Authors: Nancy Krulik
Friends for Never
Table of Contents
For Isabelle and Ian Gale—makers of
rainbows, with insatiable imaginations!—N.K.
rainbows, with insatiable imaginations!—N.K.
For Eric—true friends for EVER!—J&W
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via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and
punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions,
and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted
materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
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.
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 Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krulik, Nancy E.
Friends for never / by Nancy Krulik ; illustrated by John & Wendy.
p. cm.—(Katie Kazoo, switcheroo ; 14)
Summary: Snubbed by her best friend Suzanne, Katie magically turns into
her as she is making her modelling debut at a fashion show at the mall.
Includes a recipe for fruit salad.
p. cm.—(Katie Kazoo, switcheroo ; 14)
Summary: Snubbed by her best friend Suzanne, Katie magically turns into
her as she is making her modelling debut at a fashion show at the mall.
Includes a recipe for fruit salad.
eISBN : 978-1-101-14197-7
[1. Models (Persons)—Fiction. 2. Best friends—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Magic—Fiction.] I. John & Wendy. II. Title. III. Series.
PZ7.K944Ft 2004
[Fic]—dc22 2004009203
[Fic]—dc22 2004009203
Chapter 1
“Yodel-ay-hee-hoo!” Katie Carew shouted. “Yodel-ay-hee-hoo!”
“That was perfect!” her teacher, Mr. Guthrie, congratulated her. “You sounded like a real native of Switzerland.”
Katie blushed. She wasn’t usually the type of kid to yodel in front of her whole class. But that was the kind of thing you did when you were in Mr. Guthrie’s fourth-grade class.
Mr. Guthrie wasn’t a typical teacher. He did things his own way.
Like now. The kids were studying world geography. But rather than just reading about Switzerland, the kids in class 4A were standing on a hill in the field behind the school, practicing yodeling. The hill was the closest thing the elementary school had to the mountains of Switzerland. Mr. Guthrie called it the Cherrydale Alps.
“Who’s next?” Mr. Guthrie asked.
“Oh, oh, oh!” Kadeem Carter raised his hand really high. “My turn! Please, Mr. G.!”
Mr. Guthrie laughed. “Okay, Kadeem, let’s hear your best yodel.”
“YODEL-AY-HE-HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Katie covered her ears. So did a lot of the other kids. Kadeem was really loud.
Mr. Guthrie smiled. “That was definitely the yodel to beat all yodels.”
Kadeem bowed to the class. “Thank you, thank you!” he said.
Katie rolled her eyes. Kadeem was always joking around.
“Okay, since nothing’s going to top that, let’s head back into the building,” Mr. Guthrie said. “We have just enough time before lunch to take a surprise math quiz.”
“Ugh,” the kids groaned. They hated surprise quizzes.
Katie sighed. Sometimes Mr. Guthrie could be just like any other teacher.
Katie walked into her classroom, plopped down into her beanbag, and got ready to take the quiz. The kids in 4A all sat in beanbag chairs. Mr. Guthrie thought kids learned better when they were comfortable.
The kids were very proud of their beanbags. They spent a lot of time decorating them. The decorations reflected what the class was learning about.
When the class had been studying birds, the kids had all turned the beanbags into giant nests. When they had been learning about American history, the kids had used construction paper, glue, and cardboard to create historical scenes on their beanbags.
Right now, class 4A’s world geography unit was Europe. Katie had used black pipe cleaners to build the Eiffel Tower from France on her beanbag. Her pal Emma Weber had constructed the London Bridge out of cardboard.
Emma Stavros had decorated her beanbag with pictures of funny-looking trolls from Norway.
Andrew Epstein’s beanbag was the scariest one. He’d used cardboard and black construction paper to build a dark castle. His beanbag was supposed to be Dracula’s home in Romania. There was even a picture of a vampire on the top of the castle.
George Brennan’s beanbag was really goofy. He’d used lots of Styrofoam cups to build Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa. In real life, that tower tilted a little to one side. On George’s beanbag, the tower leaned so far over, it hit the floor. He was constantly gluing the cups back together.
Kadeem had a funny beanbag, too. He’d used brown cloth pillowcases stuffed with cotton to make a giant hot-dog bun around his red beanbag. He said it was a German frankfurter.
“Hey, Kadeem and Andrew,” George called out. “You guys know what Dracula’s favorite snack is?”
Kadeem shook his head.
“A fang-furter!” George said. He laughed at his own joke.
Kadeem couldn’t let George be the only funny one. “What do you call a slice of dessert in Italy?” he asked.
“What?” George wondered.
“A pizza pie!”
Katie giggled. She really liked when George and Kadeem tried to out-joke each other. Mr. Guthrie called it having a joke-off.
“Wow,” Mr. Guthrie exclaimed. “It’s an international joke-off! Those were good ones, guys.”
“Good enough to get us out of that math quiz?” George asked hopefully.
“Not a chance.”
As Mr. Guthrie went to his filing cabinet to get the quiz, Katie thought about life in class 4A. Sure, they had to do regular work, like this quiz. But they also did a lot of really great stuff, like yodeling and telling jokes.
And the kids in class 4A were the only ones in the whole school to have a
snake
for a class pet. No hamster, guinea pig, or turtle could
ever
be as cool as Slinky the Snake!
snake
for a class pet. No hamster, guinea pig, or turtle could
ever
be as cool as Slinky the Snake!
It was hard to believe that Katie had ever wanted to be in class 4B with Ms. Sweet. Not that Ms. Sweet wasn’t a nice teacher. She was. But Mr. Guthrie was a lot cooler.
Then again, Katie’s two best friends, Jeremy Fox and Suzanne Lock, were in class 4B. Katie missed them sometimes. It would have been nice to be with them all day.
But Katie still got to see Suzanne and Jeremy at recess, during track team practices, and on the weekends after her Saturday morning clarinet lessons. They still had lots of fun together.
Katie had learned something really important in fourth grade. She didn’t have to be with her best friends all day long. No matter what class they were in, Katie and her pals were
friends forever!
friends forever!
Chapter 2
“Hey, Katie,” Emma W. called as Katie walked out onto the playground after lunch. “You want to jump rope with Mandy and me?”
“Sure,” Katie agreed happily. “Just let me find Suzanne. She’s probably with Jessica. We can all play.”
Katie knew Emma W. would like it if they all played together. Last year, when Emma was in class 3B, Jessica had been her best friend. But this year, they were in different classes. Emma didn’t get to hang out with Jessica all the time anymore.
“Okay,” Emma W. said. “But hurry up. I have a new rhyme I want to try.”
Katie looked around the playground for Suzanne and Jessica. She found them standing next to the big oak tree.
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