Yours truly,
Arthur Bean
Hey, Artie,
I’m hoping that you’re available to come by my classroom at lunch today. I would like to talk to you and Kennedy about an opportunity on the Marathon staff for next year.
Cheers!
Mr. E.
From: Kennedy Laurel ([email protected])
To: Arthur Bean ([email protected])
Sent: June 18, 20:40
Hi Arthur!
I wanted to MAKE SURE that you’re seriously OK with us being co-editors of the Marathon next year! I TOTALLY understand if you decide not to do it because you would have to work with me. Plus, you probably have heard by now that I have a new boyfriend, so I just don’t want things to be awkward between us. I already asked Catie if she wants to be our fashion reporter next year. I’ve got a million great ideas, so I hope you’re ready!
ALSO, I watched your little zombie movie! Mrs. Ireland showed it to our class! It was AWESOME! You and Von did SUCH a good job! I could totally see your sense of humour! It was HILARIOUS!
Kennedy :)
From: Arthur Bean ([email protected])
To: Kennedy Laurel ([email protected])
Sent: June 18, 21:16
Dear Kennedy,
I’m glad you liked our movie. Von kind of took over and butchered my vision for the film, so I wasn’t exactly involved in the final direction the film took. But he showed our English class too, and I guess it did look pretty good in the end. It wasn’t supposed to be that funny, but I’m sure that happens all the time. Von and I never had the same artistic vision for the movie anyway. I think I’m more of a live theatre kind of guy. Movies are for people who can’t handle improvising.
I think the newspaper is going to be great next year. I’ve already asked Robbie to be our art director, so he and Catie will have to work together a lot. He hasn’t said yes, but I’m sure we’re all professional enough to get along.
Yours truly,
Arthur Bean
June 18th
Dear RJ,
Well, I know the first thing I’m doing as Editor of the Marathon next year: firing Catie. And like I care that Kennedy has a boyfriend. She never dates anyone for a very long time anyway! I have barely thought about her at all this month.
No word on how Robbie’s mom’s custody case is going these days. I guess the divorce is final, and Robbie said she’s moving to Lethbridge without her boyfriend so that she can be closer to Robbie and Caleb. He said that Caleb is definitely going to move down there, but he doesn’t know what he’ll do yet. I’ve got all summer at camp to make sure he doesn’t go.
Wish me luck!
Yours truly,
Arthur Bean
Assignment: The Gratitude Project : Thanks to You
This year’s Gratitude Project and other English assignments were meant to bring some reflection on what shapes you. But it’s not just outside sources that mean something. Write a short paragraph reminding yourself of all the great work you did this year. It’s important that we are kind to others, but also that we are kind to ourselves!
Due: June 20
Assignment: Thanks to … You
By Arthur Bean
Dear Arthur,
You’re a great guy, but hopefully you know that. You didn’t accidentally kill Pickles, and you never on purpose killed Von, even though you often wanted to. You made two girls fall in love with you, and even though you’re single now, watch out! The ladies will be after you one day! I think your Franklina Diamond story has some real grit to it, and one day you’ll be famous for writing. I bet you write the next Star Wars, but not actually, because someone else is doing that. You’re one heckuva guy!
Arthur,
It sounds like you had a roller coaster of a year, personally and creatively. I hope that you do continue writing enough to be famous; you’ve got the talent, the creative spirit, and you most certainly have the drive to succeed. I look forward to seeing what grade nine brings for you; hopefully a better understanding of deadlines!
Ms Whitehead
YEAR-END REPORT CARD
Arthur did some fine work this year in class. His sense of humour and unique perspective are evident in his writing, and his sense of story and critical-thinking techniques have developed. Arthur’s extracurricular endeavours occasionally got in the way of handing assignments in on time. It’s wonderful that his passion for writing is so strong, but it is important that he prioritize work properly.
