Shine!

  “But Mom played the cello. I didn’t play the cello. That was Ainsley, Dad….”

  “Honey, your mom was a fantastic cello player. Yes. She had a talent. A gift, even. But that’s not what made her the most fantastic person I’d ever met in my life. She was also incredibly kind. And incredibly smart. She was so generous, she would do anything for her friends, which made me the luckiest man on earth because, guess what? I got to be her best friend. And then? I got you!”

  We hug.

  “Well done, Mr. Milly,” says Brooke’s father as he comes over to shake Dad’s hand. “Now then, as promised, we should discuss putting together a small group of backers to invest seed money in your show.” He glances at his watch. “I have to fly out of town first thing tomorrow morning. I could, however, do a late supper tonight….”

  “Can I take a rain check?” says Dad. “I have a prior engagement this evening.”

  “Is that so?” says Mr. Breckenridge. “Well, if you’re otherwise committed, a rain check it is.” He drifts off to greet more well-wishers, taking Brooke with him. “Come along, dear. There are some very important people I want you to meet….”

  “You should’ve gone out with him, Dad,” I say.

  “Nope. You heard me. I have a prior commitment.”

  “With who?”

  “My favorite person.” He drapes his arm over my shoulder and walks me toward the exit. “So, kiddo, who makes the best hot fudge sundaes in town?”

  “Mootown, I guess.”

  “Excellent choice.”

  So that’s where we go after the show.

  And over hot fudge sundaes (with whipped cream and marshmallows), Dad tells me all sorts of stories about my mom that he says he probably should’ve told me years ago.

  I love hearing every single one of them.

  Friday morning.

  March 15.

  We’re all back in the Hammerschmidt Auditorium for the presentation of the big award.

  Ainsley takes a seat in the front row. “So I don’t have to walk too far when they announce the winner,” she tells the girls in her gaggle. They all giggle and tell her, “You deserve it!”

  She’s really looking forward to winning the Excelsior. Me? I’m really looking forward to my meeting tomorrow with the activities director at Mrs. Gilbert’s seniors’ apartment complex. We’re going to find a lot of loving homes for older dogs!

  I’m sitting with Tim, Siraj, Emily (her wrist is wrapped in an Ace bandage), and Kwame.

  “Hey,” says Kwame. “Do you guys know how many Ainsley Braden-Hammerschmidts it takes to screw in a lightbulb?”

  “One,” says Tim.

  “She holds it,” says Siraj.

  Emily finishes with the punch line: “And the whole world revolves around her.”

  “You got that right,” says Kwame.

  Dad comes in with the rest of the faculty. Mr. Van Deusen has another cup of coffee and half a chocolate doughnut. Looks like Ms. Oliverio has the other half. I see Mrs. Zamick beaming at Ainsley, her protégée. Dad is smiling at me proudly. He shoots me a wink. I wave back.

  Dr. Throckmorton walks onstage.

  The crowd—every sixth, seventh, and eighth grader at Chumley Prep—settles down.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” says Dr. Throckmorton, “today is the big day. The awarding of the first-ever Excelsior Award. So, without any further ado, it is my great honor and privilege to present a member of the family that started this school over two centuries ago. I give you Chatsworth W. Chumley the Third.”

  Our headmaster gestures to the wings. A spry old man in a natty blue blazer scurries out to join him onstage.

  Wait a second….

  I squint because I realize something: I recognize the man.

  He’s the Chumley Prep alumnus I saw at the a cappella competition. The one who scampered out of the shadows and said what I wish I could’ve said. The one who told the Chumley kids that they weren’t the center of this or any other known universe.

  Mr. Chumley shakes Dr. Throckmorton’s hand and moves to the microphone.

  “Thank you, Osgood. Good morning, children. It is indeed a pleasure to be with you all once again. Of all my family’s accomplishments, founding this school has long been our proudest achievement. However, not too long ago, I attended an a cappella competition at the Municipal Auditorium where I was astonished and, frankly, quite embarrassed by the behavior of several Chumley Prep students.”

  I glance over at Ainsley. She looks a little nervous.

