by ABBY KLEIN

  illustrated by

  JOHN MCKINLEY

  To Bonnie,

  the best mentor and friend anyone could ever ask for.

  To Baxter:

  You will always be in my heart.

  Love, A.K.

  I have a problem.

  A really, really, big problem.

  I saw this awesome fossilized

  Megalodon tooth

  at a store at the mall. I really, really want it,

  but my mom and dad won’t buy it

  for me, and I don’t have enough

  money to buy it myself.

  Let me tell you about it.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Dear Reader

  Chapter 1: Pretty Please with a Cherry on Top

  Chapter 2: I’ll Ask Dad

  Chapter 3: What’s the Plan, Stan?

  Chapter 4: If You Have Lemons, Make Lemonade

  Chapter 5: 47, 48, 49, 50!

  Chapter 6: It’s Mine, All Mine

  Chapter 7: Look What I’ve Got!

  Chapter 8: Gone! 77 Freddy’s Fun Pages

  Freddy’s Fun Pages

  Freddy’s Shark Journal

  Robbie’s Shark Quiz

  Turning Lemons Into Lemonade!

  Freddy’s Secret Code

  Freddy’s Other Adventures!

  Copyright

  DEAR READER,

  I have been a teacher for many years, and I have two kids of my own. I know that there is always something that kids want REALLY, REALLY badly! They just have to have it.

  When I was little, Cabbage Patch Dolls were very popular, and I couldn’t live without one. I begged my mom and dad to buy one for me, but they said I had to save up for one and buy it with my own money.

  I didn’t have enough money in my piggy bank, so I had to earn the rest of the money. I had a lemonade stand, and I also put on a magic show with my brother, and I charged the kids in the neighborhood to come see it.

  I finally earned enough money to buy the doll. I think she was even more special to me because I had worked so hard to get her.

  I hope you have as much fun reading Shark Tooth Tale as I had writing it.

  HAPPY READING!

  CHAPTER 1

  Pretty Please with a Cherry on Top

  “Hey, can I go look around Treasures of Time?” I asked my mom during our latest trip to the mall.

  “Not that dumb store again,” my sister, Suzie, whined. “I am sooo sick of that place. You make us go in there every time we come to the mall, and it is so boring.”

  “It is not dumb,” I said. “It has really cool fossils, and rocks, and treasures. You just don’t like it because it doesn’t have lip gloss or anything pink.”

  “What did you just say, Wimp?” Suzie asked, sticking her nose in my face.

  “Get away from me, Weirdo. Your breath stinks,” I said, holding my nose.

  “Well, your whole body smells,” Suzie said, poking me in the chest with her finger.

  “All right. Enough, you two,” my mom said, stepping in between us. “You’re making a big scene.”

  “So, Mom, can we go to the store?” I asked. “I want to see if they have anything new.”

  “I don’t think so, Freddy. It’s getting late. I still have to go home and make dinner.”

  “Pretty please with a cherry on top? Just for five minutes. I swear. You can even time me, and I promise I’ll leave when five minutes are up.”

  “Yeah, right,” Suzie muttered under her breath. “As if.”

  “Oh, all right,” my mom said. “But just for five minutes, Freddy, and then we really have to go home.”

  “You’re the best,” I said, hugging her.

  I ran over to Treasures of Time and stopped in my tracks as soon as I saw it in the window. I had never seen anything like it before. “No way,” I whispered as my mouth dropped open in amazement.

  “Why aren’t you going in?” my mom asked when she and Suzie caught up to me.

  I just stood there staring.

  “Uh, hello,” Suzie said, waving her hand in front of my face. “Earth to Freddy. Earth to Freddy.”

  “Huh? What?” I mumbled.

  “What are you doing, honey?” my mom asked. “Don’t you want to go in? Remember, I said you only have five minutes.”

  “Look at that,” I said, pointing. My eyes were growing bigger by the second.

