For Elliot My Favorite Boy A H For Jude Vinalhaven the amazing-reading-ninja-wizard L C CLARA
Hmmm Contents 1 The BIG News 10 2 The Competition Heats Up 22 3 Winner in Training 40 4 Audition Day 49 5 The Best Worst News 65 6 Stupid Stinky Party Bus 80 7 On Set 89 8 Round One 101 9 Dodecagons and Deception 118 10 Bad Boys 134 11 Plotting and Planning 145 12 Snug Suits 157 13 The Semifinal Round 172 14 The Day of the Bathroom Blockade 180 15 Open Sesame 191 16 The Grand Finale 212 17 A Peace Offering 231
1 The BIG News Here’s a question for you True or false Cats are more intelligent than dogs If you ask me the answer is true but it’s tricky because it depends on what you mean by intelligent Take Cat for example the computerized cat hero of the comic book series I’ve been writing since I was seven No she can’t be trained to roll over fetch a toy or shake a paw like a dog can but aren’t those activities kind of pointless when you really stop to think about it Fetch kitty If t h a t t a s t e l e s s rubber hamburger is S O g r e a t w h y d o n’t y o u go get it buddy 10
Plus refusing to hunt down a squeaky hamburger toy on command doesn’t mean she’s not intelligent It just means she’s a master of strategy She knows when to put her impressive intelligence state-of-the-art circuitry and unstoppable cuteness to use And for better or worse she can even be a little bit cunning and dare I say catty if that’s what it takes to win Which now that I think about it reminds me of what happened when Smarty Pants the world’s best TV quiz show for kids came to town Ever since my dad got a job working afternoons at the H H hardware store I’d been going to my best friend Bradley’s house after school We were in his living room when we heard the incredible news that our all-time-favorite TV quiz show would be filming in our area It was four o’clock on the dot and we were secretly eating more Wheat Yummies crackers and cheese while Bradley’s nanny Svetlana was in the dining room vacuuming up the crumbs from our first snack of Wheat Yummies crackers and cheese I remember the crackers because we always ate Wheat Yummies They were guaranteed 11
