No Biz Like Show Biz Read online

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  About the Author

  About the Illustrators

  For Danny, whose talent is unlimited!—N.K.

  For Geoffrey.—J&W

  GROSSET & DUNLAP

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  Text copyright © 2007 by Nancy Krulik. Illustrations copyright © 2007 by John

  and Wendy. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of

  Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2006029448

  eISBN : 978-1-101-09971-1

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  Chapter 1

  “Ma may mi mo moo!” Suzanne sang out as she stood in the middle of Katie Carew’s kitchen.

  It was Thursday afternoon. Suzanne and some of the other fourth-grade kids had come over after school. They were going to bake cookies with Katie’s mom. Everyone knew Mrs. Carew baked the most delicious cookies in Cherrydale.

  “Ma may mi mo moo!” Suzanne sang again, louder this time.

  “What weird language is that?” Jeremy asked Suzanne.

  “Jeremy, you don’t know anything,” Suzanne said, tossing her long brown hair behind her shoulder.

  “I know one thing. You sound terrible!” Jeremy clapped his hands over his ears.

  “Come on you guys, stop it,” Katie said with a sigh. She really hated it when her two best friends fought. “We’re here to bake sugar cookies with my mom.”

  “Exactly,” Miriam Chan agreed.

  “We should get started. We have to bake enough for all the kids at the shelter,” Emma Weber added.

  “I know,” Katie said. “My mom wants to drive the cookies over tonight.”

  “Don’t worry, Katie Kazoo,” George Brennan assured Katie, using the way-cool nickname he had given her in third grade. He held up an apron. “We’re ready for action. At least, most of us are. Suzanne is apparently here to moo like a cow.”

  “I am not mooing like a cow,” Suzanne insisted. “I’m doing my singing exercises.”

  “You mean your croaking exercises,” Kevin Camilleri added.

  “Come on,” Katie said. “That’s not nice.”

  “I don’t care what you boys think,” Suzanne told George, Kevin, and Jeremy. “I’ll have the last laugh when I get the lead in the fourth-grade musical.”

  The tryouts for A Wacky Winter Wonderland were tomorrow. Katie knew Suzanne had her heart set on the part of the Snow Fairy.

  “The Snow Fairy has to sing some big solos in the show,” Suzanne went on.

  “Oh, I definitely think you should sing solo,” George told Suzanne.

  “You do?” Suzanne sounded surprised.

  “Sure,” George said. “So low we can’t hear you!”

  Kevin and Jeremy started to laugh.

  Suzanne turned to Katie. “I’m a really good singer . . . Aren’t I?” she asked.

  “You, um . . . you have a special singing voice. No one sounds quite like you,” Katie replied. She quickly headed toward the refrigerator for the cookie dough.

  Suzanne scowled at Jeremy, George, and Kevin.

  “I’m going to get that part. You’ll see!” she told them.

  “Yeah, you wish!” Kevin replied.

  Katie stopped in her tracks. “She does not wish!” she exclaimed.

  Everyone stopped and stared at her.

  “What are you so upset about?” George asked.

  Katie blushed. She didn’t know what to say. Katie hated wishes. And she had good reason to.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell her friends what that reason was. They wouldn’t believe her, anyway.

  Chapter 2

  It had all started one really bad day last year when Katie was in third grade. At recess Katie had dropped the football in the middle of a big play and lost the game for her team. Then she’d stepped in a puddle and splattered mud all over her favorite pants. Things got even worse when she burped really loudly in front of the whole class.

  That night Katie wished she could be anyone other than herself.

  There must have been a shooting star overhead when she made that wish, because the very next day her wish came true. The magic wind arrived and turned Katie into Speedy, the hamster in her third-grade class! Katie spent the whole morning going round and round on a hamster wheel and gnawing on chew sticks!

  The magic wind came back again and again after that. Sometimes it changed Katie into other kids, like Jeremy, Suzanne, and even Suzanne’s baby sister, Heather.

  The magic wind didn’t just turn Katie into kids and animals. It turned her into grown-ups, too. Like the time Katie had been switcherooed into her favorite author, Nellie Farrow. It happened right before Nellie was supposed to talk to the fourth grade about her new book. The trouble was, Katie hadn’t read the book yet. Because of Katie, Nellie had looked like a fool in front of everybody!

  As far as Katie was concerned, wishes brought nothing but trouble.

  “Let’s stop talking about singing, okay?” she finally told her friends. “And let’s get started baking.”

  Mrs. Carew came in just then and started handing out baking trays and utensils.

  “Mrs. Carew, will you let us eat some of the cookies, too?” George asked Katie’s mom.

  Katie laughed. George had never met a sweet he didn’t want to eat.

