Geeger the Robot Goes to School Read online

  Welcome to ALADDIN QUIX!

  If you are looking for fast, fun-to-read stories with colorful characters, lots of kid-friendly humor, easy-to-follow action, entertaining story lines, and lively illustrations, then ALADDIN QUIX is for you!

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  ALADDIN QUIX: The next step between ready to reads and longer, more challenging chapter books, for readers five to eight years old.

  For all my teachers, both past and present

  Cast of Characters

  Geeger: a very, very hungry robot

  DIGEST-O-TRON 5000: a machine that turns the food Geeger eats into electricity

  Tillie: a student at Geeger’s school, and Geeger’s first new friend

  Ms. Bork: Geeger’s teacher

  Arjun, Olivia, Mac, Sidney, Suzie, Gabe, Roxy, Raul: other kids in Geeger’s class

  1 Meet Geeger

  Geeger is a robot. A very, very hungry robot.

  That’s because Geeger was built to do just one thing: EAT!

  Geeger was constructed in a laboratory by a team of scientists. Then he was sent to a town called Amblerville. There Geeger eats all the food that the rest of the townspeople don’t want.

  Like rotten eggs.

  And moldy bread.

  And mushy fruit.

  You might say, “YUCK!”

  But Geeger says, “YUM.”

  How does Geeger work?

  Geeger has a brain, just like you. The only difference is that Geeger’s brain is made up of wires. Your brain, meanwhile, is made up of… well, gooey brain stuff.

  Most of the time, Geeger’s brain tells him to do just one thing:

  EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT!

  Sometimes Geeger puts food into his mouth and chews and swallows, like you. Other times, Geeger opens the door in his stomach and shoves the food right inside.

  At the end of every day, Geeger plugs himself into his DIGEST-O-TRON 5000. The machine sucks up all the food that Geeger has eaten and turns it into electricity. The electricity then helps power the town!

  Now and again Geeger gets confused and eats things he’s not supposed to.

  Like forks.

  And batteries.

  And toaster ovens.

  When Geeger does that, the DIGEST-O-TRON lets him know. The machine’s lights flash. Its sirens scream.

  WEE-oOoOo!

  WEE-oOoOo!

  WEE-oOoOo!

  Geeger has lived in Amblerville for one whole month. He loves it there. There’s always plenty for him to eat. But some days Geeger gets lonely. The DIGEST-O-TRON doesn’t make the best company.

  That’s why Geeger has decided to go to school!

  Geeger doesn’t know much about school. In fact, he knows nothing about school. But it must be a wonderful place.

  Every single morning Geeger watches all the kids in Amblerville make their way to school, and they’re always laughing and smiling. School seems like the perfect place for Geeger to make a friend. Then he won’t be lonely!

  Geeger will soon find out if all of this is true.

  Today is his first day of school!

  Mostly Geeger is excited. But he’s also feeling a little bit nervous.

  What if he can’t find his classroom?

  What if he makes his teacher mad?

  What if the other kids don’t like him?

  Geeger gives his head a shake to knock these worries out of his wires. He focuses on starting his day off right.

  First he screws a brand-new light bulb into the top of his head. Then he goes to the kitchen, because everyone knows that a good day always starts with a good breakfast—especially Geeger!

  2 Breakfast Time

  There’s no refrigerator in Geeger’s kitchen. There isn’t a microwave or an oven, either. There aren’t even any tables or chairs!

  Instead the room is filled with buckets and barrels and cartons and containers of spoiled and rotten and stale and expired food.

  Geeger’s brain starts buzzing as soon as he sees it all. It tells him: EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT!

  So Geeger eats!

  First he has:

  14 eggs (rotten)

  3 containers of yogurt (expired)

  and

  1 whole box of cereal (expired and stale)

  “Deee-LISH,” Geeger says, dumping the last of the cereal into his stomach. That’s Robot for “delicious,” which means: yum!

  But Geeger is still hungry.

