Read more
Zusatztext Praise for Dangerous Deception "A diverting! fast-paced thriller." — Kirkus Reviews Informationen zum Autor Peg Kehret is the winner of more than forty state young reader awards. She lives in Washington State with her rescued dog and two rescued cats. CHAPTER ONE I only intended to help two children who were hungry and had no money for food. That’s an admirable goal for a sixth-grade girl, isn’t it? You can’t get in trouble for doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Right? Wrong! I may have had noble intentions, but I still ended up causing a car crash, being abducted by a thug, and smuggling a scared cat on a city bus by sticking him inside my T-shirt, a maneuver I do not recommend unless you’re wearing a steel undershirt. I wasn’t. It all began when Mom got sick. I know it wasn’t her fault. Nobody would choose to spend half the day moaning in bed and the other half dashing to the bathroom. Still, it was a terrible time for her to get the flu. I suppose there isn’t a good time to have the flu, but Mom is especially busy in April. She works in the children’s department at Dunbar’s, the biggest department store in Cedar Hill. Every April Dunbar’s has a big contest, “Make Your Dunbar’s Dream Come True.” The entry forms look like this: If I could have anything I want from Dunbar’s Department Store, I would choose . . . Finish the sentence in one hundred words or less, telling what you want and why. Then bring your completed entry to Dunbar’s and drop it in the big red Dunbar’s Dream box on the second floor or mail it to the address below. One lucky winner will have his/her Dunbar’s Dream come true. Two runners-up each receive a $25.00 gift card. There’s a place for the person’s name, address, and phone number, and then in small print, it says, “All entries are confidential. Contestants must be eighteen or older.” That’s followed by Dunbar’s mailing address. The first year that Dunbar’s had the contest, April sales increased by 35 percent. Apparently, people looked at all the merchandise to decide what they wanted most and then ended up buying it when they didn’t win. Naturally there is now a Dunbar’s Dream Contest every year. Since the big red box where people leave their contest entries is in Dunbar’s children’s department, Mom was asked to empty it each evening and go through the entries to choose the best ones. The top ten get passed along to Dunbar’s manager, Mrs. Murphy, who selects the winner. The first year, Mom volunteered her time. By the second year, the number of contest entries increased so much that Dunbar’s agreed to pay her extra for judging the contest. At that time, she also promised in writing not to tell anyone that she was a judge or to share the contents of the entries with anyone other than Mrs. Murphy. The day she got the flu was the first week of this year’s Dunbar’s Dream Contest. Piles of entries covered our dining room table. I’d had to eat breakfast standing at the kitchen counter, which made me cranky, and I was even crankier when I got home from school. It had been a rotten day. Somewhere between leaving home that morning and arriving in my third-period history class, I had lost the history homework that I’d done the night before. I found it later, tucked inside my library book, but by then third period was over, so even though I turned in my assignment, I got an automatic grade deduction for being late. Then it was Cook’s Surprise Day in the school cafeteria, which meant I had Gag Casserole for lunch. No sane person wants to make this, but in case you are curious, here is the recipe: GAG CASSEROLE RECIPE Mix cooked macaroni in a lumpy white sauce with leftover peas, carrots, corn, and whatever else you can find from the day before. (Sometimes called Clean-out-the-Fridge Casserole.) Bake u...
