Clarice Bean Spells Trouble – Lauren Child (1)

Mrs. Wilberton did not like being told she was v^rong about her spelling. So then Betty was in trouble for being right. This is something I am learning: it can be wrong to be right. When we are walking home from school, Betty tells me she has this idea, which she got from the rt. .:„ . . -! : .:” . . ™ : •. -:: !…: !

‘.„’ : .’ .-. ‘.- She says, “There is this competition to come up with your own detective character and write a mystery.” She says, “So you see, we should write our own detective series.” I say, “But I don’t think it can be that easy, Betty.” And she says, “Why not?” And I say, “Because Ruby Redfort is a really clever idea and I could never come up with something as clever as that. It is the most clever book I have ever read, and it is funny.”

Betty says, “Think about it: there are all those books in the stores and even in tlie supermarkets and if they were that difficult to write, why would there be so many?” She has a point. That’s the thing about Betty Moody: she^s a good thinker. If she is right about this and we can write our own best-seUing detective series, then really do need to be able to spell.

Later I am at home doing some spelling practice, trying to work out how many G’s there are in jeepers, when there is a ring at the doorbell. It’s Karl. He’s come to collect Grandad and Cement for their training. I am going to go along with them because Karl says I can and it’s really fun. Karl is all excited and out of breath and he is waving a piece of paper. It has a number on it.

He says, “Guess what this is?”

is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. Copyright © 2004 by Lauren Child All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the pubhsher.

First U.S. paperback edition 2006 First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Orchard Books, London The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Child, Lauren. Clarice Bean spells trouble / Lauren Child. — 1st U.S. ed. p. cm. Summary: Clarice Bean, aspiring actress and author, unsuccessfully tries to avoid getting into trouble as she attempts to help a friend in need by following the rules of the fictional spy Ruby Redfort.

ISBN-10 0-7636-2813-1 (hardcover) ISBN- 13 978-0-7636-2813-0 (hardcover) [1. Conduct of life— Fiction. 2. Friendship— Fiction. 3. Authorship— Fiction. 4. Schools- Fiction. 5. Family life— Fiction. 6. Humorous stories.] L Title. PZ7.C4383Cku 2005 [Fic]— dc22 2005045787 ISBN-10 0-7636-2903-0 (paperback) ISBN- 13 978-0-7636-2903-8 (paperback) ” 6 8 10 9 7 Printed in the United States of America This book was typeset in M Bembo. Candlewick Press 2067 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140 visit us at www.candlewick.com •%&*^ vce^ \j^e

Massachusetts Things you can t Explain— like why isn’t YOU spelled U? You might want to know why I did what I did. But if you were me, you would understand that sometimes I just don’t know why I do things. So it’s hard to explain. I just get this urge to do something and I do it. And before I know it, I am in very big trouble.

My mom is always telling me I must think before I open my mouth and then perhaps life would be a lot easier. She is probably right. But try telling my brain that; it doesn’t think as fast as me. Another thing that is difficult to explain is why YOU isn’t spelled U and why WHY isn ‘t spelled Y. Spelling, Who knows where it all came from and why it has to he so difficult.

Whoever thought it up must he a very strange person. You see, it all started with this spelling hee that my teacher, Mrs. Wilherton, organized. It’s to see who is the hest out of all the spellers. I am not a good speller; my mind just doesn’t have the room in it to rememher spellings.

It isn’t my fault; it really isn’t. Think of all the other things in your whole life that you want to rememher.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 8328d158ef1edf53
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 9,802,645 bytes (9.349 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9780763628130, 9780763629038, 9780763621865, 9780763627881, 9780763635367, 0763628131, 0763629030
• Pages: 197
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 149.15 minutes
• Total Words: 29,829
• Total Characters: 154,098
• Average Words per Page: 151.42
• Average Characters per Page: 782.22

Most Frequent Words

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