For June and C harlie an endless source of advice love and sweet tea A C Box www abdopublishing com www 2015 Publ Published by Magic Wagon a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reser reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in an any form without written permission from the publisher Calico is a trademark and logo of Magic Wagon Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 102014 012015 Written by Amy Cobb Illustrations by Anna Cattish Edited by Rochelle Baltzer Megan M Gunderson Cover and interior design by Candice Keimig Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cobb Amy author Swing vote for solo by Amy Cobb illustrated by Anna Cattish pages cm Band geeks Summary The Benton Bluff Junior High band is one of a number of bands that will compete to perform for a chance to play for the governor and two of the band members are fighting over who gets to be the soloist Baylor Meece clarinet is not one of them so can she come up with a plan to bring the band back into harmony ISBN 978-1-62402-078-0 1 Bands Music Juvenile fiction 2 Competition Psychology Juvenile fiction 3 Contests Juvenile fiction 4 Middle schools Juvenile fiction 1 Bands Music Fiction 2 Competition Psychology Fiction 3 Contests Fiction 4 Junior high schools Fiction 5 Schools Fiction I Cattish Anna illustrator II Title PZ7 1 C63Sw 2015 813 6 dc23 graciously 2014029143 014029143 for ry Vaught music to Lar for Megan Gunderson ise and passion thanks ra special AC t ing his exper th ext ia Gore taking a chance on me to Clel shar grateful forever for and Candice Keimig am Wi I
TABLE OF CONTENTS 11 33 18 25 4 THE BUZZ p Chapter 1 IN THE HIVE p TROUBLE Chapter 2 IDEA p A S W E ET Chapter 3 BUSY BEES p Chapter 4 BUZZZZ OFF p Chapter 5 A NEW BEE-GINNING p Chapter 6 PLAN BEE p Chapter 7 BUDS Chapter 8 QUEEN BEE p Chapter 9 IT p Chapter 10 WINGING Chapter 11 C h a p t e r 1 2 F LY I N G H I G H p IN BLOOM p 69 83 56 48 62 96 BAYLOR’S BUMBLE p 106
1 Chapter THE BUZZ Let’s play that section one more time Mr Byrd our band director said He stood on a podium in the middle of the band room Pretend the cherry blossoms are in bloom And really make those bees buzz Yeah Yulia Glatt whispered nudging me with her elbow Buzz those bees Baylor Bzz Bzz I smiled We were working on Flight of the Bumblebee Vivace was typed at the top of our sheet music That meant we were supposed to play the song lively and quickly So to make the bees buzz our fingers had to fly over the keys Fast It was hard to keep up So our bees didn’t exactly sound like they were flitting from cherry blossom 4
to cherry blossom They sounded more like they were being exterminated Slowly And painfully But today Mr Byrd seemed more determined than ever for us to nail the song We’d spent almost the entire practice on the same section One and two and ready and go Mr Byrd said Wait Zac Wiles interrupted What measure are we on again The same one we’ve been on for the past twenty minutes Zac Mr Byrd took off the straw hat he always wore and fanned himself with it Baylor can you show him please I play the clarinet and Zac sits behind me playing the saxophone We’re right here I said turning around to show him Zac never takes band seriously He’s always goofing off But I have to admit Zac is pretty funny Most of the time Just not when he slows us down during practice Keep up Zac I whirled back around 5