  So he eats a little more:

  16 bananas (brown and mushy)

  7 waffles (slightly moldy)

  and

  1 container of motor oil (premium grade)

  “Deee-LEC-TA-BLE,” Geeger says, shaking the container of oil so that every last drop gets into his guts. That’s Robot for “delectable,” which means: super yummy!

  But Geeger is still hungry.

  So he eats A LOT more:

  11 more waffles (extremely moldy)

  3 batteries (9-volt)

  6 pieces of toast (burnt to a crisp)

  2 scoops of mac and cheese (moldy)

  2 scoops of mashed potatoes (even moldier)

  1 backpack (stuffed full of

  snacks)

  13 strawberries (smooshed)

  22 blueberries (super smooshed)

  and

  2 cans of garbanzo beans (expired)

  “Deee-VINE,” Geeger says, tossing the second can of beans into his tummy. That’s Robot for “divine,” which means: holy cow, was that yummy!

  Then Geeger checks the clock and says something else:

  “UH-OH.” Which is just Robot for “uh-oh,” but which in this case means: Geeger needs to hurry up and leave the house if he doesn’t want to be late to school on his very first day!

  Because look at the time!

  Geeger just needs to grab his backpack, and he’ll be ready to go.

  But where’s his backpack?

  Geeger thought he saw it sitting there on the counter just a moment ago. Wasn’t it right between the mashed potatoes and the strawberries?

  Or maybe he left it next to the DIGEST-O-TRON.…

  If Geeger goes to look for it, he’ll definitely be late for school.

  What’s worse: showing up late on your very first day of school, or showing up without a backpack?

  Geeger checks his other clock.

  Eek!

  Before he can waste another second, Geeger hurries out the door.

  3 Meet Tillie

  Outside, the sidewalks are already crowded with kids on their way to school.

  There are big kids, little kids, and in-between-size kids. Most of them walk, but some ride bikes, and a few swerve in and out of the others on skateboards.

  Geeger can’t help but notice that every last one of the kids is wearing a backpack.

  As he joins the kids, a strange feeling fills Geeger’s stomach. It’s like a bunch of butterflies somehow snuck in there and are now flapping around like crazy.

  Geeger steps aside and stops. He opens the door to his stomach and peers inside.

  There’s the problem!

  Sitting among the rotten eggs and mushy bananas and moldy mashed potatoes is… his backpack!

  “PHEW!” Geeger says.

  He pulls out his backpack and closes the door to his stomach. He’s about to step back onto the sidewalk when he notices that someone is standing in his way.

  It’s a girl. She has curly hair and bright eyes and a big smile. She’s staring right up at Geeger.
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  “Hi!” she says. “What’s your name?”

  “GEE-GER,” Geeger says.

  “Geeger?” says the girl. “I’ve never heard that name before.”

  Geeger worries that this is a bad thing. But then the girl says, “How cool! I’m Tillie. Something about me you should probably know—I’m really good at jump rope.”

  Geeger doesn’t know what jump rope is. But since Tillie is so proud of her jump rope skills, he says, “COOL.”

  Tillie says, “Yesterday I did forty-two jumps in a row!”

  Geeger says, “YES-TER-DAY I ATE FOR-TY TWO SLI-CES OF MOL-DY cheeese.”

  Tillie giggles.

  “You’re funny,” she tells Geeger. Then, without a word of warning, she spins around and zips off down the street.

  Geeger watches her go.

  “COOL, COOL,” he says, experimenting with this brand-new word. “Cooooool.”

  Geeger hasn’t even gotten to school yet, and he’s already learning!

  4 Brand-New Student

  Geeger’s school is bigger than he thought it would be.

  There are so many different hallways, and they all look exactly the same. And there are even more doors. There must be more than a hundred of them!

  Luckily, all the doors have signs on them, so Geeger has no problem finding his classroom.

  As he stands outside his classroom door, that butterfly feeling starts up in Geeger’s stomach again.