  “Look at what?” Suzie and my mom said together.

  “That shark’s tooth,” I answered, pointing into the store window.

  “A shark’s tooth,” Suzie said, laughing. “I can’t believe you are drooling over a stupid shark’s tooth. You already have a bunch of them at home.”

  “But I don’t have that one.”

  “What’s so special about that one?” my mom asked.

  “It’s a fossilized Megalodon tooth. They are very rare,” I continued. “I’ve always wanted one.”

  “Well, your five minutes are almost up,” Suzie butted in. “Are you going to go inside or not?”

  “Yeah. I want to ask the guy how much it costs. It’s awesome!”

  I went inside and ran to the cash register. “Umm … Excuse me,” I said to the guy behind the counter. “How much is that Megalodon tooth in the window?”

  “We just got that in today. It’s cool, isn’t it? It’s more than a million years old. I almost didn’t even put it out. I thought I might just keep it for myself,” he said, laughing.

  “How much is it?” I asked again.

  “Fifty dollars,” the guy said, smiling.

  “Fifty dollars? Did you say fif … fif … fifty dollars?” I stuttered.

  “Yep. Worth every penny.”

  My heart sank. Fifty dollars! I didn’t have fifty dollars, and my birthday and Christmas were months away. I couldn’t wait that long. Somebody would buy it before then. What was I going to do?

  “OK, Freddy,” my mom called. “It’s time to go. Come on.”

  My mom came over to the counter. “Freddy, you promised, remember? It’s time to go. Your five minutes are up.”

  “But I have to get this today, Mom. If I don’t, someone else will come along and buy it. Will you get it for me, pleeeaaase?”

  “Not today, but if you really want it, you have money in your piggy bank. You can buy it for yourself.”

  “But it costs fifty dollars.”

  “Fifty dollars!” Suzie said. “Fifty dollars for a silly tooth. That’s crazy!”

  “That does seem a bit much for a shark’s tooth,” my mom agreed.

  “Not really,” said the guy behind the counter. “You don’t see these too often. This is the first time we’ve ever had one here in the store. They are rare.”

  “You see, Mom,” I said. “It’s really special. I have to have it.”

  “Like I said,” my mom continued, “if you want it, then you have to pay for it with your own money.”

  “But I don’t have fifty dollars.”

  “Well then, I guess you can’t get it,” Suzie interrupted. “Can we go now, Mom? It’s been a lot longer than five minutes.”

  “Yes. Come on, Freddy. Time to go.”

  I couldn’t leave the store without it. “But Mom, wait,” I called after her. “How about an early birthday present? I promise I won’t ask you for anything else for my birthday.”

  “Absolutely not, Freddy. End of discussion. You already broke one promise you made to me today. You told me you would only be in this store for five minutes, and we’ve already been in here for ten. I’m not staying one more minute. Daddy will be home soon.”

  As we started to walk out of the store, the guy behind the counter called after me. “Hey, kid, I know how much you want that tooth. I can hold it for you for one week.”

  “Really?” I said, turning back, my face brightening.

  “Yep. One week.”

  “Gee, thanks!” I said. “I’ll be back.”

  As we left the store, I took one last look at the tooth shining in the window. I decided I had to get that tooth, some way, somehow, if it was the last thing I did. But I only had one week to do it.

  CHAPTER 2

  I’ll Ask Dad

  That night at dinner, I decided to tell my dad about the shark’s tooth. I was sure he would understand why it cost so much, and why I needed to get it right away. “Hey, Dad, guess what?”

  “What?”

  “You know what I saw at the mall today?”

  “What?”

  “Guess.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.”

  “Just guess.”

  “Freddy,” my dad said, “I’m not a mind reader, and I’m not in the mood to play twenty questions. Just tell me already.”

  This was not going as well as I had planned. He seemed to be getting irritated, and the last thing I needed was for him to be grumpy. That would not help my case at all. “OK, I’ll tell you. Drumroll, please,” I said as I tapped my fingers on the table.