  “Their disrespectful demeanor is why I decided that my family needed to sponsor a new kind of award. If we want to fulfill Chumley Prep’s mission of helping each and every student become their best and most fully realized self, we must educate and inspire their hearts as well as their heads.”

  “What’s going on, you guys?” whispers Emily.

  “I have no idea,” Siraj whispers back.

  “We need to reset our focus on building character,” Mr. Chumley continues. “What C. S. Lewis called ‘doing the right thing even when no one is watching.’ Or, in the case of the Excelsior Award, even when you think no one is watching.”

  I see Ainsley squirm in her seat. I don’t think this is what she was expecting.

  I know I sure wasn’t.

  Mr. Chumley takes a sip of water from a drinking glass and continues.

  “Even your headmaster, Dr. Throckmorton, had no idea about the true nature of this so-called competition. My undercover judges have witnessed many great accomplishments over the course of this winter term. Impressive test scores. Amazing musical performances. Fascinating scientific presentations. Impressive feats of prestidigitation. But, ladies and gentlemen, there was more to this competition than met the eye. You see, we weren’t interested in your grades, how many offices you held, if you won a basketball game or even the talent show.”

  Now Ainsley slumps down in her seat.

  “The Chumley family firmly believes that to excel in life, you must make a difference in the lives of those around you. The brightest stars don’t just shine for themselves. That’s why my colleagues and I created five small tests. You were all given an equal opportunity to participate in each of these five scenarios. We set them up, then waited and watched to see who among you responded with compassion and concern. Very well. Enough about all that. It’s time to end the mystery and unveil my panel of undercover judges.”

  Everyone is on the edge of their seat.

  “Who do you think they were?” Tim whispers.

  “I have absolutely no idea,” I whisper back.

  “I wanted five judges so there couldn’t be a tie when selecting our winner,” Mr. Chumley continues. “That proved to be an unnecessary precaution. The judges’ final decision was unanimous.”

  Mr. Chumley turns to his right. “Judges, please join me here at the podium as I call out your names. First up: Mrs. Kate Sullivan. Kindergarten teacher. She is joined today by her directionally challenged students, Abby and Victor.”

  A woman and two small children join Mr. Chumley onstage.

  “When these two pretended to be lost in the halls of the middle school, only two students dropped everything to offer assistance.”

  Tim elbows me.

  “That was us!”

  “Judge number two,” says Mr. Chumley. “Judy Gaffney, one of our wonderful food service employees, who, on several occasions, accidentally-on-purpose dropped her tray in the dining hall.”

  The audience chuckles.

  “Only one student came to Judy’s aid in her time of need. Judge three: a very talented young actor named Steven Harris, who impersonated a custodian pleading for assistance after a plumbing disaster. One student rushed to his aid. Judge four: Cara Lingle, another actor. She impersonated a nanny who could carry more backpacks than any h
uman being should ever be asked to carry. Only one student offered to help lighten her load. And finally judge five, my wonderful granddaughter, Mrs. Barbara Rhodes. She pretended to be a substitute teacher who’d lost a precious family heirloom in a garbage barrel. Again, only one student offered to help her retrieve it. And it was the same student who helped all the others.”

  My face is starting to feel warm. I remember all those people.

  Mr. Chumley reaches under the podium and pulls out an engraved glass plaque.

  “As I said, the judges were unanimous in their final decision. Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me and the entire Chumley family great pleasure to present the first-ever Excelsior Award to the student who consistently displayed kindness, even in the most trying and unusual of circumstances: Miss Piper Milly!”

  I am totally stunned.

  Which is probably why I’m still sitting in my seat when the audience starts applauding.

  “Go on!” says Tim.

  “Get up there!” says Siraj.

  Emily’s gesturing like crazy.

  Kwame gives me a little shove. “Hurry up, Piper! If you don’t pick up your prize sometime soon, they might cancel lunch.”

  Somehow, my legs work and I make my way to the stage.

  Mr. Chumley shakes my hand and gives me the heavy engraved glass. The Excelsior Award.

  “Congratulations, Miss Milly,” says Mr. Chumley.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “A little birdie named Ms. Oliverio tells me you are a fan of Dr. Nellie DuMont Frissé?”

