“In the meantime,” he continued, “I’ve managed to find a permanent replacement who comes highly recommended and should be able to pick up right where Mrs. Bentz left off.”
Groans filled the room as Principal Droon motioned to the door, and in walked the new teacher. He was confident. He was large. He was Boyd. T. Boone. But instead of wearing the wild beret and huge sunglasses like when he’d been their substitute teacher, now he was dressed in a normal corduroy blazer and black slacks. He actually looked like a teacher.
“They’re all yours, Mr. Boone,” the principal said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Good luck.”
Matt and Craz couldn’t stop staring as their new English teacher unpacked his worn leather briefcase without a hint of knowing who the two boys were. The teacher sat down on the corner of the desk, facing the class. He looked so serious as he picked up a copy of Treasure Island and flipped through the pages.
“I hear you’ve been engrossed in this fine piece of classic literature,” he said. “Well, it certainly is a rollicking adventure of a book. It’s got pirates. It’s got treasure. But should it be the only book you read all year?” Boyd T. Boone closed the book with a sharp slap. “I don’t think that’s fair to you or all the other books in the world.”
A small cheer rose from the students.
“That’s why starting today your new assignment is to read any book you want. Think of all the great stories out there that are just waiting to be told. The possibilities are endless!”
Matt and Craz weren’t sure, but it felt like that last line was delivered straight to them.
THE LAST BELL OF THE DAY FINALLY RANG, AND the hallway filled with kids who couldn’t wait to get out of the building. Matt loaded up his backpack while Craz stood by his locker, wondering if they’d done the right thing with the pen.
“So you really flushed all the ink down the toilet? You didn’t keep enough to even draw us some quick cash maybe?”
“Sorry,” Matt said, slamming his locker shut. “But we agreed last night. We’re better off just doing things the old way. Same crazy cartoons, less mess.”
“If you say so.” Craz grinned. “But I’ll miss the mess. . . . Well, some of it anyway.”
The boys walked down the hall toward the bright afternoon sunlight. “Which reminds me,” Craz continued. “What do you think of a whole comic book about pirates?”
Matt’s face lit up. “Mutant space pirates!”
“Yeah, who bury cyber treasure . . . on meteors!”
“Wait,” Matt said. “Does it have to be meteors?”
“You have another idea?”
Matt clapped a hand onto Craz’s shoulder. “Always!”
Alan Silberberg has been looking at the world through cartoon glasses ever since he could hold a pen, and his doodles have appeared on everything from napkins to animations. He was the 2011 recipient of the SCWBI Sid Fleischman Humor Award for Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze, and he is also the author of the novel Pond Scum and the writer of numerous TV shows for Nickelodeon and Disney. Alan has a BA in Cartoon-Communication Education from the University of Massachusetts and a Masters of Education from Harvard. A former Bostonian, Alan lives with his family in Montreal, where he still roots for the Red Sox.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Aladdin hardcover edition April 2013
Copyright © 2013 by Alan Silberberg
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Designed by Karin Paprocki
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Silberberg, Alan.
The Awesome, Almost 100% True Adventures of Matt & Craz / by Alan Silberberg. —
1st Aladdin hardcover ed. p. cm.
Summary: A weird website provides Kilgore Junior High students and best friends Matt and Craz the opportunity to make their cartoons become real, which has some unexpected and dire consequences.
ISBN 978-1-4169-9432-9 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-1-4424-5183-4 (eBook)
[1. Cartoons and comics—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Junior high schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Family life—Fiction. 6. Humorous stories.] I. Title. II. Title: Awesome, almost one hundred percent true adventures of Matt and Craz.
PZ7.S5798Awe 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2012015554
The Awesome, Almost 100% True Adventures of Matt & Craz Page 17