  But Geeger doesn’t have time to look and see what else he accidentally ate for breakfast. Class is about to start!

  Geeger steps into the room and looks around. There are desks and chairs and lots and lots of kids.

  Some kids are talking. Others draw or read. Along the walls of the room are bookshelves, which are crammed full of more books than Geeger ever knew existed.

  Standing at the front of the room is a woman with short hair and a skirt decorated with pictures of even more books.

  Geeger knows this must be his teacher, Ms. Bork. She looks nice. Geeger really, really hopes he doesn’t do anything to make her mad.

  Just then, Ms. Bork sees Geeger. She smiles and waves him up to the front of the classroom.

  Geeger goes, his stomach fluttering.

  “Class,” Ms. Bork says once Geeger is standing beside her. “Please find your seats.”

  The kids get quiet. They put away their papers and books, and sit down at their desks.

  Toward the back of the room, Geeger spots someone familiar—Tillie! Seeing her makes Geeger feel a little less nervous.

  “We have a brand-new student joining our class today,” Ms. Bork says. “Please say hello to Geeger.”

  “Hello, Geeger!” the kids all say.

  Geeger raises a hand and wiggles his fingers. “HEL-LO, ki-i-ids.”

  “Now, Geeger,” says Ms. Bork. “Would you care to tell us all a bit more about yourself, and just what you came to our town of Amblerville to do?”

  Geeger looks out at his classmates. Every single one of them is staring up at him, waiting for him to speak.

  And the way Geeger’s stomach feels at this moment, it’s like he accidentally ate two hundred backpacks.

  Geeger wants to run out the door and all the way back home. But before he can, Tillie catches his eye. She gives him a grin and a big thumbs-up.

  Geeger smiles back. Then he opens his mouth and tells the kids all about himself.

  5 Bells and Whistles

  Geeger begins by saying: “I AM A RO-BOT.” Then he tells the kids, “A RO-BOT BUILT TO ea-a-at.”

  Next he tells them what he eats: all the spoiled and rotten and stale and expired food that the kids and their families don’t want.

  “Ew!” says a kid named Arjun.

  At the same time, a girl named Olivia says, “Awesome!”

  Geeger doesn’t understand how something can be gross and awesome at the same time. But the kids all seem interested in what he has to say, so he keeps on sharing.

  He tells the kids about the DIGEST-O-TRON 5000, and how it turns all the food he eats into electricity, which then helps power the town’s lights and computers and refrigerators and TVs.

  Next Geeger tells the kids about the wires that make up his brain.

  At last he says, “AL-SO, I HAVE SOME BELLS aaand WHISTLES.”

  Geeger shows the kids how his super stretchy arms can reach all the way from one side of the room to the other.

  “Amazing!” says Mac.

  Sidney says, “So cool!”

  Then Geeger shows the kids how, if he pokes out his leg just right, he can pick up radio stations and play music.

  “I know that song!” says Suzie.

  Gabe says, “It’s my favorite!”

  Finally Geeger shows the kids the actual bells and whistles that he keeps in a compartment in his side.

  “Nifty!” says Roxy.

  Raul says, “So cool!”

  Geeger feels like he’s on top of the world. No—like he’s on top of the universe!

  Tillie gives him a grin and a double thumbs-up.

  “Thank you, Geeger,” says Ms. Bork. “We are so excited to have you in our class. Now, as the rest of you know, we’ll be starting our day with a geography lesson.”

  Ms. Bork steps over to her desk. She moves aside a few books and pencils.

  Then Ms. Bork picks up an object Geeger has never seen before.

  It’s big and round and blue, and covered in some sort of greenish-brown crusty stuff.

  To Geeger it looks like a giant piece of moldy blue fruit. And that’s when Geeger’s brain starts buzzing.

  EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT!

  Geeger snatches the globe—because that’s what the object really is—out of Ms. Bork’s hand. Then he quickly crams it into his mouth.

  Olivia gasps.

