After a summer spent on dusty bookshop shelves sellotaped on special offer to a dictionary, Penny the Pencil is thrilled to be bought by 8-year-old Ralph the day before school starts. Unlike Penny, Ralph is not looking forward to going back to school. He is a poor student, and an easy target for Bert, the class bully. Penny feels sorry for Ralph, and as her spelling is so good - having been sellotaped to Dictionary all summer - she manipulates his hand so that he spells correctly and gets full marks on his tests. This behaviour is not appreciated by the other residents of Ralph's pencil case, and terrible events ensue.

Illustrated by: Mike Gordon