Rose and Dawn picked teams for kickball. On Dawn's turn, she had chosen the water fountain. Rose had asked why and Dawn had said that she had to choose between the water fountain and Amelia Bedelia and the water fountain wouldn't goof up. Rose had then said that if the water fountain was on Dawn's team, then her team would not be able to get a drink without permission. Amelia Bedelia had then gotten embarrassed and offended (she wouldn't as a grown-up, but she was just a child then), and Dawn had then reluctantly let Amelia join the team. Amelia had been put outfield and when Holly had kicked the ball, it had bounced off Amelia's head due to the sun being in her eyes, but still had caused a win.

Water Girl
Despite the win, when Amelia had gotten home, she had still felt offended about the water fountain remark. She had gone outside, and sat on the stairs with Finally Bedelia, waiting for Mr.Bedelia to cheer her up. When Mr.Bedelia had arrived, he had made a "preposterous" joke about having twelve other daughters. He had then asked how school had been, and she had replied that school itself had been fine, but recess had been terrible. Mr. Bedelia had then said he wished he had recess, and another day another dollar. Amelia had said that he needed a raise, to which her father had replied that he brought home bacon to keep the wolves out, and she had said that they were having chicken that night. They had then pretended to be wolves. Mrs.Bedelia had then said that they had been having recess while she had been struggling for dinner, and Mr. Bedelia had said "I wish", and Amelia Bedelia had said "I don't." Mrs. Bedelia had asked her husband to carve the chicken and her daughter to fill the water glasses, upon which young Amelia had suggested that they install a water fountain. Mr. Bedelia had said "Who needs a water fountain when we have you?", making Amelia sad. At dinner, Amelia had told her parents what happened at recess, which by then, had actually made her laugh, but the parents hadn't found the story funny, they had just looked like they wanted to talk in private. Amelia had then went to bed.

Little Pitchers Have Red Ears
Despite having gone to bed, Amelia was not tired, and she had overheard her full name over and over. She had gone down the stairs to listen to the conversation, and Mrs. Bedelia had said that Amelia was weak, out of shape, and had "co-ordination problems". The parents had then wondered if Amelia didn't like sports, or if she was unhappy, or had low self-esteem, and had said that "little pitchers have big ears". Mrs. Bedelia had then made popcorn. Amelia had then gotten her head stuck, and Mr. Bedelia decided to "hit the sack". She had gotten free, gotten back to her bed, and the parents had come in and said that despite not having a fever, Amelia's ears were hot. She then had fallen asleep, fiery ears and all.

Hole in One
Amelia had then woken up to have to play golf, which she didn't like. On the way, Mr. Bedelia had told his daughter the history of golf. They had gotten in the car, and Amelia had asked if it was tea time, and gotten given tees instead of tea. He had then taught her how to "address" the ball, and to swing the club. Mr. Bedelia had then said to aim for the green, but this had confused Amelia as everything around them (grass, bushes, etc) was green. He had then said to aim for the flag on a stick. Mr. Bedelia had then asked young Amelia to find him a wood, on which she looked for a stick, and then asked for an iron, she had to be explained he had meant golf clubs. Amelia Bedelia had then gotten confused about the meanings of "the pin" and "chipping" the ball. Amelia had missed the point of golf and tried to prevent it from falling in the hole. She had then stopped being thirsty. They had then done a water ball and gotten a hole in one.

Downward-Facing Finally
On Sunday afternoon, young Amelia had found her mother serenely practicing yoga and asked her what she liked about it. Mrs. Bedelia had then demonstrated a table pose, a cat pose, and a downward-facing dog pose, which Amelia Bedelia had thought Finally did better than a human. They had then clowned around and talked about golf, and the new words she had learned like "hook" and "slice", for different moves in golf. They had then wondered where Mr. Bedelia was.

Get the Cents Back
Amelia Bedelia had gone downstairs to the family room, where Mr. Bedelia was eating chips and dip, and watching football. Amelia had tried to watch this confusing sport and was showed the referee (the one dressed like a "zebra" who made sure they followed the rules), and the ones wearing numbers (the quarterbacks), and Amelia had wondered if they knocked into each other trying to get a quarter back. Mr. Bedelia explained that they won millions of dollars. They had watched for a bit, while Mr. Bedelia was yelling at the screen and Amelia Bedelia was confused by the numbers, and liked the chips and dip, and she had daydreams about fractions, but then Mr. Bedelia had fallen asleep. She had then changed the channel to one about gorillas fighting over a coconut, with zebras in the background, and then Mr. Bedelia had woken up and lost his glasses, asked what the score was, and upon getting the answer, fallen asleep again.