  “Yes, sir. I am.”

  “Wonderful. My family’s foundation is a proud sponsor of her program on PBS. You should go to a taping. How about I set it up?”

  “That would be amazing, sir.”

  The audience applauds as, one by one, the judges come over and say “Congratulations!”

  I see Dad in the audience. Yep. He’s crying again.

  “Would you like to say a few words?” Mr. Chumley whispers.

  “Do I have to?”

  Mr. Chumley laughs. “Of course not. What you did over these past few weeks tells me more about who you are than anything you could possibly say.”

  And so—phew—I don’t have to make a speech.

  I just have to stand there, at center stage, soaking up the applause. It feels pretty awesome.

  And all of a sudden I know exactly what I’m going to write for Mr. Van Deusen.

  I know who I want to be.

  Me.

  Writing this book together, we were very fortunate to have a third partner: our terrific editor, Shana Corey. We can never thank her enough for helping us find our true north.

  Thanks again to Eric Myers, our amazing literary agent.

  Thanks to all the fantastic folks who helped us shape and detail our story: Ben Frahm, Steven Harris, Kate John, and Dorian Rence. And of course we are forever grateful to our early readers: Sunshine, Lucy, J. D., and Micah Cavalluzzi; Lily Lawler; Hayden Unger; and Halle Webman.

  We’d also like to thank everybody at Random House Children’s Books who has been so supportive ever since we first floated the idea of writing a book together: John Adamo, Kerri Benvenuto, Julianne Conlon, Janet Foley, Judith Haut, Kate Keating, Jules Kelly, Gillian Levinson, Mallory Loehr, Barbara Marcus, Kelly McGauley, Michelle Nagler, Polo Orozco, and Janine Perez.

  Thank you to Leslie Mechanic, our cover artist and designer, and the entire RHCB art department, including Katrina Damkoehler, Stephanie Moss, Trish Parcell, and Martha Rago, for making Shine! shine.

  We were very lucky to have a crack team of copyeditors (who even copyedited these thank-yous): Barbara Bakowski, Alison Kolani, and Barbara Perris.

  So many other people at Random House have helped make this book possible:

  The production crew, headed up by Tim Terhune.

  The school and library marketing team: Shaughnessy Miller, Lisa Nadel, Emily Petrick, Kristin Schulz, Erica Stone, and Adrienne Waintraub.

  Our pals in publicity: Dominique Cimina, Aisha Cloud, and Noreen Heritz.

  And the sensational sales force, who do such a great job getting the right books into the right kids’ hands: Emily Bruce, Brenda Conway, Dandy Conway, Whitney Conyers, Stephanie Davey, Nic DuFort, Cletus Durkin, Joe English, Felicia Frazier, Becky Green, Susan Hecht, Kimberly Langus, Ruth Liebmann, Lauren Mackey, Cindy Mapp, Deanna Meyeroff, Carol Monteiro, Tim Mooney, Sarah Nasif, Stacey Pyle, Mark Santella, Sophie Stewart, Kate Sullivan, Liz Swanger, and Richard Vallejo.

  Most of all, thank you to you! No book can shine until someone picks it up and reads it.

  J.J. and CHRIS GRABENSTEIN are a husband-wife writing team. J.J. is an award-winning voice-over and stage performer, as well as Chris’s longtime secret weapon: she reads and edits all his books before anyone else sees them. Shine! marks her debut as a coauthor. Chris is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of many books, including The Island of Dr. Libris, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics, Mr. Lemoncello’s Great Library Race, and Mr. Lemoncello’s All-Star Breakout Game, as well as the Welcome to Wonderland series. Chris is also the coauthor of numerous fun and funny page-turners with James Patterson, including Word of Mouse and Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment and the Jacky Ha-Ha, I Funny, House of Robots, and Treasure Hunters series. J.J. and Chris live in New York City with their cat, Phoebe Squeak, adopted from a local rescue group where J.J. volunteers.

  Look for the next Mr. Lemoncello adventure coming in 2020! And visit Chris’s website for trailers, bonus quizzes, and more.

  ChrisGrabenstein.com

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