  “Sure,” Katie’s mother told him. “How else will we know if they’re good?”

  “Cool,” George said, tying on his apron. “Let’s get started.”

  Chapter 3

  “Sorry I can’t stay to help clean up,” Suzanne said as she put on her
coat and began walking out of the kitchen. The cookies were cooling on the counter.

  “Hey, that’s not fair,” Kevin said.

  “I have to work on my song for tomorrow’s auditions,” Suzanne explained. “And then I have to practice my turns for modeling class. I’m supposed to do that ten minutes every day.”

  George rolled his eyes. “Oh, give me a break. How hard can it be to turn?” He stood up on his toes and spun around quickly.

  Crash! Clang! George bumped into the kitchen counter. A pile of baking tins fell to the floor.

  “That hard,” Suzanne told him smugly. “See you all tomorrow.”

  “She always has to leave right when it’s time to clean up,” Jeremy complained.

  Miriam Chan turned on the water in the sink and began to wash out a mixing bowl. Then suddenly she began singing a Bayside Boys song as she scraped the batter away. “I dream of you when I’m awake. I hope that doesn’t sound too fake . . .”

  “Wow, you have a great voice!” Katie exclaimed. She smiled broadly. The Bayside Boys were her favorite band, and “Dreams” was one of their best songs.

  Miriam blushed. “I didn’t even realize I was singing out loud,” she said, looking very embarrassed. “I like to sing when I do chores. It’s something my mom taught me to do. It makes the work go faster.”

  “Miriam, you should totally try out for the solo in the holiday show,” Katie suggested.

  “Yeah. You’d be so much better than Suzanne,” George told her. He lifted his head up and pretended to sing like Suzanne. “Moo! Moo!”

  “Arooo!” Katie’s chocolate-brown-and-white cocker spaniel, Pepper, howled and buried his ears in his paws.

  “Oh, I could never sing in front of people,” Miriam said. She pulled nervously at her straight black hair.

  “Sure you could,” Emma W. told her. “You just sang in front of us.”

  “That’s different,” Miriam explained, blushing. “I could never get up on a stage and sing.”

  “Why not?” George asked her. “It’s just singing in a different place.”

  “All those people staring at me . . .” Miriam made a face.

  “My big brother, Ian, had a part in the middle school play last month,” Kevin said. “He was really nervous. But my dad told him to imagine all the people in the audience in their underwear. Then he wasn’t scared anymore.”

  George started laughing. “Imagine Mrs. Jerkman in her underwear. Oooo.”

  Katie, Jeremy, and Kevin all started to giggle, imagining Mrs. Derkman, who had been their strict third-grade teacher—and also happened to be Katie’s next-door neighbor—in her underwear.

  Miriam laughed a little, too.

  “See,” Kevin told her. “It works.”

  “I guess,” Miriam said slowly. “But I can’t just get up and audition. I haven’t rehearsed anything. And the tryouts are tomorrow!”

  “You could practice at my house right now,” Kevin suggested. “We have the music for lots of songs in our piano bench. My mom could play the piano while you sing.”

  “I don’t know,” Miriam said nervously.

  “We’ll go to Kevin’s with you,” Katie assured her. “We’ll be your practice audience.”

  “Just don’t imagine me in my underwear,” George warned.

  “I promise, George. I won’t,” Miriam vowed, giggling.

  Chapter 4

  “I hope Miriam tries out,” Jeremy said as he and Katie walked to school together the next morning.

  “Me too,” Katie agreed.

  “I can’t believe we never heard her sing before. I mean, we’ve known her our whole lives . . .” Jeremy began. He stopped suddenly when they reached the playground. “Oh, man. Check out Suzanne.”

  Katie turned and spotted Suzanne strolling toward them. She was wearing the weirdest outfit—shimmery purple and silver pants; a shiny silver jacket; long, glittery earrings; and lots and lots of silver beads.

  “What’s that about?” Katie wondered out loud.

  Jeremy shrugged. “You’re asking me? She’s your friend, not mine.”

  “Wow!” Jessica Haynes exclaimed as she ran over to Suzanne. “You look like a rock star.”

  Suzanne beamed. “Well, I am about to become a star,” she told Jessica. “At the tryouts, Mr. Guthrie will know I’m a real singer the minute he sees me.”

  By now a whole crowd of kids, including Miriam, had gathered around Suzanne.

  “And he’ll realize you’re not a real singer the minute you open your mouth,” George told Suzanne. “Besides, Miriam’s going to be the Snow Fairy.”

  “Miriam?” Suzanne asked, surprised. She turned around and stared at her. “I didn’t know you were trying out.”

  “Well, I-I might,” Miriam stammered nervously. “I haven’t actually decided if—”

  “She’s got a beautiful voice,” Emma W. told Suzanne.

