''Someday Angeline'' is a children's novel written by American author
Louis Sachar
Louis Sachar ( ; born March 20, 1954) is an American young-adult mystery-comedy author. He is best known for the ''Wayside School (book series), Wayside School'' series and the novel ''Holes (novel), Holes''.
''Holes'' won the 1998 U.S. Nationa ...
. The novel follows a girl named Angeline Persopolis who faces trouble at school because of her intelligence. It was originally released in 1983, but received a reprint in 2005 following Sachar's success with ''
Holes
A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...
''.
The audiobook is narrated by Abigail Reno.
Plot summary
Angeline Persopolis is extremely intelligent. She knew things, especially related to ocean animals and the
ocean
The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...
, "before she was born," with her first word being "
octopus
An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...
." Even though she is only eight, she is sent to the sixth grade. She wants to be a
garbage collector
A waste collector, also known as a garbage man, garbage collector, trashman (in the U.S), binman or dustman (in the UK), is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and dispose of municipal solid waste (refuse) and recycla ...
like her father, although he wants her to become famous and is afraid of her intelligence at times. At school, she also faces problems like being bullied by the other students and misunderstood by her teacher, Mrs. Hardlick. Her only two friends are a fifth grade teacher, Miss Turbone (also known as Mr. Bone) and class clown Gary "Goon" Boone (who later gets a book to himself, ''
Dogs Don't Tell Jokes'').
Mr. Persopolis wants the best for his daughter, and he often pushes her too hard to achieve. When she is elected Secretary of Trash, he becomes angry and orders her to resign. The next day at school, Mrs. Hardlick does not listen to Angeline when she tries to resign, and Angeline is so frustrated that she messes up the classroom, denouncing everything as "Garbage!" Mrs. Hardlick is furious and tells Angeline to come back with a signed note from her father. For the next week, she goes to an
aquarium
An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...
each day, instead of going to school. Her father gets home after she does, so he does not know.
When Miss Turbone finds out about this, she arranges to talk with Mr. Persopolis (it is implied that the two fall in love when they meet). They decide Angeline will be transferred to Miss Turbone's fifth grade class, and that she will return to Mrs. Hardlick's class for a day or two while the transfer is arranged. They also plan to go on a date the next evening.
However, Mrs. Hardlick succeeds in alienating Angeline one more time, and she once more runs away from school, this time to a beach, where she jumps off its
pier
A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...
(the better to see the fish) and nearly drowns. However, she is saved by a fisherman and later gets completely better.
Sequel
A sequel to the book with Gary as the main character, ''
Dogs Don't Tell Jokes'', was released in 1991. It has most of the characters from this book in it, although Angeline is now at a different school.
References
{{Louis Sachar
1983 American novels
Novels by Louis Sachar
American children's novels
Novels set in elementary and primary schools
1983 children's books
Avon (publisher) books
Children's novels set in schools