Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers

Matthew B. and the
Super Star Stickers
By Tracey West
Illustrated by M. Kathryn Ciamarro
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Super-Star Sticker Day ............................. 1
Chapter Two
Matthew Sticks Out .................................. 4
Chapter Three
Count to Ten ............................................... 8
Chapter Four
Monday Mix-Up ...................................... 13
Chapter Five
Trouble on Tuesday ................................. 18
Chapter Six
The Runaway Hamster ........................... 23
Chapter Seven
A Very Bad Day . ..................................... 27
Chapter Eight
Four Stars for Matthew .......................... 31
Chapter One
Super Star Sticker Day
At lunch, Matthew B. squirted milk out of his nose. It
was an accident the first time. His friend Rafe said
something funny.
Matthew B. was drinking milk. He laughed so hard
the milk came out of his nose! It went all over the
table. All the boys at the table laughed.
“It’s raining milk!” Matthew B. cried.
He drank more milk. He held his breath. He squirted
more milk out of his nose.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 1
The boys laughed even harder. Matthew B. thought
it was so funny. But Mrs. K. did not.
“Matthew, you are making a mess!” she said.
She gave Matthew a check.
Mrs. K. had a chart with their names on it. If you
broke the rules, you got a check. If you stuck to the
rules, you got a star.
Especially on Friday.
After lunch, everyone went back to class. Mrs. K.
had a big smile on her face.
“Who can tell me what time it is, class?” she asked.
“It’s Super Star Sticker time!” everyone shouted.
Matthew B. slumped in his seat. He didn’t like Super
Star Sticker time.
To get a sticker, you needed to have more stars than
checks on your chart.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 2
But Matthew B. only had one star. He had
four checks.
That meant no sticker for Matthew B.
I don’t care, Matthew told himself.
Who needs a dumb sticker anyway?
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 3
Chapter Two
Matthew Sticks Out
“Sabrina, please get your sticker,” said Mrs. K.
She walked up to the front of the class and took
a sticker. It was a big, green star with a smiley face.
Matthew B. yawned. Sabrina always got a Super
Star Sticker.
Matthew H. got his sticker next. He was the reason
Matthew was called Matthew B. Matthew H. always
got a sticker, too.
Matthew H. walked back to his desk.
Mrs. K. kept giving out stickers.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 4
“Rafe, please get your sticker,” Mrs. K. said.
Mrs. K. smiled at Rafe. Mrs. K. had short, brown
hair and big eyes.
Matthew B. liked when Mrs. K. smiled. Sometimes
she even smiled at his jokes.
Rafe went back to his desk. He saw Matthew B.’s
sad face.
“What’s wrong?” Rafe asked.
“I never get a sticker.”
“You can have mine,” said Rafe.
Rafe was like that. He always did nice things. He
gave Matthew B. a red star with a smiley face.
“Thanks!” Matthew B. said.
He took the backing paper off the sticker. Then he
stuck it right on his forehead. Rafe laughed.
Emily saw the sticker on Matthew B.’s forehead.
“Ha!” said Emily. “Here, take mine.”
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 5
She gave Matthew a big, purple star. He stuck it on
the end of his nose.
The other kids saw what Matthew B. was doing.
Evan gave his sticker to Matthew B. So did Risa
and Zoe. Matthew B. stuck them all over his face.
Matthew B. felt great. He stood up.
“I am King of the Stickers!” he shouted.
Mrs. K. held up two fingers. That meant “quiet.” She
looked at Matthew B. She was not smiling.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 6
“Settle down, class,” Mrs. K. said.
“Take out your notebooks. Please write your spelling
words three times each.”
Matthew B. sat down.
The class got quiet.
Risa raised her hand.
“What about Story Time?” she asked.
“You are too excited for Story Time,” said Mrs. K.
“Maybe later. First write out your words. Then we
will see.”
Evan gave Matthew B. a dirty look.
“Thanks a lot, Matthew!” he said.
