The Swag Is in the Socks: Put Your Best Foot Forward - Softcover

Baptist, Kelly J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593380894 ISBN 13: 9780593380895

Verlag: Random House Children's Books, 2022

Inhaltsangabe

Xavier Moon is stepping out of the shadows when his great-uncle gives him some outlandish socks and some even stranger requests. A story about heart, confidence, and standing on your own two feet that is perfect for fans of The Season of Styx Malone and The Parker Inheritance.

"An excellent read-alike to Jacqueline Woodson’s Harbor Me or Janae Marks’ From the Desk of Zoe Washington.” –Booklist, Starred Review
 
"A warm but authentic picture of a middle schooler figuring out who he is and who he wants to be." –The Bulletin
 
Xavier Moon is not one to steal the show. He’s perfectly content to play video games and sit at his bedroom window watching the neighborhood talk outside.
 
But for Xavier’s twelfth birthday, he receives a pair of funky socks and a challenge from his great-uncle, Frankie Bell, saying it’s time to swag out and speak up. First on the list: get into the legendary Scepter League. Xavier’s grandfather, great-uncle, and father were all invited to join the elite boys’ after-school club that admits only the most suave and confident young men. Xavier has never had the courage to apply before, but his wild socks are getting him some big attention, so maybe it’s time to come out of the shadows and follow in his family's footsteps. Or maybe Xavier will march down a new path altogether.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Kelly J. Baptist is the inaugural winner of the We Need Diverse Books short-story contest. Her story is featured in the WNDB anthology Flying Lessons & Other Stories and inspired her first full-length novel, Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero. Kelly is also the author of the picture book The Electric Slide and Kai. The Swag Is in the Socks was inspired by Kelly’s love of unique and creative socks, as well as her older sister’s hero work as a speech-language pathologist. When she’s not writing, Kelly is usually thinking about writing . . . and dreaming of palm trees while living in southwest Michigan. She keeps beyond busy with her five amazing children, who always give her plenty of story ideas and background noise to write to. Find Kelly at kellyiswrite.com.
 

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter 1 

“There’s nothing too spectacular about you.”

“Well, jack my phone and call me Jill; that fool done it again!”

Aunt Kat shuffles into the living room and lowers herself into her special peach-colored easy chair, a piece of paper in her hand and a frown on her face. She tosses the paper onto the coffee table in front of her. Me and my sister, Shannon, call it the Obama Table, since Aunt Kat’s got practically every magazine he was ever on the cover of.

Shannon’s in the kitchen, chopping the life outta something, and she calls over, “What’s wrong, Aunt Kat?”

Aunt Kat shakes her head, the corners of her mouth turned down like she just smelled one of my power-farts.

“Cain’t even speak on it, girl,” she says at first, which only means she’s gonna speak on it in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . .

“But that fool brother of mine done took off again to God knows where!”

“You think he’s okay?” Shannon asks.

“Pffft!” Aunt Kat makes a loud noise with her lips. “Who gonna know that? For all I know, he’s somewhere slumped over a piano havin’ a heart attack, while some used-to-be singer tries to hold on to her note and her wig!”

I bust out laughing before I can stop myself. I shut my mouth real quick and try to go back to being invisible on the couch, praying Aunt Kat don’t look my way and tell me my ten minutes on the Nintendo Switch are up. I know, right? Who gives a ten-minute video game limit?

Aunt Kat.

Luckily, she’s too upset about her brother leaving to pay any attention to me. She mutters about how ungrateful he is, and who’s gonna pay his part of the bills here at the house now that he’s gone. Not gonna lie; Frankie Bell always gets the good groceries when he’s home.

It’s really not a shocker, but Aunt Kat’s actin’ like this has never happened before. To be honest, this happens almost every month! Her brother, my great-uncle, Frankie Bell, is a musician--a piano player--and according to him, he’s been playing since birth, and traveling as much as he can with his group, the Bell-Aires.

“I started off strumming the umbilical cord,” Frankie Bell tells anybody who asks. “But when I got out that womb prison, it was all about the keys.”

Frankie Bell’s been in bands since he was fifteen, and he says he’ll be in one till they’re playing for his funeral.

