1. Mr. Leroy's voice crackled through the intercom speaker after a fifth-grader named Henry Newmeyer had led the entire school in the Pledge of Allegiance. "This is your principal, Mr. Leroy," he said, and Mrs. Pidgeon's second-graders all laughed. They knew he was their principal. He didn't need to tell them. It wasn't like the day in October when Gooney Bird Greene had appeared in their classroom for the first time and said, "I'm your new student." She'd needed to explain that, because nobody had had a clue who she was, and she had arrived wearing pajamas and cowboy boots, which made her somewhat mysterious. But everyone already knew who Mr. Leroy was. He was Watertower Elementary's principal and he was the best principal, the children thought, in the whole world. He was smart and funny and he wore the most interesting neckties, except for the blue striped one. He had explained that his wife's mother had given him the blue striped one for his birthday, so he felt that he had to wear it now and then. He really thought it was a boring necktie, but if they ever met his mother-in-law they should not tell her that he thought that. "I just want to alert you all to the weather forecast," Mr. Leroy's voice continued through the intercom. "I guess we shouldn't be surprised, since it is January, but the prediction is for snow