Matthew took the stickers off his face. He crumpled
them into a ball. He shoved them into his desk.
This was the worst Super Star Sticker Day ever!
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 7
Chapter Three
Count to Ten
After school, Evan walked up to Matthew B.
“You made us miss Story Time,” Evan said angrily.
“You are so stupid.”
“Mrs. K. says we can’t say ‘stupid,’” Matthew B.
told him.
“Mrs. K. isn’t here,” said Evan. Then he walked
away.
Matthew B. felt mad. All he did was make
everybody laugh. What was so bad about that?
At least he wasn’t mean like Evan.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 8
He would talk to his mom and dad about it at
dinnertime.
That night, he sat at the table with his mom, his dad,
and his four older sisters. His sisters all talked at
once.
Elizabeth said she made a goal at soccer practice.
Sarah had a fight with her best friend. Alyssa
needed a shoebox for her history project. Megan
got a 100 on her math quiz.
Matthew got bored waiting to talk. He played with
the mashed potatoes on his plate. First he made a
mountain. Then he tried to make a castle.
Matthew picked up some mashed potatoes with his
fingers and put them on his lip.
“Look! I have a potato mustache!” Matthew
announced.
“That is so gross,” said Elizabeth.
“Mom, Matthew is playing with his food,” Megan
said.
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Story: 4
Page: 9
Matthew’s mom sighed. “Matthew, please, wipe that
off,” she said.
Matthew’s dad laughed. “At least he didn’t make a
potato hat,” he said. “So, Matt, how was your day?”
“Not good,” Matthew answered.
Matthew told his parents the whole story. Mom and
Dad listened carefully.
“Making people laugh is good, Matt,” said Mom.
“But not all the time. Mrs. K. needs the class to be
calm and quiet. That’s why she gets upset.”
“He will never get a sticker,” said Megan. “He can’t
control himself.”
Matthew stood up. “I can, too!” he said. “I’ll prove
it. Next Friday, I’ll get a Super Star Sticker!”
Matthew B. ran away from the table. He ran into his
room and shut the door. His dad followed him in.
“Hey, Matthew,” he said. “I think you can get a
sticker if you want to.”
“Really?” Matthew said.
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Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 10
Dad nodded. “You know, I was a lot like you
when I was a kid,” he said. “I used to get into
trouble at school.”
“Did you make people laugh?” Matthew asked.
“Yes,” Dad said. “I used to say and do funny things.”
“I don’t get it,” said Matthew. “Isn’t it good to make
people laugh?”
“Sure,” Dad said. “But not all the time. Sometimes
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 11
the class needs to be quiet. And sometimes being
funny can get messy.”
“I know,” Matthew said. “Like when I squirted milk
out of my nose.”
Dad smiled. “See? That is funny but messy, too.”
Matthew B. was confused.
“So how do I know the difference?” he asked.
“My mom taught me a trick,” Dad explained.
“She told me to count to 10 before I did something.
Then I had time to think. I could think if it was a
good time to be funny.”
Matthew thought about it. He was surprised.
“Grandma told you that?” he asked. “Did it work?”
“Yes, it did,” Dad said. “Counting to 10 gave me
time to think. I bet it will work for you, too.”
Matthew B. thought about this. Counting to 10
sounded easy to do. “Okay,” Matthew said. “I’ll
try it!”
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 12
Chapter Four
Monday Mix-up
Matthew practiced counting to 10 all weekend. He
didn’t say anything funny at all.
Well, that’s not true.
He told Elizabeth that her hair looked like snakes.
He called his sister Melon instead of Megan. But
that was it.
Matthew felt pretty good when he got on the bus.
He didn’t say one funny thing.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 13
Then he lined up with his class in the playground.
That’s when things got harder. Matthew H. got in
line. Risa pointed at him.
“Hey, Matthew H.,” she said. “You are wearing two
different shoes.”
Everyone looked at Matthew H. He had on one blue
sneaker and one red sneaker. His face turned red.
“It was dark this morning,” he said.
“Ha!” said Evan. “That is so stupid.”
“You’re not supposed to say ‘stupid,’” Risa reminded
him.
Matthew B. wanted to say a lot of things. He wanted
to say, “That’s not stupid, it’s shoe-pid!” He wanted
to do a dance called the Blue Shoe dance.
Instead, he counted to 10. He counted inside his
head. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine, ten!
This is what Matthew B. said: “Leave him alone. It’s
no big deal.”
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 14
“Yeah,” agreed Rafe. “It’s no big deal.”
Matthew H. smiled at Rafe and Matthew B.
Matthew B. felt really good. He wanted to help
Matthew H. some more.
“I wear different shoes all the time,” he said. “I feel
like doing it now.”
He took off his white sneaker. He looked at
Matthew H.
“Want to trade?” he asked.
Matthew H. nodded. He gave his red sneaker to
Matthew B.
Now Matthew H. had one blue sneaker and one
white sneaker.
Matthew B. had one red sneaker and one white
sneaker.
“See?” said Matthew B. “It looks great.”
Some of the kids laughed. That made Matthew B.
nervous. He knew it was funny. But he wanted to
help Matthew H., not cause trouble.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 15
Then the bell rang. They all walked into Room 2C.
They sat at their desks.
Mrs. K. came in. Risa raised her hand right away.
“Mrs. K., Matthew B. and Matthew H. are wearing
different shoes,” she said.
Mrs. K. looked at Matthew B.’s feet. She looked at
Matthew H.’s feet.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 16
“That is interesting,” she said. “How did this
happen?”
Matthew B. shrugged.
“It’s no big deal,” he said. “They’re just different.”
Mrs. K. raised her eyebrow.
Matthew B. held his breath. Would she go to the
chart? Would she give him a check?
Mrs. K. walked to the front of the room.
“Okay, class,” she said. “Please, stand for the
Pledge of Allegiance.”
That was it. She did not give Matthew B. a check.
He was very happy. Only four more days to go, he
thought.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 17
Chapter Five
Trouble on Tuesday
The next day, Matthew H. wore the right shoes.
Matthew B. was glad.
The morning was quiet. They did math. Then they
watched a movie about birds. Matthew B. counted
to 10 a lot during the movie.
He wanted to shout “Quack!” when he saw a duck.
He wanted to stand on his chair and flap his arms
like wings. But he counted to 10 instead.
Mrs. K. gave everyone a star for being quiet. Even
Matthew B.! That made him really happy.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 18
Then it was time for lunch. The air in the lunch room
smelled good.
Matthew B.’s stomach rumbled. It was spaghetti, his
favorite! He waited in line for his spaghetti.
Mrs. Clark, the lunch lady, smiled at him. She
gave him an extra-large serving. Matthew took the
spaghetti back to his table. He sat with the boys in
his class.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 19
Matthew stuck a fork in his spaghetti. It slid off the
fork onto his plate.
“Ha!” Matthew said. “This spaghetti looks like
worms!”
The boys laughed. Matthew laughed too. It was
okay to laugh in the lunch room. Then he got
nervous. What if they were too loud? He looked
around the room. Mr. Santos was the teacher in
charge. He was talking to some kids at another
table.
Matthew B. was relieved. Then Evan picked up some
spaghetti from his plate. He went to the girls’ table.
He put some spaghetti on Sabrina’s arm. “Have
some worms, Sabrina!” Evan yelled.
Sabrina screamed. Mr. Santos came over. “What is
going on here?” he asked.
Risa spoke up. She pointed at Evan.
“Evan did it,” she said. “He put spaghetti on Sabrina
and said it was worms. Everyone knows Sabrina is
afraid of worms.”
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 20
Evan looked mad. “Matthew B. started it,” he said.
“He said the spaghetti looked like worms.”
Matthew B. looked down at his plate. He was sure
he was going to get in trouble. But he didn’t.
Mr. Santos made Evan say he was sorry. Then Mr.
Santos left.
Matthew B. felt bad for Sabrina. He went to the girls’
table. He picked the spaghetti off her arm.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 21
“See? It’s not worms,” he said. He slurped up the
spaghetti. “Mmm. Delicious!”
Sabrina smiled. She wasn’t scared anymore.
Back in class, Mrs. K. gave Evan a check.
Evan gave Matthew B. another dirty look. Matthew
B. didn’t care.
So far he had no checks and one star.
Only three more days to go! he thought.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 22
Chapter Six
The Runaway Hamster
Wednesday morning started off quiet. It was reading
time. Matthew B. picked a book about worms. It
reminded him of the spaghetti.
Then Mrs. K. asked Emily to feed Fluffy. Fluffy was
the hamster who lived in 2C.
Fluffy had a cage with lots of tubes and tunnels.
Fluffy mostly liked to sleep all day. He slept in one of
the tunnels. Mrs. K. said he came out at night.
But sometimes they saw Fluffy eat or run on his
wheel. That was fun. It was nice having a class pet.
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Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 23
Emily jumped out of her chair.
“Okay, Mrs. K.!” she said.
Emily ran to Fluffy’s cage. She opened the door.
“Oh! I forgot the food,” Emily said.
Emily went to the closet to get Fluffy’s food. She left
Fluffy’s door open. Matthew B. saw Fluffy come out
of his tunnel. Fluffy ran through the door. He ran
down to the floor!
“The hamster is loose!” Matthew B. yelled.
Some of the kids screamed. Matthew B. jumped up.
He wanted to run around the room. He wanted to
scream, “Help! A hamster is chasing me!”
But Matthew remembered just in time. He counted to
10. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
ten! He sat down.
“Everyone, stay in your seat,” Mrs. K. said. Matthew
B. thought about what his mom had said.
“That’s right,” Matthew B. said. “Be calm and quiet.”
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Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 24
Fluffy raced under Sabrina’s seat. She screamed
and pulled up her legs. Fluffy raced under the other
desks.
“He’s going to the closet,” Matthew B. said.
“Emily, please close the closet door,” said Mrs. K.
Emily closed the door.
Fluffy stopped just for a second.
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Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 25
That was all Mrs. K. needed. She scooped up Fluffy.
She put Fluffy back in his cage. Fluffy ran inside his
tunnel.
“That was close,” said Mrs. K. “Thank you for
staying calm and quiet, class.”
Matthew B. was very proud of himself. That night
at dinner, he said, “I am definitely going to get a
sticker.”
“Good for you, Matthew,” said Dad.
“He still has two more days,” Megan said. “He’ll
probably mess up before Friday.”
“Will not,” said Matthew.
“Will too,” said Megan.
“Enough!” Mom said. “We are all rooting for you,
Matthew.”
Matthew smiled. He was going to get a Super Star
Sticker. He just knew it!
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 26
Chapter Seven
A Very Bad Day
Matthew B. was very excited on Thursday. One
more day until my sticker! he thought. He imagined
Mrs. K. calling his name. He would proudly walk up
and get his sticker.
He would put his sticker on his shirt — not on his nose
or his cheek. He would wear the sticker at dinner.
His sisters would say, “You did it, Matthew! We were
wrong.”
Thursday went very smoothly.
Then something bad happened. It happened at two
o’clock. Mrs. K. set up finger paints on the big table.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 27
“Today we will paint some spring flowers,” she said.
Mrs. K. squirted the paint on paper plates. She gave
everyone a piece of paper. Matthew B. stuck his
finger in green paint. He drew some flower stems.
Risa was across from him. “What color are your
flowers?”
“Red,” Matthew said. “It’s my favorite color.”
“I like yellow,” Risa said. She reached to grab the
paper plate. The plate flipped up!