  “Oh please,” Suzie moaned. “I can’t take it anymore. He saw a shark’s tooth!” she blurted out. “A stupid, dumb shark’s tooth.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair. I was going to tell him! Why’d you have to tell, you Bigmouth?”

  “What’s the big deal?” Suzie answered. “Like I said, it’s just a dumb old shark’s tooth.”

  “It’s not just any shark’s tooth, Dad. It’s a fossilized Megalodon tooth.”

  � ��Oh, really?” my dad said. “You don’t see those very often.”

  Now I had him. “I know,” I continued. “It’s soooo cool. I wish you could have seen it.”

  “I’d like to see it sometime.”

  It was now or never. “How about tomorrow after you get home from work? You could take me to Treasures of Time, and I could show it to you, and then we could buy it.”

  “Hold on there just a minute, Mouse. Who said anything about buying it? I just said I wanted to see it.”

  Rats. I almost had him.

  “Excuse me, Freddy,” my mom said, joining the conversation. “But we already talked about this at the mall.”

  Great. I could see my plan slowly slipping away. I had to think fast.

  “Yeah, Mom said it was really expensive, and if you wanted to get it, you had to buy it with your own money,” Suzie piped up.

  There went the plan. Right down the drain.

  “Freddy?” my dad asked. “Is that true? Is that what your mother told you?”

  “Yep,” I mumbled.

  “What was that? I didn’t hear you,” my dad said.

  “That’s exactly what Mom told him,” Suzie said. “I was there.”

  “Suzie, I don’t need your help here. I’m talking to Freddy, not you.”

  “Yes, that’s what Mom said,” I grumbled.

  “Well then, why are you asking me to buy it for you? Do you think that if you don’t like the answer Mom gives you then you can just come to me for a different answer?”

  “I was hoping,” I muttered under my breath. “Really hoping.”

  “Do we not live in the same house?” my dad continued. “Do you think we don’t talk to each other? Your mother and I support each other one hundred percent. If your mother said no, then the answer is no.”

  “But …”

  “No ‘buts,’ Freddy. End of discussion,” my dad said.

  “That’s exactly what she said at the mall.”

  “You see? We can even read each other’s minds,” my dad said, smiling at my mom.

  “Great. Just great,” I said, slamming my fork on the table. “Now I’m never ever going to get it.”

  “Freddy, please do not slam your silverware on the table,” my mom said. “You might scratch the table, or the fork might fly out of your hand and hurt your sister.”

  That sounded like a good idea to me. A good punishment for always sticking her nose in places where it doesn’t belong.

  “Why are you getting so upset, Freddy?” my dad asked.

  “Because you won’t buy it for me, and I don’t have enough money to buy it myself.”

  “How much does it cost?”

  “Fifty dollars!”

  “Woooeee,” my dad said, whistling. “That is a lot of money.”

  “Especially for some silly shark’s tooth,” Suzie chimed in.

  “It’s not silly!” I yelled in her face.

  “Ewww, gross, you little pig. You just spit some potato in my face,” she said, wiping the corner of her eye.

  “Yeah, right. Whatever.”

  “Hey, Mom, Dad! Make him say he’s sorry,” Suzie whined.

  “OK, enough,” said my mom. “I’m tired of listening to the two of you fight. You’ve been at each other’s throats all afternoon.”

  “Freddy,” said my dad, “how much do you have in your piggy bank?”

  “I just counted my money when I came home from the mall this afternoon, and I only have thirty-two dollars.”

  “Only? That’s a lot of money.”

  “But it’s not enough to get the Megalodon tooth, and by the time I save up enough money, it will be gone! The guy’s only holding it for a week.”

  “Hold on a minute. Let’s figure this out,” my mom said. “If you have thirty-two dollars saved up, and you need fifty to buy the tooth, then how much do you still need?”

  “I didn’t know I was in school,” I moaned. “I’m not in the mood to do math problems.”

