The Year of Billy Miller Part 4, Chapter 5 Summary

  • It's show time folks. Well, almost. First Billy needs to find the lucky dragon pearl in Sal's room, just in case he needs it. Oh, and Sal wants to share the "Roses are red" poem that she and Papa made up together.
  • When they're ready to hit the road, the Millers head out to meet Ned and trek to school.
  • Everyone in the auditorium gets ready for the show to start. Billy and his mom are up in the front rows with the other poets and special family members while he waits for his turn to recite his poem.
  • Of course, know-it-all Emma Sparks goes right before Billy. And since it's Emma Sparks, you just know that she's not only memorized her poem, but she's also making a big stinkin show of it—she doesn't even take a copy of her poem from Ms. Silver as a backup.
  • Okay, so since Emma decided not to take a copy of the poem and she's the whole reason Billy decided to memorize his in the first place, Billy decides he's not going to take his copy either. Yep, he walks up to the microphone with his mom and says N-O to taking that poem.
  • But when Billy gets to the mic, his whole poem just vanishes from his brain—swoosh and it's gone. Good thing his mom grabbed the backup copy. He recites that bad boy and his mom is super proud. Sure, Billy is sad that he needed the backup copy of the poem, but at least his mom thought to grab it.
  • Afterward, Billy gets to enjoy cookies with his pals. And listen to Emma brag about being the only person to recite her poem by heart. Plus, Ms. S has some nice things to say about how great Room 2 was this year.
  • But before the night is over, Billy has one more thing he wants to do, so he goes back on stage and makes sure that the microphone is turned off. Then he recites his poem like a boss, even though no one can hear him.
  • It's a pretty big accomplishment, and it's even cooler because Mama has been watching Billy the whole time. Needless to say, she's proud as can be.