Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit by Paula Danziger

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    First published in the United States of America by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 1996
    Published by Puffin Books, a member of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008
    Copyright © Paula Danziger, 1996
    Illustrations copyright © Tony Ross, 1996
    All rights reserved
    THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS EDITION AS FOLLOWS :
    Danziger, Paula, 1944-2004
    Amber Brown wants extra credit / by Paula Danziger.
    p. cm.
    Summary: Unhappy over her parents’ divorce and her mother’s boyfriend Max, nine-year-old Amber finds her schoolwork suffering.
    Puffin Books ISBN: 978-1-101-66063-8
    [1. Divorce—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction.]
    I. Ross, Tony, ill. II. Title.
    PZ7.D2394At 1996
    [Fic]—dc20 95-586 CIP AC
    Puffin Books ISBN 978-0-14-241049-3
    Book design by Donna Mark.
    Lettering by David Gatti.
    Text set in Bembo.
    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

To Ben Danziger
Your book, with love from Aunt

Chapter
One

    AMBERINO CERTIFICATES
    I, Amber Brown, being of sound mind and no money (I spent it all on a book, a computer game, and some junk food), do hereby give my mother five Amberino Certificates for her birthday.
    Amberino Certificates allow The Mother (Sarah Thompson) to ask her beloved only child (Amber Brown) to grant her five wishes . . . . Just remember, these have to be wishes that I can actually do . . . . not stufflike move the Empire State Building or eat spinach or find the cure for dandruff (not that you have it or anything). Just remember, I’m just a nine-year-old kid, so make the wishes doable . . . but then you always do!!!!!!!
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND LOVE FROM

Chapter
Two

    I, Amber Brown, am being held captive by a madwoman.
    That madwoman is my mother, and she’s very mad at me for having a messy room.
    She’s also very mad at me because my teacher, Mrs. Holt, sent home a note saying that I’m “not working up to the best of [my] ability.”
    My mother is very, very mad at me because of the note. Actually what she said is that what she’s very angry about is the reason for the note . . . . me not doing my schoolwork the way I should.
    Now I’m supposed to be a perfect little student.
    And she’s using one of the Amberino Certificates to make me clean up my room.
    She says that I can’t leave my room until it’s “neat as a pin.”
    How can a room be neat as a pin? Does a pin have a bed in it—a dresser, curtains, a person living in it?
    The words “neat as a pin” are the second-silliest thing I’ve ever heard.
    The first-silliest thing is expecting me to have a neat room.
    I wish I never gave her those Amberino Certificates for her birthday.
    Doesn’t she know that if my room is neat, I can’t find anything?
    It makes me nervous if everything is too