Drops of yellow paint rained on Risa’s shirt. Now her
pink shirt had yellow spots on it.
“Oh no!” Risa wailed. “My new shirt!”
Matthew B. wanted to make Risa feel better. He put
both of his hands in the green paint.
“Oh no, my hands!” he yelled.
Risa smiled. Matthew B. put his hands on his face.
Now his face was green.
“Oh no, my face!” he yelled again.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 28
Risa giggled. Matthew patted his shirt. He got green
hand prints on his shirt. “Oh no, my shirt!” Matthew
B. yelled.
Now everyone was laughing. Mrs. K. came over.
Matthew B. suddenly felt terrible. He forgot to count
to 10!
“Matthew, stop this right now!” Mrs. K. said. Mrs.
K. went to the chart and gave Matthew a check.
Matthew B. felt awful. He wouldn’t get a Super Star
Sticker. His sisters would laugh at him. It wasn’t fair!
Matthew B. felt like crying. He didn’t want everyone
to see him cry, so he ran out into the hall. Mrs. K.
followed him.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 29
She saw Matthew B. crying. “Matthew, what is the
matter?” she asked.
“I won’t get a Super Star Sticker tomorrow!”
Matthew cried. “I never get one. I tried and I tried. I
counted to 10. I was good when Matthew H. wore
two different shoes. I was good when the spaghetti
looked like worms. I was good when Fluffy got out.
But it doesn’t matter. I will never get a sticker!”
Mrs. K. was quiet for a minute. “I see,” she said.
“Why don’t you go clean up?”
Matthew stopped crying. He went to the bathroom.
He washed his face and hands.
When he went back to class, Mrs. K. was reading
a story. Matthew B. listened to the story. Then the
bell rang.
Matthew B. was glad Thursday was over. But he still
felt awful!
Matthew B. didn’t say anything at dinner that night.
It didn’t matter. His sisters did all the talking anyway.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 30
Chapter Eight
Four Stars for Matthew
On Friday, Matthew was very quiet. He did not
laugh all morning.
At lunch, Rafe tried to make him laugh. Rafe put two
straws in his mouth. He said, “I’m a walrus!”
Matthew B. laughed a little bit, but he still felt awful.
Then it was one o’clock.
“What time is it, class?” Mrs. K. asked.
“It’s Super Star Sticker time!” everyone yelled.
Everyone but Matthew B.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 31
Mrs. K. started to call out names. “Sabrina, please
get your sticker. Rafe, please get your sticker.
Matthew B., please get your sticker.”
Matthew B. didn’t hear her.
Then Rafe tapped his arm.
“Matthew, she called your name,” Rafe said.
“Yes, Matthew B.,” said Mrs. K. She was smiling at
him. “Please, get your sticker.”
Matthew B. stood up.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “I don’t have enough
stars.”
“Yes, you do,” Risa said. She pointed at the chart.
“You have four stars!”
Matthew B. looked at the chart. He couldn’t believe
it. He had one check, but he had four stars!
“How did I get four stars?” he asked.
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 32
“You earned them,” said Mrs. K. “One star for
being quiet during the movie. One star for helping
Matthew H. One star for helping Sabrina. And one
star for keeping the class calm when Fluffy got out.”
Mrs. K. held out her hand.
“Here is your sticker,” she said. “Good job,
Matthew.”
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 33
Matthew looked at his sticker. It was a red star with
a smiley face.
“Thank you,” Matthew B. said.
Matthew went back to his seat. He put the sticker on
his shirt. Matthew didn’t feel awful anymore.
He felt great!
Matthew showed off his sticker at dinner that night.
“Good job, Matthew,” said Elizabeth.
“We were wrong,” said Sarah.
“You did it!” said Alyssa.
“I can’t believe it,” said Megan.
Matthew B. smiled. “Just wait,” he said. “I’m going
to get a Super Star Sticker every week!”
Title: Matthew B. and the Super Star Stickers
Grade: 3
Story: 4
Page: 34