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Happy Burpday, Maggie McDougal!

By Valiska Gregory

Illustrated by Pat Porter

The Story

In this lively chapter book, Maggie McDougal spends so much money at a White Sox baseball game that she doesn't have any left to buy a birthday present for her best friend, Bonkers. As the party day nears, Maggie begins to think that she's going to arrive empty-handed, but her grandmother's knack for recycling and a school assignment on heirlooms inspire her to create a specially designed package filled with things she hopes Bonkers will like. Even so, Maggie is worried—will Bonkers think his present is wonderful or just plain weird? Anyone who has ever fretted about finding the perfect gift will go bonkers for this warm and humorous tale about families and friendship.


The Story Behind the Story

I’ve had the odd distinction of having taught every grade of school that there is—from kindergarten to seniors in college.  My first job (for which I was entirely unprepared) was offered to me by a superintendent of schools who said, “Well, we have one job that NObody wants.  I said, “I’ll take it.  What is it?”  I ended up teaching kindergarten, music, and drama at a small school where in my class I had a student who spoke only Polish, another who often injured himself just to get a band-aid and hug, a brother and sister born 9 months apart, a child who clumped down the hall because he only had his uncle’s shoes to wear, and so on.


It was a challenging and wonderful year.  I knew a lot of medieval poetry, but I had no clue how to collect milk money.  On the other hand, by the end of the year, I directed an all-school, full-length, , musical production of “The Wizard of Oz” with a stage crew too young to know how to read.  I learned a lot that year!  So the character of Ms. Chumley in Happy Burpday, Maggie McDougal! is similar to the first-year teacher I was—full of enthusiasm and badly in need of experience.  And because I grew up in a little attic apartment that my father had built in my Slavic grandparent’s house, I got to see my grandmother every single days, and, like Maggie, adored her.

Gram’s Oatmeal Cookies

If you’ve never baked cookies before, make sure you have a grown-up help you.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together in a large bowl:

    1/2 cup butter

    1/2 cup brown sugar

    1/2 cup white sugar

Add

    1 egg

    1/2 teaspoon baking soda

    1/2 teaspoon baking powder

    2 teaspoons cinnamon

    1 Tablespoon vanilla

Mix until the batter is smooth.

Then add:

    1 cup flour

    1 cup uncooked rolled oats

If you like them add enough of the following to make 1 cup:

    chocolate chips

    raisins

    nuts

Spoon out walnut-sized lumps of cookie dough about three inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet.  (To make a giant cookie like Maggie, place three lumps of dough one inch apart in a circle.)  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.