Marathon, Pentathlon, On and On...
On Monday, none of the other students had learned about golf, and so had been impressed. She had then gone to her favorite subject history, where there was going to be Greek games. Teddy worried about running a marathon and the ancient Greek messenger who died after running one. Mr. Tobin had then said that they were doing a pentathlon, which had five events, and they would have to run a hundred and nine yards, which had intimidated young Amelia. Mr. Tobin had then said that they would also do a long jump, wrestling, discus throw, and javelin, the last one had surprised Clay. Mr. Tobin had said it would be safe. They had then done some research, on which they had learned that Greek athletes were naked. Mr. Tobin had let them wear clothes, but they had to wear togas. The class had then been shown a plate with a picture of ancient Greeks running.

On Your Mark, Get Set... STOP!
The practice had started on a hot day. Mrs. Thompson was the coach, and she had stated she liked to be called just "Coach". The kids hadn't liked practicing in the heat. They had then lined up alphabetically in an anaconda-like fashion. Amelia had then said "Hello, Just Coach". Coach Thompson then had said "Not Just Coach. Only Coach.", so Amelia Bedelia had called her "Only Coach." Coach Thompson had then replied "Coach. No just or only above it, I am Coach, period." so from then on, Amelia Bedelia had referred to her as Coach Period. Mrs. Thompson had then asked the kids to run to and from the water fountain, which Amelia hadn't liked as she'd thought it was a bad omen, and she'd started early, and so they had to wait until the coach had said "Go". Cliff had gone to the bathroom. Nobody had liked the run, and Mrs. Thompson had confused young Amelia by saying they needed more "conditioning".

The Hundred-Meter Dash
Mr. Tobin had noted the children were all sweaty. He had also given them no homework if they practiced sports instead, calling it a "homework hiatus". Pat had claimed that his uncle had had his hiatus removed, but that wasn't right. Mr. Tobin had then given them a lesson on ancient Greek medicine. Amelia Bedelia had then tried to dash past a hundred actual parking meters for the hundred meter dash, running onto the road because the sign had said "Don't Walk" and she was running. Officer O'Brien had stopped her and taught her what "meter" and "Don't walk" meant. Officer O'Brien had then given young Amelia a flower.

Throw Like a Girl, Shake Like a Boy
Amelia Bedelia had been practicing running with Finally. They had then gone for a walk, and met Diana, Eric, Charlie and Pierre. Pierre had asked (nonverbal) for the ball to be thrown, and young Amelia had thrown it, but it wasn't a very good throw. Charlie had said "You throw like a girl", and Amelia, confused and offended said "I AM a girl, and so is Finally, and that's fine, and if you have a problem with that, I'm leaving!". Charlie had then apologized and taught her how to throw, and Amelia had left, jokingly saying "You shake like a boy".

Greece-y Pan Cakes
Mrs. Bedelia was angry. Amelia had used her cake pans as discuses and they had gotten dented. This became an argument and Mr. Bedelia came along, having heard it, and asked what they were up to. His daughter had thought he had asked how tall they were. They joked around about vegetarian food (what they were going to eat) and wolves.

High Pentas All Round
The next day was the day of the Greek Games. Everyone had been dressed in togas. In discus, Amelia Bedelia had gotten dizzy doing a spin throw, that ended up second to Pat. The next event was the hundred-meter dash. She won second to Holly, who won "by a nose". Next was javelin, and Amelia had won second again, with the first being Clay. A lot of high fives (of high "pentas") were made and one high ten (or "deca").

A Lonnnnnggg Jump to a Short End
Amelia Bedelia had jumped the long jump, as the coach had said "Scratch", confusing her, and she landed in a heap and won second yet again, the first being Skip, and was second for the fifth time in wrestling, the winner being Angel (what a lot of seconds)

When Second Comes First
A lot of thank yous were said. Winners were given wreaths, but there were six wreaths and five events. The extra one was made by mistake, and given to young Amelia as she was not only a good sport, but lucky to have come second five times in a row. Then, everyone had eaten honey cake, and then gone out for pizza.