About Average Read online

  This time the applause went on and on, continuing even after Jordan had gone back to her seat.

  No one rushed to the stage to push two dozen yellow roses into her arms, there were no autograph seekers and no paparazzi.

  But none of that mattered.

  Jordan, Plain and Average, was completely happy about everything, including herself.

  Acknowledgments

  I want to thank the people at the National Weather Service for the wealth of meteorological information they make available online. I also need to make it clear that the events imagined in this fictional story are in no way meant to reflect poorly upon the remarkable job the National Weather Service does every day to provide warning to the public about approaching dangers.

  I also wish to thank my editor, Caitlyn Dlouhy, and all the other fine professionals at Atheneum Books for Young Readers for helping me to seem smarter, more grammatical, more logical, and more consistent than I actually am. (And yes, I’m sure they’ve even checked over these brief acknowledgments with great care!)

  I want to offer particular thanks to Amy Berkower at Writers House for her wise counsel and support.

  —A. C.

  “Andrew Clements set the standard for the school story.”

  —New York Times

  Other bestselling favorites

  from Andrew Clements

  Andrew Clements

  is the author of more than sixty books for children, including the enormously popular Frindle; the New York Times bestsellers No Talking and Lunch Money; the Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School series; and most recently Troublemaker. He lives with his wife in central Massachusetts, and has four grown children.

  Atheneum Books for Young Readers

  SIMON & SCHUSTER | NEW YORK

  Meet the author,

  watch videos, and get extras at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Andrew-Clements/

  Also by Andrew Clements

  A Million Dots

  Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School

  We the Children

  Fear Itself

  Whites of Their Eyes

  Big Al

  Big Al and Shrimpy

  Dogku

  Extra Credit

  Frindle

  The Handiest Things in the World

  Jake Drake, Bully Buster

  Jake Drake, Class Clown

  Jake Drake, Know-It-All

  Jake Drake, Teacher’s Pet

  The Jacket

  The Janitor’s Boy

  The Landry News

  The Last Holiday Concert

  Lost and Found

  Lunch Money

  No Talking

  The Report Card

  Room One

  The School Story

  Troublemaker

  A Week in the Woods

  ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2012 by Andrew Clements

  Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Mark Elliott

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2012 by Jim LaMarche

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Book design by Mike Rosamilia

  The text for this book is set in Bembo.

  The illustrations for this book are rendered in pencil.

  0612 FFG

  First Edition

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Clements, Andrew, 1949–

  About average / Andrew Clements ; illustrated by Mark Elliott. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: As the end of sixth grade nears, Jordan Johnston, unhappy that she is only average in appearance, intelligence, and athletic ability, reveals her special skills when disaster strikes her central Illinois elementary school.

  ISBN 978-1-4169-9724-5 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4169-9726-9 (eBook)

  [1. Ability—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Individuality—Fiction. 4. Heroes—Fiction. 5. Tornadoes—Fiction.] I. Elliott, Mark, 1967- ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.C59118Abo 2012

  [Fic]—dc23 2012015106