Cleo waited to see if her friend had more to say. This listening stuff was hard, but it felt good too. Caylee seemed done. “That’s okay. Besides, if I can’t handle getting hung up on every once in a while, I won’t make it very far in the business world.” She grabbed Caylee’s other hand. They faced each other. “Without friends, money doesn’t mean anything, Caylee. I’m your friend . . . through the ups and downs. Promise.”
“Me too.”
“Shake on it?” Cleo asked. They shook hands. Then they gave each other the biggest Bug-a-Hug ever. She would never let anything get in the way of her friendship with Caylee. Nothing. Not even Cleopatra Enterprises, Inc.
Cleo wrapped her arms around herself, closed her eyes, and kissed the air. “Oh, Donovan!”
She didn’t know who Donovan was. It just sounded like someone you might kiss on the deck of a fancy cruise ship.
Caylee giggled.
Cleo smooched and smooched, until Caylee was laughing for reals. Everything was okay again. “So . . . about that personalized-barrette business . . .” Cleo grinned. “What do you think about the name . . . Caylee’s Cuties?”
Cleo is a character who has grown in my heart over several years. Thank you to the many people who either helped me bring her to life on the page or encouraged me that I could, especially my agent, Regina Brooks (it was more than just “serendipity” that caused our paths to cross); my sister-by-heart, Fina Arnold; and my partner in life and parenting, Matt Frazier. Thank you for never giving up on me.
To Arthur A. Levine, who challenged me to know the why behind Cleo’s ladder-climbing nature—thank you for giving the feedback that gave me my second wind. Without your nurturance, Cleo would likely remain locked in my computer. Thanks to the whole Scholastic team that has so lovingly handled this story and its production: Nicholas Thomas, Emily Clement, Weslie Turner, Mary Claire Cruz, Elizabeth Krych, Bonnie Cutler, and Jennifer L. Meyer. Many authors inspire me to persevere in telling the truth through the “lie” of art; this time around, I am especially grateful to Linda Sue Park for inspiring me with her commitment to the craft.
Thanks to my young friends Lala Lopez and Ash Lawson for giving me the skinny on twenty-first-century elementary-school life, and to all the other young readers who shared their thoughts on my manuscript: Tessa Edgar, Ellie Rosic, Mia Waters, and Reese Arnold. Thank you Micheline Lopez and Stephanie Rosic for your input, as well. To my dear friends, Janet Chu and Michael Yu, and Jenny and Scott Hall, as well as my mom and dad; many thanks for your love and support over the years, and the use of your homes when our local library (aka, my writing office) was closed for renovations.
It has been especially important to me to portray the adoptive experience with sensitivity and awareness. Thank you to adoptive mom Jill Dziko (www.youradoptivefamily.com) and Jeff Carlson of Bethany in La Mirada for answering questions, and to Betty Jean Lifton, Nancy Newton Verrier, Amanda Transue-Woolston (www.thelostdaughters.com), and Angela Tucker (www.theadoptedlife.com) for writing so honestly about your personal experiences. Your stories have forever changed mine.
Finally, to Matt, Skye, and Umbria, you give me so much joy. I love being family with you.
Sundee T. Frazier is the author of Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It, winner of the 2008 ALA Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award; Brendan Buckley’s Sixth-Grade Experiment; and The Other Half of My Heart. Frazier graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in broadcast journalism in 1991 and earned her MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2004. She currently lives near Seattle with her husband and two daughters.
Text copyright © 2016 by Sundee T. Frazier
Illustrations by Jennifer L. Meyer copyright © 2016
by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, the LANTERN LOGO, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frazier, Sundee Tucker, 1968– author.
Cleo Edison Oliver, playground millionaire / Sundee T. Frazier ; illustrations by Jennifer L. Meyer.
pages cm
Summary: Fifth-grader Cleo Edison Oliver is full of money-making ideas, and her fifth-grade Passion Project is no different — but things get more complicated when she has to keep her business running, be a good listener when her best friend needs her, and deal with the bully teasing her about being adopted at the same time.
1. Adopted children — Juvenile fiction. 2. African American families — California — Juvenile fiction. 3. Money-making projects for children — Juvenile fiction. 4. Friendship — Juvenile fiction. 5. California — Juvenile fiction. [1. Moneymaking projects — Fiction. 2. Business enterprises — Fiction. 3. Friendship — Fiction. 4. Adoption — Fiction. 5. African Americans — Fiction. 6. California — Fiction.] I. Meyer, Jennifer L., illustrator. II. Title.
PZ7.F8715Cl 2016
813.6 — dc23
[Fic]
2015015763
eISBN 978-0-545-82237-4
Cover art © 2016 by Jennifer L. Meyer
Cover design by Mary Claire Cruz
First printing 2016
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
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