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First published in the USA by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2018
Published in Great Britain by Puffin Books 2018
Copyright © Terri Libenson, 2018
The moral right of the author/illustrator has been asserted
Cover illustration © Terri Libenson
Typography by Terri Libenson and Katie Fitch
ISBN: 978-0-241-35187-1
All correspondence to:
Puffin Books
Penguin Random House Children’s
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
To all you readers, who should never be branded as anything except “awesome”
I don’t like labels. I just want to make that clear up front. And middle school is full of labels.
Let’s be real. People aren’t just one thing. Trouble is, unless you’re friends with someone, you don’t really know them, only what they’re known for.
Take my best friend. She’s known for being a great artist. And that’s good. But she’s so quiet, no one knows she’s also sweet and funny and even kind of wacky (she has wacky parents, so that’s kind of a given).
Me? Well …
Yeah. Ever since I moved here in kindergarten. I wouldn’t even mind that label so much if … well, if people could look past it a little.
It’s like being typecast as an actor … a role you’re known for. That’s all people expect or even want of you, ’cause it’s safe.
Don’t get me wrong. I like being smart. I wouldn’t want to change that by flunking out or something. Then I’d be known for something worse.
But it’d be nice to be seen past my brains for once. ’Cause there’s way more to me!
I mean, there is …
Right?