Ratz: Part 5

By PAT QUINN

"You were all good," he said, opening the car door, "and funny, too, 'specially that one that went to dance with the rag dolls and got thrown out." I wondered whether to tell him that was me.

"I don't think I belong with the toy soldiers," I said. "I should have been a rag doll. I would have been really good at that but the older girls got those parts."

"Look at it this way." Dad started the car and drove out of the carpark. "This year you were a soldier but next year you might be a rag doll. And the next year you'll be a college girl, dancing in the Senior Section. Before you know it you'll be famous: tra-la-la, you'll be a star!" he sang.

But this cheerfulness just made me even gloomier.

"No," I said. "It'll never happen. Anyway, I'll probably never be a rag doll 'cos they're all..." I shrugged. "...better than me."

"They're older than you, that's all."

Publisher: Scholastic

Price: $13.95

Age group: 8-13 years