Dr. Barnes, the school principal, reads the second edition of The Landry News and enjoys everything except Cara giving credit to Mr. Larson for helping the newspaper. In Dr. Barnes’s opinion, Mr. Larson is unprofessional and a bad teacher. Though Dr. Barnes has tried for years to get Mr. Larson fired, he’s had no luck. Looking at the newspaper, Dr. Barnes has an idea to use it to get rid of Mr. Larson. Dr. Barnes smiles to himself because he thinks that “this could turn out to be just what a lot of people had been hoping for” (66). He sets a meeting with Mr. Larson for after school on Monday, which his secretary changes to Tuesday since Monday is a holiday.

In Mr. Larson’s class the following Tuesday, the kids discuss the types of words used in editorials: positive (words that build things up), negative (words that tear things down), and neutral (words that explore). The kids find lots of negative and positive words, but neutral words are rarer. Next, Mr. Larson has them compare The Landry News to professional newspapers. Though professional papers are larger, have more staff, and include things like color photos, The Landry News is similar in important ways, such as having different sections, loyal readers, and an editor-in-chief.