Fergus and ZEKE

and THE 100 th day of school

KATE MESSNER
ILLUSTRATED BY HEATHER ROSS
 FOR ADRIANNA
KM

FOR TC, WHO DOES THE COUNTING

HR

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either
products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Text copyright © 2021 by Kate Messner

Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Heather Ross

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information
retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including
photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

First edition 2021

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number pending

ISBN 978-1-5362-1300-3

21 22 23 24 25 26 CCP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

This book was typeset in Minion.

The illustrations were created digitally.

Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

www.candlewick.com
 cont ent s
CHAP TER 1
one hundred great ideas
•1•
CHAP TER 2
one hundred impossible challenges
• 13 •
CHAP TER 3
a story in one hundred words
• 27 •
CHAP TER 4
Ninety-nine and a half cheese puffs
• 37 •
 CHAP TER 1
one hundred great ideas

FERGUS AND ZEKE loved being the class

pets in Miss Maxwell’s room. When Miss
Maxwell started the day with music, Fergus
and Zeke sang along. When the children
wrote stories, Fergus and Zeke wrote stories,
too. And when the class studied weather,
Fergus and Zeke made up their own
forecast.

1
 Miss Maxwell kept a big calendar at the
front of the room. Some of the days on the
calendar had stars. Those were the special
days her class loved best of all. Fergus and

the first day of autumn.

They dressed up for the costume parade
on Halloween.
And they cut tissue-paper snowflakes on
the first day of winter.

2
 One day, Miss Maxwell told her students,
“We have been working and playing together
as a class for a long time now. Almost one
hundred days!” She pointed to a star on
her calendar. “On Friday, we will have a
party to mark our one hundredth day of
school.”
“How will we celebrate?” asked Jake.
 “By using the number one hundred in
as many ways as we can. For example, we
might sing a song with one hundred words,”
said Miss Maxwell. “Or share one hundred
pretzels as a snack.”
“We should have one hundred cupcakes!”
said Neela.
“One hundred pizzas!” said Will.
 “I’m afraid that might give you one
hundred tummy aches,” said Miss Maxwell.
“How about one hundred days without
homework?” said Emma.
Miss Maxwell laughed. “By Friday, I’d
like each of you to bring in a collection of
one hundred items so that we can see what
one hundred looks like. We will paint a One
Hundredth Day of School banner and
make a big display for our celebration.” She
handed out crayons and paper. “Today, we
will make some art to put up on the wall for
our party. Please draw a picture of what you
think you will look like when you are one
hundred years old.”