  Suzanne grabbed Katie by the arm and started to pull her toward the school building. “Miriam will never get the solo,” Suzanne whispered. “Look at her. She’s wearing blue jeans and sneakers. She doesn’t look anything like a singer.”

  “Suzanne, it’s not about the clothes,” Katie tried to explain.

  But Suzanne didn’t care what Katie had to say. Instead, she went running over to Jessica. “Oooh, Jess, I want you to put my hair in a French braid,” she said.

  As Suzanne and Jessica walked away, George shook his head. “French braid?” he said. “She could wear French bread on her head and she still wouldn’t get that part.”

  That afternoon while the other kids were on the playground for recess, Katie had to stay inside and do math. That was because instead of finishing her math work that morning, Katie had drawn pictures all over the paper.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. G.,” Katie apologized as she stared at the half-finished work sheet.

  Mr. G. looked down at Katie’s white sneakers. She had used a blue pen to draw lots of hearts and flowers all over them. “Did you doodle on those, too?” he asked.

  Katie nodded. “My mom was kind of mad.”

  “I’ll bet she was,” Mr. G. replied. He smiled at Katie. “You’re a very good artist.”

  “Thanks,” Katie said. She liked it when her teacher complimented her.

  “But you have to learn when and where to draw,” Mr. G. continued. “Math class is not the right time. And your work sheet is not the right place. Neither are your sneakers.”

  “I know,” Katie said quietly.

  “I think I know a place where you can put your talent to good use,” he assured her. “Katie, would you like to design the scenery for the play?”

  Would she ever!

  When it was time to go home, Katie passed by the auditorium. There was a line of kids standing in the hall. They were waiting their turns to audition for parts in Wacky Winter Wonderland.

  Suzanne was at the front of the line, of course. Her hair was in a French braid, and she was practicing her singing. “Ma mi mooooooooooo,” she howled.

  George was in line also. So was Kadeem. Mandy Banks was trying out for the chorus along with Zoe Canter. Jeremy and Kevin were sitting at the end of the line, playing cards while they waited their turns.

  “Are you trying out for the show?” Jeremy asked Katie.

  Katie shook her head. “I’m working on the scenery. I’m going to design some of the backdrops and paint.”

  “Cool,” Jeremy told her. “You’re good at art.”

  “It was Mr. G.’s idea,” Katie admitted. “He thought it would be better if I drew scenery instead of doodling all over my math.”

  “Why is this taking so long?” Kevin groaned. “I hate waiting.”

  Katie looked at the long line of kids. There was someone missing. “Where’s Miriam?” she asked nervously. “Didn’t she show up?”

  “Not yet,” Jeremy said.

  “I hope she hasn’t chickened out,” Katie replied. “She’s got such a great voice.”

  “I didn’t chicken out,”
Miriam said, walking up behind Katie.

  “Oops, sorry, Miriam,” Katie said apologetically. “I wasn’t calling you a chicken. I just was worried you got scared.”

  “I almost did chicken out,” Miriam admitted. “But I figured I kind of owed you guys. I mean, you spent so much time listening to me sing and everything.”

  Just then the auditorium door swung open. Mr. G. poked his head out. “Okay, dudes,” he said. “Let’s get this started. Suzanne, you’re up first.”

  “Okay,” Suzanne told him. “Just let me warm up my voice.” She cleared her throat. “Ma mo me mo. Ta to te to.”

  Jeremy made a pained face. George stuck his fingers in his ears.

  But Katie would never do anything mean like that. “Good luck, Suzanne,” she called to her.

  “Oh, I don’t need luck,” Suzanne assured her. “I’ve got talent. I’m going in there a fourth-grader and coming out a Snow Fairy!”

  Chapter 5

  “I got it! I got it!”

  Katie held the phone away from her ear. The person on the other end was screaming frantically.

  “Got what?” Katie asked.

  “I got the part!”

  “Congratulations,” Katie said into the telephone receiver. “Who is this?”

  “Oops. Sorry.” The voice grew quiet. “It’s me, Miriam. I got the part. I’m the Snow Fairy in Wacky Winter Wonderland.”

  Now it was Katie’s turn to scream. “Wow! That’s so amazing!”

  “Th—thanks,” Miriam told her. “I have lots of lines to learn—and three solos.”

  Katie couldn’t tell if Miriam was scared or happy.

  “You’re going to be really great,” Katie assured her.

  “I have to practice a lot,” Miriam said. “I want to be perfect.”

  “I’ll get to hear you,” Katie told her. “I’m on the stage crew.”

  “Oh, cool,” Miriam said. She grew quiet for a moment. Then she added, “I can’t believe it, Katie. Of all the people who tried out, Mr. Guthrie picked me.”