Florence Perry Heide Quotes

“ ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Treehorn,’ said Treehorn. ‘First time I ever heard of a family naming two boys the same name,’ said the bus driver. ‘Guess they couldn’t think of any other name, once they thought of Treehorn.’ Treenhorn said nothing.”

“Treehorn sat under the bed to finish playing the game. He always liked to finish things, even if they were boring. Even if he was watching a boring program on TV, he always watched it right to the end. Games were the same way. He’d finish this one now. “

Treehorn sighed, ‘I don’t think I’ll tell anyone,’ he thought to himself, ‘If I don’t say anything, they won’t notice.’ “

“Something very strange was happening to Treehorn. The first thing he noticed was that he couldn’t reach the shelf in his closet that he had always been able to reach before...”

“After recess, Treehorrn was thirsty, so he went down the hall to the water bubbler. He couldn’t reach it, and he tried to jump up high enough. He still couldn’t get a drink, but he kept jumping up and down, trying.”

“ ‘Well, I want you to know I’m right here when you need me, Treehorn,’ said the Principal, ‘and I’m glad I was here to help you. A team is only as good as its coach, eh?’ The Principal stood up, ‘Goodbye, Treehorn. If you have any more problems, come straight to me, and I’ll help you again. A problem isn’t a problem once it’s solved, right?’ “

“That night Treehorn was watching TV. As he reached over to change channels, he noticed that his hand was bright green. He looked in the mirror that was hanging over the television set. His face was green. His ears were green. His hair was green. He was green all over.

“Then he noticed that his clothes were getting too big...he tripped on his trousers which indeed did seem to be getting longer and longer.”

“ ‘I’m shrinking. Getting smaller,’ said Treehorn. ‘If you want to pretend you’re shrinking, that’s all right,’ said Treehorn’s mother, ‘as long as you don’t do it at the table.’ “

“Treehorn liked to watch television. Now he lay on his stomach in front of the television set and watched one of his favorite programs. He had fifty-six favorite programs. “

“Treehorn liked cereal for breakfast. But mostly he liked cereal boxes. He always read every single thing on the cereal box while he was eating breakfast. And he always sent in for the things the cereal box said he could send for.”

“ ‘I can’t read this,’ said the Principal. ‘It looks like SHIRKING. You’re not SHIRKING, are you, Treehorn? We can’t have any shirkers here, you know. We’re a team, and we all have to do our very best.’ “