The Boy Who Lost His Face Read online

  “No quacking,” said Mrs. Po, his teacher. “We are in a museum, not a quack factory.”

  Everyone stopped talking. They were on a field trip. It was March 15, 2139. There was no school tomorrow because it was David Ballinger’s birthday.

  “Hey, drooble!”

  Willy turned around to see Quentin flip him off. He looked away and focused his attention on the painting at the end of the hall. It was a picture of a man with a bucket over his head.

  Everyone in his class laughed when they saw it. “What a drooble!” someone said.

  “We should get a bucket for Willy,” said Quentin. “He’s so ugly!”

  Willy entered the Bayfield room.

  He looked at all the faces on the walls. He moved from mask to mask until he got to the face of David Ballinger. Then he stopped and stared.

  I bet nobody ever called you a drooble, he thought.

  Everyone in his class had had to memorize a famous speech. Willy had chosen Ballinger’s Moscow Address. He remembered how important he felt as he stood and recited it in front of the class. Maria’s eyes seemed to shine at him as he spoke with the dignity and grace that made Ballinger famous.

  He was still standing in front of the mask when Maria stepped up beside him. He was afraid to even look at her. His heart was pounding so loudly he was afraid she might hear it. He gripped the wood bar in front of the exhibit.

  They stood next to each other without saying anything for several minutes, both staring at the face of David Ballinger.

  She started to go.

  “Hi, Maria,” he said, then blushed.

  It was so stupid. He should have said hi when she first got there, not when she was leaving! When someone leaves you’re supposed to say bye, but he couldn’t say bye without having first said hi to her. I’m such a drooble!

  “Hi, Willy,” she replied.

  He watched her brown ponytail bounce behind her as she walked out of the room. “Bye,” he whispered.

  He looked back up at the mask of David Ballinger. I wish I could be more like you.

  “Give me a dollar or

  I’ll spit on you.”

  That’s Bradley Chalkers for you. He’s the oldest kid in the fifth grade. He tells enormous lies. He picks fights with girls. And the teachers say he has “serious behavior problems.” No one likes him—except Carla, the new school counselor. She thinks Bradley is sensitive and generous, and she even enjoys his farfetched stories. Carla knows that Bradley could change, if only he weren’t afraid to try.

  Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is believing in yourself.…

  “A humorous and immensely appealing story.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Infused with humor and insight.”—Publishers Weekly

  Winner of 19 Children’s Choice Awards, including:

  IRA-CBC Children’s Choice

  Texas Bluebonnet Award

  Pacific Northwest Young Reader’s Choice Award

  Why did the

  guy eat two

  dead skunks

  for breakfast?

  Because live

  ones squeal

  when you

  stick the

  fork in.

  Gary W. Boone knows he was born to be a stand-up comedian. It’s the rest of the kids in his class who think he’s just a goon. Then the Floyd Hicks Junior High School Talent Show is announced, and Gary starts practicing his routine nonstop to get it just right. Gary’s sure this will be his big break—he’ll make everyone laugh and win the $100 prize. But when an outrageous surprise threatens to turn his debut into a disaster, it looks as if the biggest joke of all may be on Gary himself.

  “Readers will laugh at Gary’s good jokes and groan at his clunkers while they cheer his transformation from goon to legitimate comedian.”—Booklist

  “Strong, realistic characterization.”—Publishers Weekly

  An IRA-CBC Children’s Choice

  Winner of the Newbery Medal

  Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day, digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.

  It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.

  “A smart jigsaw puzzle of a novel.”—The New York Times Book Review

  “[A] rugged, engrossing adventure.”—School Library Journal

  “Larger-than-life.”—Publishers Weekly

  “Imaginative plotting and memorable characters make this novel

  a winner.”—Book Magazine