Slamdown Town (Slamdown Town Book 1)

Nicoll Maxwell Nicoll

Description

A boy's wish to be a star wrestler is granted in this wacky middle-grade fantasy Ollie and his older brother, Hollis, have wrestling in their blood: Their mom was a pro whose dreams of stardom were dashed by a devious opponent. Now she's an overworked, underpaid ref at Slamdown Town, the local arena. Ollie's goal in life is to win the golden championship belt for his mom-immediately followed by his other goal: to hang his bully of a brother from the roof by his tightie-whities. But there's one problem: Ollie inherited their estranged dad's puny frame, while Hollis got their mom's brawn. Thus Ollie has resigned himself to a fate of wrestling mediocrity and wet willies . . . until the day Hollis gifts him a piece of stale gum and forces him to chew it. Ollie soon discovers that the gum-bought on eBay and formerly chewed by a wrestling legend- has an unusual side effect: the ability to physically transform Ollie into a pro wrestler. As Big Chew, Ollie's finally able to put Hollis in his place and be a star. But when trouble befalls his family, being Big Chew gets a lot more complicated. In the end, Ollie knows he can't have it all; and it's only when he asks himself who he really is that he learns what it means to be a champion.

Informations

• Publié par: ABRAMS BOOKS
• Date de parution: 28 janvier 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781683356394
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Nicoll, Maxwell, author. | Smith, Matthew, 1989- author.
Title: Slamdown Town / Maxwell Nicoll and Matthew Smith.
Description: New York: Amulet Books, 2020. | Summary: A birthday wish and vintage chewing gum transform eleven-year-old Ollie into wrestler Big Chew, which might win back his older brother's respect but destroy his friendship with best friend Tamiko.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019026723 (print) | LCCN 2019026724 (ebook) | ISBN 9781419738852 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781683356394 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Wrestling-Fiction. | Brothers-Fiction. | Best friends-Fiction. | Friendship-Fiction. | Magic-Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.N536 Sl 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.N536 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]-dc23
Text and illustrations copyright 2020 Abrams
Illustrations by Christian Garland
Book design by Hana Anouk Nakamura
Published in 2020 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
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Amulet Books is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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To our mothers, who shared their love of storytelling and taught us to be good brothers

