The Smartest Kid in the Universe, Book 1 - Softcover

Grabenstein, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0525647813 ISBN 13: 9780525647812

Verlag: Yearling, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

"Chris Grabenstein just might be the smartest writer for kids in the universe." --James Patterson

What if you could learn everything just by eating jellybeans?! Meet the Smartest Kid in the Universe and find out in this fun-packed new series from the Bestselling Author of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library and coauthor of Max Einstein!

12 year old Jake's middle school is about to be shut down--unless Jake and his friends can figure out how to save it. When Jake spies a bowl of jellybeans at the hotel where his mom works, he eats them. But those weren't just jellybeans, one of the scientists at his mom's conference is developing the world's first ingestible information pills. And THAT'S what Jake ate.

Before long, Jake is the smartest kid in the universe. But the pills haven't been tested yet. And when word gets out about this new genius, people want him. The government. The mega corporations. Not all of them are good people! Can Jake navigate the ins and outs of his newfound geniusdom (not to mention the ins and outs of middle school) and use his smarts to save his school? BONUS! Includes extra brainteasers to test your smarts! Don't miss the next Smartest Kid in the Universe—Genius Camp!

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

CHRIS GRABENSTEIN is the New York Times bestselling author of the Mr. Lemoncello and the Welcome to Wonderland series, as well as the coauthor of many page-turners with James Patterson, including the Max Einstein series, and of Shine! cowritten with Chris's wife J.J. Grabenstein. Chris lives in New York City. Visit Chris at ChrisGrabenstein.com and on Twitter at @CGrabenstein.

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1

Patricia Malvolio, the new principal of Riverview Middle School, was giving a special, after-hours tour of her building to a very important guest: Mr. Heath Huxley.

 

“This school is in terrible condition!” said Mr. Huxley.

 

“I know,” giggled Mrs. Malvolio. “Isn’t it marvelous? It’s perfect for our plans.”

 

The lockers were dented and rusty. Overhead, fluorescent lights sputtered in their tubes, pleading to be replaced. Paint peeled off the cinder-block walls in chunks the size of potato chips.

 

“What’s that smell?” asked Mr. Huxley, covering his mouth and nose with a dainty silk handkerchief.

 

Mrs. Malvolio sniffed the air.

 

She was tempted to say Your breath, since Mr. Huxley’s never smelled minty or fresh.

 

“Tuna fish salad?” she suggested. “Stinky cheese? Moldy pizza? It’s hard to tell. The refrigerators in the cafeteria are . . . unreliable.”

 

Mrs. Malvolio tugged down on the canary-yellow blazer that matched her canary-yellow blouse. The tugging caused her necklace--three rows of big, multicolored beads--to clack.

 

“Now, as I told you,” she said, “Riverview is currently considered the worst middle school building in the district. Given the new budget cuts, the city will be forced to close one middle school this year. I suspect it will be us.”

 

She led the way into her office. Mr. Huxley went to the window to admire the view of the river.

 

“This is magnificent, Patricia.”

 

“I know. It’s why this school is called Riverview.”

 

“And what will the city do with this marvelous property once they shut down this dilapidated excuse for a school?”

 

“Oh, I suppose they might auction off the land to the highest bidder.”

 

“Who will also be the smartest bidder,” said Mr. Huxley, stroking back his slick black hair. “The one who understands how truly valuable this property is.”

 

“Yes, Uncle Heath,” said Mrs. Malvolio. “They’ll probably sell it to you. And then you’ll pay me that very generous finder’s fee we discussed when I applied for this principal position.”

 

“Indeed I will, Patricia.”

 

They both laughed maniacally.

 

It ran in the family.

 

2

Jake McQuade wasn’t the smartest kid at Riverview Middle School, but he was definitely the coolest.

 

The school itself, on the other hand, was kind of shabby.

