Ratz: Part 2

By PAT QUINN

We marched back and forth across the stage, left-right-left; the little dolls skipped, and the rag dolls drooped and swooped. The music swirled and thumped and lifted up my arms. It pushed my legs up, hoppety-skip, and suddenly I was a little doll, then a rag doll, swooping and drooping and - "What are you doing? a rag doll whispered. She punched my arm "You're meant to be a soldier!"

I looked down at my red and black soldier costume. She was right, but all the other soldiers were miles away, going left-right-left around the stage. My face felt hot, burning like the bright red of my costume.

"What'll I do?" I whispered to the rag doll. She glared at me.

"Just go away!" she hissed. She did a tricky priouette and gave me a shove towards the marching soldiers. I stumbled into one of the little dolls, muttered, "Sorry," and got back into the line of soldiers just as the music finished.

Publisher: Scholastic

Price: $13.95

Age group: 8-13 years