CHAPTER 1
If you want it so bad, mocked Hollis, why don t you take it?
Ollie Evander couldn t believe his rotten luck. For starters, Hollis had stolen his flyer. Ollie had jumped up and down trying to grab it back from him, but every time he got close, Hollis yanked it away. As if that weren t bad enough, Hollis had pinned him to the sticky, popcorn-covered floor of Slamdown Town Arena.
Ollie struggled to speak under his annoying-scratch that, infuriating -older brother s girth.
Can t you just go get your own? he groaned.
Ollie had first noticed the stack of neon-blue flyers on the side of the ticket counter.
SLAMDOWN TOWN ARENA
NEW WRESTLER TRYOUTS
THIS WEEK ONLY
TWO ENTER THE RING, ONLY ONE EXITS
He had pointed them out to his best friend, Tamiko Tanaka, who immediately dared him to try out. A dare was a dare. So he snagged one off the pile and pinky-promised that he d be first in line and the first one signed to Slamdown Town. But then Tamiko had run off to grab snacks from the concession counter, and Ollie s jerkface brother had swooped in and started, well, being a jerkface brother.
Go get my own? But I want this one. And you were so nice to hand-deliver it to me. Besides, they wouldn t let some ten-year-old kid wrestle anyway, said Hollis. Especially not one as pea-size as you.
First off, I ll be eleven in two days, grunted Ollie. And secondly, at least I m not pea- brained . Ollie s blond, shaggy hair fell over his eyes. He tried to push Hollis off him but failed. He didn t know how much more he could take.
You know, I think I ll take this flyer for myself. Who knows. Maybe I ll try out.
Sure. They won t hire an eleven-year-old, but a thirteen-year-old with a disgusting hair monster above his lip totally stands a chance, said Ollie, still straining to speak.
Hollis smiled and stroked his patchy lip hair. I think it makes me look cultured.
No. It makes you look like a . . . But Ollie s mind blanked. He had never been great when it came to comebacks. Smack talk was more Tamiko s thing.
What s taking her so long? thought Ollie.
He mustered all his strength to push Hollis off him, again, but failed, again. Well, he guessed strength wasn t really his thing, either. Saturdays weren t supposed to be spent wrestling and smack-talking his brother. They were supposed to be spent watching wrestling. Real wrestling. Something he and his brother used to watch together all the time.
If he didn t find a way out of this grapple soon, he might miss the first match.
And he hadn t ever missed a match.
Why don t you pick on someone your own size, Hollis, said a familiar voice.
Finally! Ollie turned an eighth of an inch-it was all he could muster under the circumstances-to find Tamiko standing over them. Her hair was a familiar, tangled mess. She wore her wrinkled Slamdown Town official tee. And she had only one sock on with a big hole that went from her ankle all the way up to her kneecap. He wondered if she always had only one sock on; Ollie hadn t seen his friend from this angle before.
You know. Like a hippo, Tamiko went on, her voice casual. Or a baby giraffe. Those things are bigger than you think.
In her right arm she held a stack of sour strips, a super slushie brimming with sugar, and nachos doused in cheese. In her other hand, as always, she held her phone.
Tamiko was always playing games on her phone. Last month it was Ninja Kitten , and before that, Postcard Detective . This month s mobile game was Jewel Heist , an addictive-but-simple game where you tap-tap-tapped away to uncover hidden treasure.
In every game she played Tamiko held the first, second, and third highest scores. She could play-and win-while carrying on a conversation, or taking a math exam, or, in this case, balancing a tower of snacks.
She was that good.
By the way, Ollie, I think I got enough snacks to get us through the first match. She cradled her armful of food to her chest, a strand of cheese marring the white of her tee with a vivid orange stripe. But we ll definitely need to make another run at intermission.
Oh, joy, grunted Hollis, pulling his torso off Ollie at the sound of the word snacks . Ollie seized the opportunity to roll out from under him. It s the second member of the baby brigade. What s on today s agenda? Let me guess. Naptime and sippy cups?
Ollie stood carefully and checked his shins for bruising.
I m free! he gasped.
How long were you under? asked Tamiko, ignoring Hollis entirely.
Too long. Ollie took several deep breaths to regulate his breathing, as recommended by his favorite online video series on calming meditation.
And too close to Hollis s butt, it looked like. Tamiko s upper lip quivered in distaste. I m shocked you held on to your sanity.
Hey, Tamiko. Those nachos look heavy, said Hollis as he lumbered toward her and grabbed a chip right out of the tray. Lemme help you make it a little easier to carry.
Hollis popped the best, saltiest, most cheese-drenched chip in his mouth.
Hey! Get your sweaty paws off my snacks! yelled Tamiko, pulling the chips away as fast as she could. Her sudden movement sent a blob of gooey cheese soaring into the air. It hovered above them for one deliciously cheesy moment before falling and landing directly on Hollis s oversize belly.
My shirt! yelled Hollis like a screeching monkey who just dropped his lunch. Hollis used the flyer to wipe the cheese from his shirt. Under other circumstances, Ollie might have tried to stop him. But the damage was done. Hollis wiped himself clean with the flyer- Ollie s flyer-then crumpled it up without a second thought.
He tossed it to the ground.
Really? After all that? Ollie cringed at the sound of his own squeak.
You got cheese all over my most photogenic shirt, groaned Hollis. Now I gotta teach you a lesson. He pointed and lunged toward Ollie, who squeaked again despite himself and leapt out of the way, causing Hollis to double over in laughter.
Ollie rolled his eyes at Hollis s use of the word photogenic . Using big words was clearly a part of his unending desire to prove he was more mature than he actually was.
Hollis was taking this whole newly thirteen-year-old thing very seriously. He was older than Ollie, yes-Hollis was in eighth grade ( barf ) and Ollie was in sixth-but he certainly wasn t more mature. If anything, Ollie thought that Hollis had become less so.
Let s go, Ollie. You know your bro is way out of your weight class, Tamiko said, nudging Ollie in the rib cage with her elbow. Ollie would have squeaked again-Tamiko s elbows were sharp-but he had his pride to consider.
But, pleaded Ollie, I can t just let him get away with it.
Oh, he won t. There s more than one way to beat a level ninety-nine boss. She was referring to their favorite fantasy adventure co-op computer game, Revenge of Kragthar .
Hey, Hollis! called Tamiko over to Hollis. Tamiko pointed to his shirt. Say cheese! She snapped a photo with her phone.
Ollie almost fell over laughing.
You just wish you were half as sophisticated as I am, said Hollis. With that, he lumbered off in the direction of the restrooms, exhibiting all the dignity he could muster with a blob of cheese on his shirt. Ollie knew that Hollis would find some way to spin this-he d probably say that cheesy-blob shirts were in and that Ollie just didn t understand .
Ollie dove forward onto the sticky lobby floor and reached for the crumpled flyer just as a passerby-oblivious to Ollie s plight-ground into it with his heel, nearly smashing Ollie s fingers in the process. It was not Ollie s day.
Dude. Not worth it, Tamiko told him. We can just get you another one.
Ollie smoothed out the gooey, dirty, foot-printed flyer.
No. I won t let Hollis win, he said, folding the paper gently into a square and pocketing it. This one is fine. And besides, it s printed on Slamdown Town letterhead. Do you even know how much this thing will be worth someday?
Just as much as this one without any gross slime on i