Aunt Kat, who’s technically my great-aunt, was the oldest of six kids, and all that’s left is her and Frankie Bell, the youngest. My grandfather, who was next in line after Aunt Kat, died when I was three. All I remember about him is the smell of Vicks VapoRub and cigar smoke. So Frankie Bell, which is what everybody calls him, is the closest thing to a grandfather I got. He’s cool but kinda weird. Aunt Kat says he’s ten steps past crazy, whatever that means.

“You watch,” Aunt Kat says, pointing at his letter. “Whenever he goes on the road for a long time, he starts sending letters that don’t make a lick of sense! He picks some poor soul to torment with his secret instructions and whatnot, like he’s the wisest man to draw a breath. Messes with their minds so much, they start thinkin’ they the ones losing it!”

Aunt Kat cusses and Shannon looks up all shocked.

“Ooooh, Aunt Kat!” she says, but I can tell she’s tryin’ not to laugh. I am, too. I keep it in this time.

“I’m sorry, baby, but that’s what Frankie Bell is full of.”

Shannon opens the oven, and a whoosh of good smells floats out.

“How long ’fore we can eat?” Aunt Kat asks, noticing the smell, too.

“ ’Bout fifteen minutes,” Shannon says. She picks up her cell phone and sends a text. I bet anything it’s to Julian.

She claims Ju’s her “friend,” but we all know better. Aunt Kat hates him, thinks he’s too old for Shannon cuz he’s eighteen and she just turned sixteen. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, especially since Ju’s one of them dudes who’s got everything going for him: star quarterback, girls are obsessed with him, and he’s smart. He says he’s gonna be an anesthesiologist, but even that doesn’t win Aunt Kat over. She says he could be the next Black Jesus, but something about him still don’t sit right with her.

It’s probably his teeth, which, to me, are his only flaw. Two on the bottom are kinda crooked, like they’re tryin’ to high-five each other. This obviously doesn’t bother Shannon, but teeth are definitely a “thing” for Aunt Kat. “Crooked teeth, crooked feet” (whatever that means) is what she told me when she forced me to get braces a year ago.

The best thing about Ju is that he’s in the Scepter League, which is a huge deal. It’s this club that was started at Rosewood Public Schools, like, a hundred years ago. You gotta have super swag to get in, and if you do, you become kinda famous around the city. At my school, dudes in the Scepter League are like kings. Once a month, they wear their blazers and ties and get to skip the line at lunch and miss last hour to have important meetings in the library with teachers and the principal. Sometimes they even go over to the high school to link with the Leaguers there. They get a section reserved for them in the gym during basketball games, and Rosewood games always be sold out. Once they’re old enough to get jobs, Scepter Leaguers work at the rec center, or the bank, or at the stadium downtown--never at some greasy fast-food place. And the girls? Maaaan, if you’re in the Scepter League, it’s pretty much a guarantee that they notice you. My #goals for seventh grade? Get in.

“Xavier, you still on that game machine?” Aunt Kat asks, not even looking at me. Dang, I thought she was all into this judge show she just turned on. Guess not.

“No,” I say, turning the Switch off.

“Good! That mess is rotting your brain, one cell at a time,” she says. “Why somebody would willingly buy that, I do not know.”

I swallow hard and slide the Switch into my pocket. I love Aunt Kat and all, but sometimes she goes too far. My dad gave me the Switch before he got locked up, and no matter how she feels about it, it’s special.

I walk to the kitchen to peek at the birthday cake that’s chillin’ on the counter. Double chocolate, just like I asked, with Happy 12th Birthday, Xavier! written across the top in fancy green cursive. I open the freezer: pistachio ice cream, check!

“Get out the kitchen, Xavier, it’s almost ready,” fusses Shannon. She always gets moody when Ju takes too long to respond to her texts. I slide my finger across the cake for a nice taste of the icing. Shannon’s too busy staring at her phone to notice.

I told her I just wanted pizza, but no, she had to go all fancy, said a birthday dinner can’t be just some pizza. It smells so good in here, I almost agree with her. Only problem is, it took, like, all afternoon to make, and I’m starvin’! Pizza’s much quicker, I’m just sayin’.

Shannon’s been into food since before she was tall enough to see over the stove. I’m the one who has to try all her “creations,” and she still hogs the TV watching the Food Network. Guess I can’t complain too much, though, cuz my b-day dinner is Cajun chicken linguine. Add in some sautéed asparagus with Shannon’s...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Random House Children's Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593380894
• ISBN 13: 9780593380895
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 256
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland