by Mac Barnett
Down on the ground, a man in an olive green tracksuit looked up at the goose. Then he looked down and got back to reading the rock.
“Turn me over,” he said. “Turn me over. But why?”
On all of his jogs through all parts of these woods, Tim had never seen a rock quite like this.
He scratched his square jaw.
It was probably someone’s idea of a joke.
On the other hand, what was under that rock????????
He set both hands on the rock and pushed.
It was too heavy to move.
This was idiotic.
It was dumb.
And his heart rate was falling out of the cardio zone.
He continued his jog.
Still, what was under that rock????????
He’d come back this afternoon and bring a camper to help. Josh Barkin maybe. He was strong. He could lift things. And he could use a morale boost after that incident with the flag. It was the last day of camp. Josh could end on a high note. He and Josh could bond and turn over that rock.
The goose came out of the woods and flew over the town. Outside an ice cream shop, three kids stood on the sidewalk holding waffle cones.
Holly ran her hand across Niles’s hair.
“Feels cool,” Holly said. “Looks good too. You needed a haircut.”
“What?” Niles asked.
“True,” said Miles.
“What?” Niles asked.
A kid in a Hawaiian shirt ran across the street. “G’DAY, guys! That means HELLO! In AUSTRAL—what the WHAT the WHAT!”
“Hi, Stuart,” said Niles.
“You CHANGED your LOOK!”
“Yeah,” Niles said.
“Your OLD hair was BETTER!”
The goose passed over the town, over pastures and cows, over a squat brick building.
(It was a school.)
There was only one car in a huge parking lot, a yellow hatchback parked in the principal’s spot.
Principal Barkin was arranging letters on the marquee.
“School, school, school,” he sang to himself, “next week it’s school.”
He liked to get back to school early and make sure everything was shipshape: that the gym floor was waxed and the janitor’s closet stocked. He went in each classroom and sharpened some pencils, so the smell of fresh cedar shavings would greet teachers and students. And last but not least—certainly not least!—he picked out a welcome message for the marquee.
Principal Barkin had come up with several good options:
“PRINCIPAL BARKIN SEZ: BACK TO SCHOOL! BACK TO COOL!”
“PRINCIPAL BARKIN SEZ: FALL BACK INTO LEARNING!”
“PRINCIPAL BARKIN SEZ: YAWNEE VALLEY SCIENCE AND LETTERS AND FUN ACADEMY!”
He liked that last one a lot, but the letters for the marquee didn’t have italics, and he was afraid the students would miss the point.
But then he came up with something. The best message yet. Which just goes to show, if you keep going past good, you’ll end up with great. He scrambled the letters till the marquee said:
Principal Barkin admired his work.
Higher now, more than a mile over the ground, the gray goose joined fifteen other gray geese. He honked. They honked back. This was his flock. He loved his time at the swimming hole, alone, in the woods. And he loved rejoining his flock, when they all beat their wings, and flew high, and flew south. They were flying toward summer, the summer ahead. Behind them, in Yawnee Valley, the summer was done.
ABOUT the AUTHORS
MAC BARNETT is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 30 books for children, including the Brixton Brothers mystery series and the picture books Extra Yarn, and Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, both illustrated by Jon Klassen and both winners of a Caldecott Honor and the E. B. White Read-Aloud Award. He lives in Oakland, California.
JORY JOHN is a New York Times bestselling author of books for both children and adults. He is a two-time E.B. White Read-Aloud Honor recipient. Jory’s work includes the picture books Penguin Problems, illustrated by Lane Smith, Goodnight Already!, illustrated by Benji Davies, and The Bad Seed, illustrated by Pete Oswald. He also co-authored numerous humor books, including the internationally bestselling All My Friends Are Dead. He spent six years as programs director at 826 Valencia, a nonprofit educational center in San Francisco. He resides in Oregon.
KEVIN CORNELL [editor’s note: The Kevin Cornell bio was supposed to go here, but when we showed up to interview him, all we found was a sandbag with a face drawn on it. Then we had to navigate our way out of his house through a series of stupid booby traps that mostly just flung huckle-berry pies. It was a real waste of a day. And of pie.]
OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4197-2185-4
eISBN 978-1-61312-094-1
Text copyright © 2018 Mac Barnett and Jory John
Cover and illustrations copyright © 2018 Kevin Cornell
Book design by Chad W. Beckerman
Cover copyright © 2018 Amulet Books
Published in 2018 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Amulet Books and Amulet Paperbacks are registered trademarks of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact [email protected] or the address below.
ABRAMS The Art of Books
195 Broadway, New York, NY, 10007
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