Mudshark (7 page)
Authors: Gary Paulsen
Prune Liver Surprise
Cottage Cheese
Franks n' Brussels Sprouts
Grilled Cheese
Salami Mint Whip
Yogurt
“It's a tad … milky,” Mr. Wagner said. “But it's a start. She's returning to her roots—she grew up on a dairy farm.”
Yes, things were getting back to normal. Even the triplets had learned to dress themselves and sit quietly for upwards of thirty seconds at a time.
In truth, though, after the excitement of the erasers and the parrot, Mudshark was getting a little bored.
Until.
This is the principal
.
I am pleased to report that each and every classroom is fully stocked with erasers. The faculty restroom is safe for human use. That being said, would the custodian please report to the faculty restroom with a plunger and a mop? Today's hot lunch offering is cheese pizza, applesauce, green beans, chocolate pudding and two-percent milk. Our own Betty Crimper has taken first place in the Interscholastic Science Fair that was held this past weekend—way to go, Betty! Please direct your attention to the new electronic blackboards in the library; we will shortly be replacing
the crayfish tanks in each classroom with these boards. I know that we are all sorry to hear that due to the custodian's allergy attacks, our library mascot, that weird … the parrot, has had to find another home. We are pleased, though, that Mrs. Downside has taken him in. Last of all, would Lyle Williams report immediately to the principal's office?
Mr. Wagner closed his door and looked at Mudshark with desperation and said, “You did so well on the eraser business…”
Mudshark waited.
“I wonder if you could help me with another problem.”
Mudshark nodded.
“We can't seem to locate Mr. Patterson. As near as we can figure, he's lost somewhere in the west wing, where he was last heard rumbling around up in the ductwork, hunting for the gerbil. He must be coming out, because somebody has been eating the sandwiches we put out each night, but we can't pin
him down long enough to get him to emerge and start teaching again. I don't suppose you would mind looking into it, would you? Please? We must get our eighth-grade English teacher back in the classroom and out of the ductwork.”
Well, Mudshark thought as he headed for the west wing, this should be interesting. …
Gary Paulsen is the distinguished author of many critically acclaimed books for young people, including three Newbery Honor books:
The Winter Room, Hatchet
, and
Dogsong
. His novel
The Haymeadow
received the Western Writers of America Golden Spur Award. Among his Random House books are
Lawn Boy; The Legend of Bass Reeves; The Amazing Life of Birds; The Time Hackers; Molly McGinty Has a Really Good Day; The Quilt
(a companion to
Alida's Song
and
The Cookcamp); The Glass Cafè; How Angel Peterson Got His Name; Guts: The True Stories Behind
Hatchet
and the Brian Books; The Beet Fields; Soldier's Heart; Brian's Return, Brian's Winter
, and
Brian's Hunt
(companions to
Hatchet); Father Water, Mother Woods;
and
five books about Francis Tucket's adventures in the Old West. Gary Paulsen has also published fiction and nonfiction for adults, as well as picture books illustrated by his wife, the painter Ruth Wright Paulsen. Their most recent book is
Canoe Days
. The Paulsens live in Alaska and New Mexico.
You can visit Gary Paulsen on the Web at
www.garypaulsen.com
.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Gary Paulsen
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Wendy Lamb Books and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Visit us on the Web!
www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools,
visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Paulsen, Gary.
Mudshark / Gary Paulsen.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Principal Wagner confidently deals with a faculty washroom crisis, a psychic parrot, and a terrorizing gerbil, but when sixty-five erasers go missing, he enlists the help of the school's best problem solver and locator of lost items, twelve-year-old Lyle Williams, aka Mudshark.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89255-4
[1. Problem solving—Fiction. 2. Lost and
found possessions—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction. 4. Humorous stories.] I. Title.
II. Title: Mudshark.
PZ7.P2843Mu 2009 [Fic]—dc22 2008033271
Random House Children's Books supports the First Amendment
and celebrates the right to read.
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