Rich
Authors: Nikki Grimes
“The top three poems will be published on the Kids’ Page of the Sunday newspaper.”
“Oooh!” said one kid.
“I could be famous!” said a second kid.
“You wish!” said a third.
“And the winner,” said Mrs. Cordell, “will receive a check for one hundred dollars!”
“Oh, snap!” said Free.
Dyamonde did not even have to look at Free to know that his eyes were bugging out. She could just see him with imaginary dollar signs and little video games floating in front of him.
“Now, who would like an entry form?” asked the teacher.
Free’s hand shot up higher than anyone else’s.
Read these other books
by Nikki Grimes:
Almost Zero: A Dyamonde Daniel Book
Bronx Masquerade
A Dime a Dozen
Jazmin’s Notebook
Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel
The Road to Paris
DANiEL
RICH
NIKKI GRIMES
illustrated by
R. GREGORY CHRiSTiE
PUFFIN BOOKS
An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
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Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in the United States of America by G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2009
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2010
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Text copyright © Nikki Grimes, 2009
Illustrations copyright © R. Gregory Christie, 2009
All rights reserved
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Grimes, Nikki.
Rich : a Dyamonde Daniel book / Nikki Grimes; illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.
p. cm.
Summary: Free is excited about a local poetry contest because of its cash prize, but when he and Dyamonde befriend a classmate that is homeless and living in a shelter, they rethink what it means to be rich or poor.
ISBN: 978-1-101-61317-7
[1. Homelessness—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Poetry—Fiction.
4. African Americans—Fiction.] I. Christie, Gregory, date - ill. II. Title.
PZ7.G88429Ri 2009 [Fic]—dc22 2009001033
Puffin Books
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Katrina Damkoehler
Text set in Bembo Semibold
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
For Ariana Katherine—N.G.
To Jerry Gant,
artist and poet extraordinaire—R.G.C.
Here comes the
fabulous Dyamonde Daniel
and her best friend, Free—
and that means there’s going
to be an adventure!
Dyamonde Daniel
Dyamonde Daniel
Dyamonde Daniel is a third-grader who likes to know everything that’s going on. She gives terrific advice, she’s great at math and she has her friend Free all figured out. She loves meeting people and knows that being “rich” doesn’t always mean having a lot of money.
Free
He’s Dyamonde’s best friend, and he dreams of being able to buy all the video games he wants. And winning a poetry contest with a cash prize would be a great start! Free thinks that should be easy since he knows he’s a great poet.
Damaris Dancer
Damaris is the quiet girl in class who never raises her hand for anything. She runs away from Dyamonde when Dyamonde sees her in their neighborhood. Does Damaris have a secret? Dyamonde plans to find out!
Dyamonde’s mom
Dyamonde lives with her mom in an apartment, and they are super close. Mrs. Daniel is nice and makes the most awesome pancakes on Saturday mornings.
