Lesson 3:The Geography Bee

Hector Peña stood at the front of his fifth-grade classroomat Aliso Elementary. He was one of the last two contestants inthe Room Five geography bee. His opponent, D’Andrea Torres,had just missed her last question. Now it was Hector’s turn. If heanswered his question incorrectly, there would be another round.But, if he was correct, he’d be crowned the Room Five champion.“Let’s see now,” said Mr. Adler. “Where did I put thatsecond sheet of questions?”Hector could hear Mr. Adler searching gingerly through aprecarious stack of papers on his unkempt desk. Everyone likedMr. Adler and thought he was a great teacher. The man was likea walking world atlas. However, he also seemed to be incrediblydisorganized and was constantly misplacing things. Once lastyear, he’d lost his car keys and ridden his bike to school for aweek. Then he accidentally stumbled across the keys in thefaculty fridge in the teacher’s lounge. Somehow he’d left themin the cheese drawer. Finding the second sheet of geographyquestions might take a while.3

“The Falkland Islands?! How did you know that? I’ve nevereven heard of them,” said Abby, as she and Hector ate lunch inthe courtyard later that day.“The Falklands are a British dependency in the SouthAtlantic Ocean,” said Hector, speaking with an artificialerudite tone. “They are made up of two major islands andabout 200 smaller islands. Their total area is slightly smallerthan Connecticut. The major industries are sheepherding andfishing.” Hector punctuated his words by taking a triumphantbite of his chicken sandwich.Abby looked at him in amazement. “Okay, who are youand what have you done with my friend Hector?” she askedsarcastically.5

Hector laughed. He knew that Abby was actually veryproud of him. Besides, she was right about him having changed.Until recently, he’d been a lackadaisical student. He wouldmuch rather have spent time watching television, sending textmessages to his friends, or playing practical jokes than studyinghis subjects. But then last spring, he had landed in detentionwith his fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Hernandez. Up until thatpoint, Hector had been a terrible student in fourth grade, butMs. Hernandez had always been really nice to him. She hadtold him on more than one occasion that he was full of potentialand that one day he would shine.Most kids just sat and stared at the clock in detention. ButMs. Hernandez said she would not stand for wasted time. She6

suggested that the students play a geography game. She puta globe on her desk and spun it. She told Hector and theothers to stop it wherever they wanted. Then together,they would look that country up and find out somethinginteresting about it.The game was fun. Instead of sitting around beingbored, Hector discovered that Canada comes from aNative American word that means “village,” that MexicoCity is actually sinking inches every year, and that thelong-distance calling code for Antarctica is 672 (althoughhe had wondered how many phones there actually were inAntarctica).By the end of detention, Hector was hooked. Hewanted to find out everything he could about the world.Soon he was in the school library poring over atlases andother geography books looking for interesting facts. As lastyear turned into this year, Hector found himself readinghis literature book, his math book, and his history book.Before he knew it, he was an enthusiastic student.“I’m glad you won,” said Abby, bringing Hector backto the here and now. “I haven’t seen you smile this muchsince… well, ever!”She was right again. Winning the classroom geographybee was the first time his classmates had seen the newHector. He’d never really won anything before. Winningfelt good, and he wanted to do more of it.7

“Mr. Adler, wait. You dropped these,” they called afterhim, but their teacher was already gone.“How can he be so disorganized and still be such a goodteacher?” said Abby.But Hector didn’t answer. He was staring wide-eyed atthe envelope in his hand.“What’s up?” asked Abby.Hector pointed to the envelope. There, written in redmarker, were the words “Fifth Grade Geography Bee Questionsand Answers.”The key to winning the geography bee was in Hector’s hand.He looked at the envelope for a long time before he noticedAbby staring at him.9

But on his way to Mr. Adler’s classroom, Hector found outthat saying you would do the right thing and doing the rightthing were two very different challenges.Hector’s brain was in the middle of a heated debate withitself. He was angry with Abby for thinking he would cheat; yethe had to admit he was angry with himself for wanting to. Buton the other hand, he thought, why shouldn’t I? A lot of the otherkids have been studying for years. Manuel Mata’s parents buy himall kinds of books and software. I have to get my resources from thelibrary. I deserve a little extra help.He reminded himself that cheating was wrong. But thenthree kids came up to congratulate him.“The Falklands. Awesome answer, dude.”“Way to go, Hector!”“Yo, Mr. Superbrain.”And Hector was reminded of how good it felt to win.He’d almost reached Mr. Adler’s class when he ducked insidethe boys’ bathroom. He needed some time to think. Hechecked to make sure he was alone. Then before he even hadtime to reflect on the consequences, the envelope was out of hisbackpack and ripped open. Hector had scanned the questionsand answers before his conscience had a chance to say, “Don’tdo it!” Shaken, he felt hot and cold waves wash over his body.As soon as he’d done it, he knew it was the wrong choice.His stomach felt like it was twisting itself into a knot. He’dcheated. Whatever he did now, he couldn’t uncheat.11

Panicked, Hector tried to think of what to do, buthe couldn’t come up with a good plan. Another teacherwould probably figure out that he’d lost the questionsand play it safe and make up new ones. But Mr. Adlerwould assume he’d placed the envelope in the wrongstack or that he’d left it in his freezer or something, andjust use his copy.Hector pondered his choices. If he told his teacherwhat he’d done, Mr. Adler would think he was a cheater.Then he had the worst thought of all. Mr. Adler had losthis second sheet of questions that morning and askedHector the winning question from his copy sheet.What if Mr. Adler thought I stole this morning’s questions,too? Hector thought. He’d take away my Room Five victoryfor sure.Hector suddenly felt like crying. In no time atall, today had gone from the best day of his life to theworst. The bell rang to return to class and Hectorslunk from the bathroom, utterly confused about theright thing to do.For the rest of the day, Hector took pains to avoidinteracting with anyone. When people tried to congratulatehim, he’d mumble something about having to studyand hurry away. Abby had tried to catch his eye severaltimes, but he pretended not to see her and left class forthe afternoon break before she could talk to him.12

He also tried to convince himself that what he’d donehadn’t been so bad. I already knew all the questions and answersthat I saw… except two—the one about the International Date Linebeing on the 180th meridian and the one about an isthmus connectingSpain and the Rock of Gibraltar. As long as I’m not asked either ofthose, it’s not cheating. Is it? His thoughts were chasing themselvesin circles like a puppy chasing its tail. It was exhausting.When the final bell rang, Hector just wanted to get home.Maybe he’d think of a solution when he was in his own room.Or maybe he could just fall asleep and forget about everything—until morning. He was sneaking around a corner by themulti-purpose room, hoping to avoid Abby, when he ran intoMs. Hernandez.“Hector!” She wrapped her arm around his shoulders andgave him a big hug. “Congratulations! I hear you’ve become ageography star.”“I guess so,” Hector replied.“Don’t be so modest,” Ms. Hernandez prodded him gently.“Success doesn’t just arrive on your doorstep in a little package.You’ve got to go out and work hard for it, and you did.”“Yeah,” said Hector, thinking of the “little package” stuckin his backpack.“Come, I want to show you something.” She beckoned himinto the multi-purpose room.The room was decorated for tomorrow’s contest. Models ofairplanes and cruise ships hung from the ceiling, and big picturesof people from countries all over the world were on the walls.13

“What do you think of our decorations?” asked Ms.Hernandez eagerly.“They look great,” said Hector. “Did you work on thegeography bee?”“Yes. And I wouldn’t miss it!” she answered. “The bee getspeople interested in the world they live in. Anything that giveskids a reason to learn is OK in my book.”She looked long and hard at Hector. He looked a littlegreen. “Is everything all right?”“I’m just nervous,” said Hector, quickly adding, “about thegeography bee.”“You shouldn’t be,” said Ms. Hernandez. “It’s not importantwhether you win or lose. The important thing is that youworked hard and lived up to your potential. You should be veryproud of yourself. I know I’m proud to have been one of yourteachers.”Hector swallowed hard. He felt worse than ever.Ms. Hernandez inflated a balloon from a large helium tankand handed it to Hector. “Here, take this. I know balloonsalways cheer me up.”Hector looked at the balloon. It was blue with the countriesof the world outlined in gray, like a little floating globe.“Don’t worry,” said Ms. Hernandez. “Everyone gets onetomorrow. And there aren’t any country names on it. Wewouldn’t want to give anyone an unfair advantage.”14

