Horrible Harry Cracks the Code Read Online Free Page A

eighth person is!” he announced.
    We turned around and quickly counted.
    â€œ Sidney! ” everyone replied.
    Sidney was clapping his hands and jumping up and down.

    â€œSave your energy,” Mary said. “Harry botched up his last case, remember?”
    Sid stopped jumping and made a face.
    One by one, Mrs. Funderburke handed us our blue lunch tray with a milk carton on it. A few people asked for juice instead. One by one, the cafeteria aides added a large square of pizza, a bag of carrot sticks, a plastic container of applesauce, a big chocolate chip cookie, and a packet with a spork and napkin.
    When we got to our lunch table, I checked under my milk carton. The orange sticker wasn’t there.
    â€œBoo again!” Mary said. “I don’t have it!”
    â€œMe either,” Ida said.
    Mary lifted up Harry’s milk carton. “He doesn’t have it!”
    â€œ I do! ” Sidney said, ripping it off his lunch tray. He held the orange star sticker high in his hand. “I’m getting a gold coin!”
    â€œWell,” Harry cooed. “Like I said, Sidney was the eighth person in line. What do you have to say, Mare?”
    Mary slowly sank down in her chair. In a very soft voice she said, “You got it right this time.”
    We all clapped for Harry.
    Harry took a bite of pizza and leaned back in his chair. He was feeling good!
    â€œSo, how come you didn’t stand in the eighth place in line, Harry?” I whispered. “You could have gotten that gold coin.”
    â€œâ€™Cause solving a tough case is the best prize of all,” Harry said. “Cracking a code beats getting a light-up Wiffle Ball.”
    I nodded.
    Harry wasn’t just a real detective. He was a real winner.
    A real winner doesn’t need a prize.

Epilogue

    M rs. Funderburke used these Fibonacci numbers for her February fun: 5, 8, 13, 21. She was planning to make 1 her next number after 21.
    But Mary’s tattling changed that.
    Mary waited three days before she tattled again. And when she did, it was to Mrs. Funderburke. “Harry knows your special set of numbers,” Mary said. “He cracked the code. But he doesn’t tell us until we’re all lined up, and he never stands in the winning place.”
    Mrs. Funderburke said Harry was an honorable detective. But she would no longer use the Fibonacci numbers. She was just going to pick a number out of a jar.
    Harry’s reign as the world’s second-best detective only lasted four days. But he loved every minute of it!

Who was Leonardo Fibonacci?

    L eonardo Fibonacci was a famous Italian mathematician who lived from around 1175 to 1250. He recorded a unique sequence of numbers found in patterns in nature and musical chords: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 . . .
    How did Mr. Skooghammer teach Harry the Fibonacci numbers?
    In the book Horrible Harry and the Dungeon , Mr. Skooghammer taught Harry about the Fibonacci sequence. He showed Harry things from nature like pineapples and pinecones that illustrate this number pattern.
    Starting with this sequence, you can figure out the rest of the pattern: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 . . .
    You add the last two numbers and the sum is the next number. So one plus one is two, one plus two is three, two plus three is five, three plus five is eight, five plus eight is thirteen, and eight plus thirteen is twenty-one!
    Can you guess which number comes next?
    Can you write the Fibonacci numbers up to almost one thousand?
    (Go to www.suzykline.com to find out the answer!)