Bernice Buttman is tough, crass, and hilarious, and she just might teach you a thing or two about empathy in this novel for fans of The Great Gilly Hopkins.
When you're a Buttman, the label "bully" comes with the territory, and Bernice lives up to her name. But life as a bully is lonely, and if there's one thing Bernice really wants (even more than becoming a Hollywood stuntwoman), it's a true friend.
After her mom skedaddles and leaves her in a new town with her aunt (who is also a real live nun), Bernice decides to mend her ways and become a model citizen. If her plan works, she just might be able to get herself to Hollywood Hills Stunt Camp! But it's hard to be kind when no one shows you kindness, so a few cheesy pranks may still be up her sleeve. . . .
Get ready to laugh out loud--and maybe even shed a tear--with this fantastic new middle-grade voice! Once the perky librarian, Mrs. Knightley, had showed me how to look things up with a search engine, I was under her feet all the livelong day. Knowledge was only a click away. I could know everything if I asked enough questions. Which would mean I'd always be right. I took to writing down questions in a green notebook I carried in my backpack, so I'd know what to ask when I got to the computer.
I flipped to a page in my notebook, where I'd only scrawled one question. It was a big one. Next summer's entire destiny depended on the answer.
"Hard at work there, Bernice?" Mrs. Knightley leaned against the edge of my cubicle and I jumped. I snapped the notebook closed, and she raised her eyebrows.
"Yup. Tryin' to find out what makes Pop Rocks pop." Oh, snap! I grinned at my own fast thinking. That question wasn't even on my list! I'd add it later.
"Interesting. Let me know what you find." Mrs. Knightley always asked me what I'd learned from my searches. She said I had a knack for research. No other adults ever said I had a knack for anything. Except my fourth grade teacher, who'd said I had a way of making the simplest group project a nightmare.
I nodded at Mrs. Knightley and guilt twisted my guts. My plan wasn't exactly legit, and I'm pretty sure I knew what she'd say about that. But if I was going to get to Hollywood Hills Stunt Camp this summer, I needed some generous strangers to dig down deep and give from their hearts.