A few minutes later, Hector found himself standingin Mr. Adler’s room. At first, Hector thought Mr. Adlerhad left for the day. Great! he thought, I can just leave theenvelope and…But then he heard a frustrated “Now where could thatbe?!” A second later he saw Mr. Adler stand up frombehind his desk and dust off his knees.“Oh. Hello, Hector. I thought all you students hadgone home. I was just looking for…”“This?” Hector interrupted holding out the envelopewith the questions and answers.“No, actually, I was looking for my thermos.” Mr.Adler gradually realized what Hector was holding. “Wheredid you get that? And why is it open?”Hector barely stammered out, “I… uh… I… I… I justwanted everyone to think I was smart.” Then in a floodof words he told Mr. Adler about finding the envelope,opening the envelope, and the hours of arguing withhimself. Finally, he ended with, “You might not believe me,but I want you to know that I didn’t steal the answers thismorning. I really knew about the Falklands.”15

“I know you didn’t steal them. I found them after class.They were under my coffee cup.” He held up a creased pieceof paper. A coffee stain circled one of the answers on the page.Mr. Adler looked at Hector for a long time and then said,“Hector, I want to thank you for returning this envelope to me.I know that was a difficult decision.”That’s an understatement, thought Hector. There wasanother pause as Hector waited for the worst.“Now, you better get going, young man. You’ve got somestudying to do before tomorrow.”Hector couldn’t believe his ears. “You mean I can still bein the bee?”“Absolutely. I don’t believe in punishing people for makingthe right decisions and correcting their mistakes. Now, getgoing. I’ve got some new questions to write.” He looked aroundhis desk. “That is, if I can find my pencil…”16

The next day the entire school crowded into themulti-purpose room for the fifth-grade geography bee.Hector had been up late studying and felt both extremelytired and incredibly excited. He was glad to see that all theother contestants looked as nervous as he felt. No one saidmuch as they waited. Manuel Mata was squeezing in somelast-minute studying, turning the pages of what looked likean extra-large atlas.Hector felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to findAbby standing behind him.“I didn’t call you last night because I was sure youwould be studying,” she said. Then she whispered so thatthe other students wouldn’t hear. “I want to say that I’msorry I thought you would look at the answers.”Hector stopped her. “Don’t be.”Abby gasped. Her eyes went wide. “Hector. You’re notgoing to…”Hector stopped her and pulled her aside. Thenhe launched into an explanation of everything that hadhappened after lunch yesterday.“I’m so glad you did the right thing,” said Abby,looking very relieved. “Now I can cheer for you withoutfeeling guilty.”She hugged him for luck and took her seat.OK. This was it. Time to shine.17

Mr. Adler must have found his pencil because he’d surewritten some tough questions. Manuel Mata got knocked out inthe first round.Hector knew that an atoll is a ring-shaped coral island andreef that almost encloses a lagoon. He also knew that Hawaii isthe only state in the United States to grow coffee. But he’dnever read that New Guinea was the largest island in theIndonesian archipelago, and so he was out in round three.As he took his seat, Hector saw Ms. Hernandez clappingfor him and Abby giving him a rare double thumbs-up. Herealized that he didn’t feel bad about losing at all. Ms.Hernandez was right. It didn’t matter if the whole school knewthat Hector Peña was a “smart kid.” Hector Peña knew thatHector Peña was smart, and that was all that really mattered.Hector settled in to see who would finally win and laughedquietly to himself. He’d set out to learn everything he couldabout the world and ended up learning even more about himself.18

RespondingTARGET SKILL Compare and Contrast Howare Mr. Adler and Ms. Hernandez similar? In whatways are they different? Copy and complete theVenn diagram below.Mr. Adler Both Ms. Hernandez?teachers??Write About ItText To Self Hector, the main character in The GeographyBee, is faced with a difficult decision—whetheror not to cheat. Think of a time when you were facedwith a difficult decision about right and wrong. Writeseveral paragraphs explaining what happened.19

TARGET VOCABULARYbeckoneddebatedecoratedgraduallyhesitatedinflatedproddedscannedshakenstalledEXPAND YOUR VOCABULARYarchipelagoatolldependencyisthmuslagoonmeridianTARGET SKILL Compare and Contrast Examinehow two or more details or ideas are alike or different.TARGET STRATEGY Infer/Predict Use text clues tofigure out what the author means or what might happenin the future.GENRE Realistic Fiction is a present-day story withevents that could take place in real life.20

Level: VDRA: 50Genre:Realistic FictionStrategy:Infer/PredictSkill:Compare and ContrastWord Count: 3,1655.1.3HOUGHTON MIFFLINOnline Leveled BooksISBN-13:978-0-547-01646-7ISBN-10:0-547-01646-81031483