  Arjun yelps.

  Ms. Bork gapes at her now-empty hands.

  “Um,” she says. “I—I guess we can skip right to making our maps.…”

  Back at her desk Ms. Bork pulls open a drawer and takes out a bin. In the bin are a bunch of long, thin, colorful cylinders, plus several tubes of something thick and white.

  Geeger grabs the colored pencils first. But before he can get his hands on a single tube of glue, Ms. Bork yanks the bin away from him.

  Geeger looks up at her. And the expression on her face is not a good one. If Ms. Bork were a DIGEST-O-TRON 5000, her lights would be flashing and her sirens would be screaming.

  WEE-oOoOo!

  WEE-oOoOo!

  WEE-oOoOo!

  Geeger is confused.

  Things were going so well.

  What happened?

  “Class,” Ms. Bork says, never once taking her eyes off Geeger. “You may go to recess early. Geeger and I need to have a talk.”

  6 Making Mistakes

  Geeger watches the kids file out of the classroom. Tillie is the last to leave. She glances back at the last second and gives Geeger a worried look.

  “Geeger?”

  It’s Ms. Bork. She holds a hand out to an empty desk, asking Geeger to sit.

  Geeger squeezes into the chair and looks up at his teacher.

  “I AM IN TROU-BLE?” he asks.

  “No,” says Ms. Bork. “You’re just learning. You see, there are some things that it might be okay to do at home but that it’s not okay to do at school.”

  Geeger has a scary thought.

  “THERE IS NO EAT-ING IN schoo-oo-ool?” he asks Ms. Bork.

  Ms. Bork smiles.

  “You can eat at snack time,” she says. “And during lunch, in the cafeteria. But you’ll also have to learn what you are and are not supposed to eat.”

  “I WAS NOT SUP-POSED TO EAT BIG BLUE MOL-DY FRUIT?” Geeger asks.

  “That,” says Ms. Bork, “was a globe. And no, you were not supposed to eat it.”

  Geeger wriggles around in his seat so that he can open the door to his stomach.

  He reaches a hand into his guts and pulls out Ms. Bork’s globe. One sid
e of it is a bit dented. There’s a gob of moldy mac and cheese stuck to North America.

  But it looks like the globe can be cleaned and fixed up, good as new.

  Ms. Bork carries the globe over to her desk.

  Geeger points to the object she sets the globe next to.

  “THAT IS NOT BIG PIECE OF BURNT TOAST?” he asks.

  Ms. Bork lifts up the object. “This,” she says, “is my notebook. It has a leather cover.”

  Geeger points to something else.

  “THAT IS NOT A SHI-NY DOUGH-NUT?” he asks.

  “That,” says Ms. Bork, “is a roll of duct tape.”

  Geeger sighs. “THIS IS VE-RY CON-FUS-ING.”

  “That’s okay, Geeger,” says Ms. Bork. “Everyone gets confused sometimes.”

  Geeger eyes his teacher. “EV-EN MS. BORK?”

  “Especially Ms. Bork,” says Ms. Bork, smiling. “There’s no reason to be embarrassed about getting confused.”

  Geeger understands what Ms. Bork is saying. But he’s not sure he will be able to ignore his brain when it tells him to EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT! It’s going to be hard. Really hard. But if Geeger wants to stay in school—and he does—he’s going to have to try.

  “You might continue to make mistakes,” Ms. Bork tells Geeger. “And that’s okay too. Mistakes are chances to learn, Geeger—some of the best chances there are.”

  “O-KAY,” Geeger says. “I WILL TRY MY BEST.”

  “That’s perfect,” Ms. Bork says. “Now come on. I’ll show you how to get to the playground for recess.”

  7 A Spaghetti Strand

  Ms. Bork leads Geeger outside.

  “I realize this is all very new to you,” she tells him. “I’ll try to be better about explaining things. I’ll start right now.”

  First Ms. Bork points to the long patch of pavement that has the tall metal poles at either end.