  “Come on, Freddy,” my dad said. “Your mother’s just trying to help.”

  “Well, unless you are planning on giving me the rest of the money, figuring out how much I don’t have is not much help. It just puts me in a worse mood.”

  “OK. I’ll help you out,” said my dad.

  “Really?” I asked excitedly. “You’ll give me the rest of the money?”

  “No, I didn’t say that,” my dad answered. “But maybe your mother and I can help you think of ways to earn the eighteen dollars you still need.”

  “Earn it? What do you mean, earn it?” I asked. “I don’t have a job.”

  “That’s a great idea!” my mom agreed. “You could do some big chores around the house, and we’ll pay you for your work.”

  “What kind of big chores? And how much would you pay me?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said my dad. “Maybe you could sweep out the garage or wash the car, and we could pay you two dollars per chore. How does that sound?”

  “Two dollars! It will take me forever to earn the money, and the tooth will be gone. That doesn’t sound like a very good idea to me, and those chores are really boring.”

  “Nobody said earning money was easy,” my dad said.

  “Well, why don’t you just think about it,” said my mom.

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m going to have to do,” I mumbled. “Come up with my own plan.” I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand and muttered, “Think, think, think.”

  CHAPTER 3

  What’s the Plan, Stan?

  The next day, I couldn’t wait to get on the bus and tell my best friend, Robbie, about the Megalodon tooth. He would think it was supercool, and I knew he would be able to come up with a good plan for getting the rest of the money. Robbie is a genius.

  I ran up the steps of the bus. “Hey, Robbie, guess what?” I said as I plopped down on the seat next to him.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You’re never going to believe what I saw at Treasures of Time yesterday!”

  “What? Tell me already,” Robbie said, shaking me.

  “A fossilized Megalodon tooth!”

  “A Megalodon tooth? No way,” Robbie gasped, his mouth hanging open.

  “Yes way.”

  “A real Megalodon tooth?” Robbie asked, looking me right in the eye. “Are you sure it wasn’t a replica?”

  “Oh, I’m sure,” I answered, grinning from ear to ear.

  “That is sooo cool,” Robbie said and sighed.

  “Hey, what’s sooo cool, geek?” Max butted in, mimicking Robbie. “Did you get new shark underwear?”

  “For your information,” said Robbie, “we’re talking about a genuine fossilized Megalodon tooth.”

  “A what?” said Max. “You are such a nerd!”

  “A real Megalodon tooth,” I answered. “A Megalodon was an ancient shark that lived more than a million years ago.”

  “That does sound cool, Freddy,” Jessie said, as she leaned over the back of my seat and joined the conversation.

  “Did you know that the scientific name for the Megalodon means ‘great tooth’?” Robbie said in his know-it-all voice. I actually don’t mind when Robbie talks like that because he really does know it all. He is like a walking encyclopedia of science.

  “No. Only science geeks like you know that,” said Max.

  “What did a Megalodon shark look like?” asked Jessie.

  “It looked like a great white shark only a lot bigger,” I said, stretching my arms out.

  “Yeah,” Robbie agreed. “About four times bigger! It was actually one of the largest predators that ever lived on Earth, including the dinosaurs.”

  “Really?” said Jessie.

  “I read in a book,” Robbie continued, “that they could be anywhere between forty to eighty feet long. That’s bigger than this bus!”

  “Well, the tooth was pretty big,” I said. “I mean, I’m sure it could fit in my pocket, but it was almost as big as my hand.”

  “They needed big teeth,” Robbie continued. “They ate whales and just gulped them down in large chunks.”

  “Can you all just stop talking about this?” Chloe squealed and covered her ears. “I’m never going to swim in the ocean again!”

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry,” said Robbie. “The Megalodon is extinct. Because sharks don’t have bones in their bodies, the only thing left of these monsters is their giant, fossilized teeth.”

 

1 2 3