This book is dedicated with gratitude to Vicky Holifield editor extraordinaire and Charlie’s cheerleader Special Thanks Children who grow into strong people are those who are surrounded by a lot of caring people In Charlie’s case he has been supported by a whole family of encouraging intelligent readers Without them he would not have become who he is And so Charlie and I offer our deepest thanks to Jane Murphy Amy Brittain Debbie Block Nicole Geiger Kassie Randall Michele Eaton and especially Margaret Quinlin and all of Charlie’s extended family at Peachtree Publishers
Contents 1 1 Fourth Grade Forever 5 2 Just Say NO 10 3 Emergency Mode 17 4 Don’t Say Anything 23 5 The Jerzollies of Darkness 6 The Secret of Advertising 31 7 One Down Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine to Go 38 48 8 A Big Ball of Tangled-Up String 9 It’s Not That Easy 54 62 10 HECTOR ADÉLIA ROCKS 69 11 Fast Is My Middle Name 12 What Are Jerzollies 77 84 13 Superior Mental Powers 14 Bombardment 93 15 You Can’t See a Stomachache 107 16 More Responsible Than the Heroes of Vengeance 115 17 We Are So Dead 121 130 18 The Word Is Spreading
138 19 Down in My Underwear 144 20 Surrounded 21 The Weirdest Thing Happened 153 22 Sometimes Exploding Fingers Aren’t Loud Enough 160 172 23 The Kiss of Death 179 24 Saying Good-Bye 25 And It Was Just Us 184
1 Fourth Grade Forever Before I knew it the school year was almost over It was May and there were only a couple more weeks left Everyone in my fourth-grade class was talking about what they were going to do that summer and who their teachers might be next year I must be crazy I was going to miss fourth grade Don’t get me wrong I Charlie Bumpers am ALWAYS happy to get out of school But looking ahead I realized I was happy where I was I would never admit it to my parents or my brother Matt or even to my teacher Mrs Burke but I was going to miss my class At the beginning of the year
