The World's Greatest Underachiever Is the Ping-Pong Wizard

by Henry Winkler

  Wait a minute. Did he say sport? Yes, he did. Stan Zipzer, I think you’re trying to tell me something.

  “Dad,” I said, “does this mean that I can finally quit football?”

  “Like I’ve always said, Hank, I think concentrating on one sport is a fine way to go.”

  That was close enough for me! I started to cheer too.

  So long, Coach Gilroy. I won’t be taking a knee for your team any more!

  So long, Game Face. I won’t be needing you any more, either!

  Papa Pete could see how happy I was. He threw his big hairy arm round me and shook my shoulder like I was a teddy bear.

  “What does everyone say to a root-beer float?” he said. “On me.”

  “I say that sounds great,” I answered at the top of my lungs. I was so happy to be part of the Parade of Athletes, after all. And to think I almost hadn’t let myself be part of this great moment. I’ll never do a thing like that again.

  As we all walked out of the gym – my mum and dad, Frankie and Ashley, Emily and Robert, and Papa Pete – I saw Nick McKelty standing in the hall by himself.

  “Hey, Zipzer,” he said.

  “Yeah?”

  He looked at me for a long time. Then he spoke.

  I bet you think that big lug congratulated me for playing a great game. Well, you’re wrong.

  “I still think Ping-Pong’s for subhumans,” he said.

  “That’s your problem, McKelty,” I said.

  And together with my family and friends, I went out to celebrate that I had finally found the right sport for me.

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever series

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  Takes on the Universe

  (Bind-up of The World’s Greatest Underachiever and the Crazy Classroom Cascade and The World’s Greatest Underachiever and the Crunchy Pickle Disaster)

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  and the Crazy Classroom Cascade

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  and the Crunchy Pickle Disaster

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  and the Mutant Moth

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  and the Lucky Monkey Socks

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  and the Soggy School Trip

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  and the Killer Chilli

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  and the Parent-Teacher Trouble

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever

  and the Worst Best Summer Ever

  The World’s Greatest Underachiever.

  Is the Ping-Pong Wizard

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.

  First published as Hank Zipzer the World’s Greatest Underachiever: My Secret Life as a Ping-Pong Wizard (2009) by Walker Books Ltd, 87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ

  First published in the United States under the title Hank Zipzer #09: My Secret Life as a Ping-Pong Wizard by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver. Published by arrangement with Grosset & Dunlap™, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.

  This edition published 2013

  Text © 2009 Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver Productions, Inc.

  Cover illustration design and interior illustrations © 2013 Nigel Baines

  The right of Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978-1-4063-3283-4 (ePub)

  www.walker.co.uk