 

The place hadn’t fallen apart all at once. If it had, people might’ve done something. Riverview’s decline had been slow and steady. It took time and neglect. No one ever thought to repaint the cinder-block walls. Or to replace the lockers, most of which were too bent out of shape to be locked anymore.

 

“We try,” Mr. Lyons would tell Jake. “We try.”

 

Mr. Charley Lyons was the school’s vice principal, a social studies teacher, and the basketball coach. He’d been at Riverview for over twenty years.

 

“But the new principal?” He shook his head. “ ‘Le zumba el mango,’ as my grandfather used to say.”

 

Jake never knew what Mr. Lyons was saying when, all of a sudden, he dropped a little Spanish. Jake would’ve had to learn Spanish to do that. And seventh grader Jake McQuade wasn’t big on “learning stuff.” He came to school to have a good time and hang with his friends. If he needed to actually know anything important, he could look it up on his phone.

 

He stopped by the bathroom to check his look in a mirror. Black hair, blue eyes, and fair, freckled skin. It was a good look. And lately Jake wanted to look good.

 

Because of Grace.

 

Grace Garcia!

 

“How’s it going?” Jake said to just about everybody he passed as he cruised up the hall. He was so cool, he could chat with one friend on his cell phone while using his free hand to knock knuckles with a dozen more.

 

Jake’s best friend was Kojo Shelton.

 

Kojo was a science geek who spent a lot of time streaming cop shows. He called it his extra-credit homework. “Because I’m going to be a detective when I grow up,” he’d say, “I need to know forensic science and TV detectives.”

 

Recently, Kojo had stumbled upon an ancient show called Kojak on some obscure cable rerun channel. He’d become obsessed with the famous TV detective. Kojo even adopted Kojak’s famous catchphrase, “Who loves ya, baby?”

 

“We practically have the same name,” he’d told Jake. “He’s Kojak and I’m Kojo. Of course, he’s a bald, old Greek dude and I’m a handsome, young Black dude, but, hey--we both like Tootsie Pops.”

 

“I don’t,” said Jake. “Too much work sucking through that hard candy shell to get to the Tootsie Roll.”

 

“For real? Jake McQuade, you are the laziest kid in the world. You know that, right?”

 

“We’re all good at something, Kojo. Slothfulness? It’s my superpower.”

 

Kojo was kind of skinny and always wore the style of thick-rimmed glasses that couldn’t get broken when you played sports.

 

“You wanna go hang in the cafeteria?” asked Jake. “I’ve got that new Revenge of the Brain Dead game on my phone. Mr. Keeney will never miss us.”

 

Mr. Keeney, who taught math, was Jake and Kojo’s homeroom teacher. He usually spent the first fifteen minutes of every school day with his feet propped up on his desk, his chair tilted back as far as it could go without tipping over, and his eyes closed.

 

“This is homeroom,” he’d said once. “If I were home, I’d still be sleeping. So keep quiet. I need a nap.”

 

“No thanks, man,” Kojo told Jake. “I want to go talk to Mr. Lyons in his office. I need his help on an extra-credit social studies project.”

 

“Is it about the history of this school’s vice principal having his office inside an old janitor’s closet complete with a mop sink?”

 

“Nah. Everybody knows the answer to that one: the boy’s bathroom on the second floor leaks through the ceiling of the vice principal’s office. Has for years. If Mr. Lyons used that office, his hair would be wet. All the time.”

 

“And why are you doing another extra-credit project?”

 

“Because, Jake, even though I could get by on my looks, I prefer to be smart, too. Going for another straight-A report card.”

 

Jake shrugged. “Straight Cs are fine by me.”

 

“You need help on your science homework?”

 

“Nah. I need to go slay some zombies.” 

3 

 

As Jake ambled along the hallway, he saw Grace Garcia hanging a poster on the wall.

 

Jake wished there were a bathroom mirror nearby.

 

There wasn’t.

 

Grace, another seventh grader, was, without a doubt,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Yearling
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0525647813
• ISBN 13: 9780525647812
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland