The Reader is the 29th episode of the series George and Martha that aired on February 20, 2000. It's sister episode is The Decorator.
Summary[]
Martha arrives at a school, where outside, there is a bird teacher on top of a statue demanding three baby birds to fly, all three that fall smack dab on the ground and one on the window. Martha reads Little Red Riding Hood to the animal students, some things that she reads is considered insulting to the students, such as "big ears" that a rabbit has, and "big eyes" that a tarsier has. Eventually they are out of time, much to the disappointment of the students, so Miss Appleberry, the seagull teacher, tells her to come back tomorrow.
She meets George who is reading a pirate story out loud in his backyard, inexplicably acting it out and landing in the pond, or, his pool. Martha says he's a great reader, and says it's a shame nobody else can hear his reading, which makes George think he's not so bad after all after she says that he could be a volunteer reader at Happy Palms Elementary. The next day, Martha comes and he is ready with a pile of books, but because she brings up his limited time, George excludes a book of party tricks.
The two walk to the school where George tells his story about walking and walking to school when he was a young hippo. Inside, George looks at pictures of his old teachers on the wall, and meets Miss Grouchem the hall monitor, who tells him to shush after he called her a sourpuss. George gets shocked, when Martha mentions "Miss Appleberry", and he runs off screaming. She was his third grade teacher, which he claims always made fun of him when he tried to read. Martha tells him that Appleberry was trying to help him, but George now refuses to step into the classroom.
Though, Martha says he'll disappoint the children who was willing for him to read, which causes him to change his mind. George walks into the classroom with the book over his face. Miss Appleberry shouts at him to speak up, and he reads Little Miss Muffet. Miss Appleberry admires his reading skills, saying she know it was him all along. George reads his pirate book until Appleberry rings the bell. George lays on the ground and pretends to sacrifice on the floor, but he agrees to come back. George guesses she really was a sweet old lady this time, even despite yelling "QUIET!" harshly at her class.