Lunch Money (22 page)

•By May comic book collectors on eBay were offering five to seven dollars for a copy of Chunky Comics, volume 1, number 1, in fine condition.

•In June, Mr. Z received approval to teach during the summer at the local community college. He had developed a course called “Turning Business Ideas into Realities.”

•Through all the ups and downs of an incredibly busy school year, Maura and Greg both finished with grade averages between B plus and A minus—a tie, or almost a tie.

•Greg and Maura's partnership survived five major artistic disagreements, four heated arguments about money, two binding arbitration sessions with Mr. Z, and one awkward attempt at holding hands.

•In late June, Greg and his dad got a call from a woman who worked at one of the big book clubs. She wanted to know if Greg was interested in exploring the possibility of a national distribution deal for Chunky Comics. After consulting with the other key members of the group, Greg decided he was.

•Up on the stage during the awards assembly on the last day of school, Greg, Maura, and Mr. Z handed Mrs. Davenport a check for $1,421, a donation to the Ashworth Intermediate
School library on behalf of all the vendors who had sold their products through the school store.

•Nine hundred twenty-three dollars and thirty-eight cents of that total donation came directly from the Chunky Comics Group, and Greg Kenton could not believe how good it made him feel to give that money away.

Also by Andrew Clements

A Million Dots

About Average

Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School

We the Children

Fear Itself

The Whites of Their Eyes

In Harm's Way

We Hold These Truths

Big Al

Big Al and Shrimpy

Dogku

Extra Credit

Frindle

The Handiest Things in the World

Jake Drake, Bully Buster

Jake Drake, Class Clown

Jake Drake, Know-It-All

Jake Drake, Teacher's Pet

The Jacket

The Janitor's Boy

The Landry News

The Last Holiday Concert

Lost and Found

The Map Trap

No Talking

The Report Card

Room One

The School Story

Troublemaker

A Week in the Woods

ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2005 by Andrew Clements
Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Brian Selznick
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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OOKS FOR
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If book is paperback conversion: Also available in a hardcover edition.
Book design by Greg Stadnyk
The text for this book is set in Revival.
The illustrations for this book are rendered in pencil.
Cover designed by Greg Stadnyk
Cover illustration copyright © 2005 by Brian Selznick
First paperback edition June 2007
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Clements, Andrew, 1949–
Lunch money / Andrew Clements; illustrated by Brian Selznick.
p. cm.
Summary: Twelve-year-old Greg, who has always been good at moneymaking projects, is surprised to find himself teaming up with his lifelong rival, Maura, to create a series of comic books to sell at school.
ISBN 978-0-689-86683-8 (hc)
eISBN-13: 978-1-4424-6219-9
[1. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 2. Moneymaking projects—Fiction. 3. Cartoons and comics—Authorship—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction.] I. Selznick, Brian, ill. II. Title. PZ7.C59118Lun 2005
[Fic]—dc22
2005000061
ISBN 978-0-689-86685-2 (pbk)