Ms Whitehead
Arthur Bean
English 8B — Ms Whitehead
Year-End Summary
Introduction Paragraph Complete
Description and Imagery 86%
Using Symbolism 71%
Gratitude Project: Letter to a Veteran 74%
Creating an Effective Setting 84%
Persuasive Writing 78%
Introductions and Thesis Statements 80%-5% = 75%
Gratitude Project: Letter to a Loved One 61%-5% = 56%
Judge a Book by Its Cover 77%
Tweet Your Book Review! 80%
Personal Novel Study 70%-5% = 65%
Dilemmas and Cliffhangers 63%-5% = 58%
Major Assignment: Inspired by Emotion 85%
Gratitude Project: Thanks to … You! Complete
NOTE that assignments handed in late are subject to a 5% reduction.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Sandy Bogart Johnston, Simon Kwan, Aldo Fierro and Erin Haggett, along with the rest of the amazing, wonderful team at Scholastic; a finer home for Arthur couldn’t be found.
Thank you Dorothea Wilson-Scorgie and Bill Radford, as well as the Inkslingers gang: Kallie George, Shannon Ozirny, Tanya Lloyd Kyi, Lori Sherritt-Fleming and Maryn Quarless, for insightful comments and support. Thanks to Paul Battin for a rainy canoe trip down the Yukon River (you should have brought your coat), and to Jennifer Macleod and Sarah Maitland for the carbon-pressing story ideas over french fries at the Cafe.
And of course, thank you to my whole family for not only being awesome, but for being key marketers for my first book, making sure that everyone we’ve ever known bought at least three copies. (On that note, thanks to everyone we’ve ever known for buying three copies of Arthur’s first adventure.) Robert, Diane, Curtiss, Andrew, Chelsey: we’re the best family I’ve ever met.
About the Author
A Year in the Life of a (Total and Complete) Genius began as Stacey Matson’s master’s thesis at the University of British Columbia. The book has been short-listed for the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award, British Columbia’s Chocolate Lily Award and Saskatchewan’s Snow Willow Award, and was listed in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books for Kids and Teens, 2015.
Matson has managed the tour and theatre program on Parliament Hill, and has created interpretation programs for the Glenbow Museum, Fort Calgary and the Vancouver Aquarium. Her other non-writing occupations have been intriguingly varied — from running a Christmas-tree lot to performing as a fairy princess at birthday parties. She is currently working on her third Arthur Bean novel.
Praise for A Year in the Life of a (Total and Complete) Genius
“[A] splendid debut middle grade novel … The best writing is always a dialogue, a relationship — both rocky and rapturous — between writer and recipient. Matson wonderfully demonstrates this, skilfully showcasing characters and their growing connections … [S]harp-witted with a magnet eye for the ridiculous.” – The Vancouver Sun
Watch for the upcoming faceoff as Arthur, now in grade nine and the new co-editor of the Marathon, gets more power than he can handle … and puts the prom at risk. There’s more fun and chaos in store from Arthur A. Bean, Robbie Zack, Kennedy Laurel and Von Ipo.
To Ms Whitehead,
This is a contract between Arthur Bean and himself regarding his English class. This year his goals in grade nine English are the following. If he doesn’t reach them, the punishment is most cert
ainly death (or maybe an F).
1. I will finish writing a novel. My novel has to be at least 100,000 words long.
2. I will write every assignment I can in verse to practise my rhyming techniques.
3. I will hand in every assignment on time, and it will have my name on it.
Scholastic Canada Ltd.
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ISBN: 978-1-4431-3390-6
Cover images: boy, © IkazNarsis/Shutterstock.com; popcorn, © Maxim Cyr/Shutterstock.com.
Text copyright © 2015 by Stacey Matson.
Illustrations by Simon Kwan © 2015 by Scholastic Canada Ltd.
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read this e-book on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Scholastic Canada Ltd., 604 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1E1, Canada.
First eBook edition: September 2015
Scenes from the Epic Life of a Total Genius Page 16
