Notes from the Life of a Total Genius
Page 15
The restaurant was the best part. I heard a bunch of guys were having a party, but we decided that it would be more fun to not hang around them and to do our own thing. There’s always so much drama at their parties, anyway. That’s not my style.
It’s a bit weird to go into the summer knowing that next year everything will be so different. There are four different junior highs that feed into our high school, like Joie’s school and a few others. At least all the Leg Breakers will be there. We’re all going to take Drama. And I’ll still have you around, RJ. I mean, at least for a bit. I guess Reading Journals are good for something.
Yours truly,
Arthur Bean
YEAR-END REPORT CARD
Arthur showed significant improvement over the year. It was a real delight to read his assignments, and he was able to achieve the three personal goals he set for himself at the beginning of the year. More than that, it has been wonderful to see Arthur mature as a writer and a student over the past three years. I wish him the very best in high school, and I look forward to seeing his first novel in print one day.
Ms Whitehead
Arthur Bean
English 9C — Ms Whitehead
Year-End Summary
Goals for the Year Complete
Reviewing Personification 80%
Onomatopoeia Comic 85%
Literary Devices Summary 88%
Novel Study 87%
Book Response: Novel 92%
Winter Break Excuses 92%
Book Response: Biography 68%
Superstitions 74%
Design a Set 77%
Macbeth Scenes 95%
Macbeth Review 78%
Book Response: Non-fiction 60%
Extreme Survival! 75%
Personal Reflections: What Is Junior High? 77%
From: Joie Vinh (joievinh@gmail.com)
To: Arthur Bean (arthuraaronbean@gmail.com)
Sent: June 30, 11:22
Yo! Bean!
I read the wolf book you recommended and you’re right. It’s awesome. I’ll have to give it back to you, plus I have a book that, I think, will Blow. Your. Mind. I can hear your brain exploding already. Don’t read it in your tent in the Yukon, or else the bears will come to eat your exploded brains, and your poor dad will have to fend off grizzlies that have developed a taste for human flesh. Sigh. Poor Ernie Bean.
Do you think we’ll get to hang out before you go? At the risk of sounding all weird and gushy, I’d really like to hang out with just you before you possibly die in the wilds of the Canadian North. But if you don’t want to, that’s OK. I understand that you may need time to practise your gold-panning skills. All that swirling, and dipping … it can be hard work.
Man, I don’t know how to end this email. I’m so awkward. This is so awkward. Maybe I should pretend that something terrible is about to happen so that it’s not awkward.
Oh! I have to go! There’s a giant alligator coming out of the sewer. I think it’s trying to eaaaatttttt …
Joie
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Anne Shone, Erin Haggett, Aldo Fierro, Nikole Kritikos, Maral Maclagan and the whole team at Scholastic, with an extra-special thank you to Sandy Bogart Johnston, editor and human extraordinaire — thank you for guiding me through the new waters of writing a trilogy. Also, a loud shout-out to Simon Kwan for amazing illustrations that make me laugh each time I see a new one; my favourite is the one with the fencing podium.
Thank you to Hilary McMahon for being in my corner, and to Tanya Lloyd Kyi, Shannon Ozirny, Kallie George, Lori Sherritt-Fleming, Maryn Quarless and Christy Goerzen for all their advice, support and wisdom.
I’m eternally grateful to be surrounded by love from my family and for all they do for me. Anna, Robert, Diane, Curtiss, Andrew and Chelsey: you mean the world to me, along with the rest of the Matson and Sashaw clans. Yes, Denise. That includes you.
My love goes to Kamila Zloty: the Millie to my Joie, the Betty to my Al. I can’t believe we didn’t become professional fencers. We were so dedicated!
And, very importantly: Ross Hodgson, Jason Patrick Rothery and Ethan Cole, three fellows who have served as the muses for this book. I’d have never had the idea for this one without you.
About the Author
The first book about Arthur A. Bean, A Year in the Life of a (Total and Complete) Genius, began as Stacey Matson’s master’s thesis at the University of British Columbia. The book went on to be short-listed for the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award, the Chocolate Lily Award, the Snow Willow Award and the Rocky Mountain Book Award. It was also chosen by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre for Best Books for Kids & Teens, 2015. The second book in the series, Scenes from the Epic Life of a Total Genius, was short-listed for the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award and was a starred selection in Best Books for Kids & Teens, 2016.
Stacey has an intriguingly varied list of non-writing occupations. She has managed the tour and theatre program on Parliament Hill; created interpretation programs for the Glenbow Museum, Fort Calgary and the Vancouver Aquarium; run a Christmas-tree lot; worked as a forklift operator; and performed as a fairy princess at birthday parties. Stacey was recently selected by the Writers’ Trust of Canada as a writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon.
Praise for A Year in the Life of a (Total and Complete) Genius and Scenes from the Epic Life of a Total Genius
“At once funny, outrageous, thoughtful, and informative … this is a story with something for everyone, and Arthur’s is a voice readers won’t soon forget. Give to fans of Susin Nielsen’s Word Nerd.”
—CM: Canadian Review of Materials
“[A] splendid debut middle grade novel.”
—The Vancouver Sun
“An ideal tool to jumpstart a conversation about the subtleties of social interaction and how people communicate, while still being a light and funny read.”
—Quill & Quire
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Matson, Stacey, author
Notes from the [text blacked out] life of a total genius
/ Stacey Matson ; illustrations by Simon Kwan.
In the title the word before “life” is blacked out and illegible.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
Notes from the [text blacked out] life of a total genius.
ISBN 978-1-4431-4823-8 (hardback).--ISBN 978-1-4431-4824-5
(paperback).--ISBN 978-1-4431-4825-2 (html)
I. Kwan, Simon (Illustrator), illustrator II. Title.
III. Title: Notes from the life of a total genius.
PS8626.A839N68 2016 jC813’.6 C2016-900932-7
Cover images: Boy, © IkazNarsis/Shutterstock, Inc.; Censored, © Thomas Pajot/Shutterstock, Inc.
Text copyright © 2016 by Stacey Matson.
Illustrations by Simon Kwan © 2016 by Scholastic Canada Ltd.
Comic panel (October 2) copyright © 2016 by Stacey Matson.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read this e-book on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without t
he express written permission of the publisher, Scholastic Canada Ltd., 604 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1E1, Canada.
First e-book edition: September 2016