The Frandidate (7) (Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist)

Jim Benton is the New York Times bestselling writer of the Dear Dumb Diary series and a cartoonist whose unique brand of humor has been seen on toys, television, T-shirts, greeting cards, and even underwear. Franny K. Stein is the first character he’s created especially for young children. A husband and father of two, he lives in Michigan, where he works in a studio that really and truly does have creepy stuff in it. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Frandidate By Jim Benton Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Copyright © 2008 Jim BentonAll right reserved. ISBN: 9781416902331 Chapter Three Let's get this party started Miss Shelly was Franny's favorite teacher of all time. Franny's earlier teachers hadn't really understood her, and it's difficult to learn from somebody that runs screaming from the classroom every time you walk in. But Miss Shelly was almost never afraid of Franny, and usually had something interesting to teach. Franny paid close attention as Miss Shelly began writing that day's lesson on the blackboard. For a moment, Franny was so thrilled that she almost shouted. It looked like Miss Shelly was writing "electricity." Along with chemistry, nuclear power, and brain removal, electric power was one of Franny's favorite subjects. But as Miss Shelly finished writing, Franny could see that she had written "election," which, when compared to electricity, sounded pretty darned boring. "An election is when people vote for a person who will represent them, and organize them, and if necessary, lead them," Miss Shelly explained. "We'll be electing a president of the class." Franny perked up a little. "Can this president tell everybody what to do and punish them if they disobey?" Franny asked, while she quickly sketched out a few ideas for a dungeon she could build at the school for just that purpose. "Well, maybe not punish. But the president can help determine some of the rules in the class, and the president is a person that people usually look up to, and I suppose that the president does tell people what to do," said Miss Shelly. Franny smiled. Maybe this wasn't so boring. "So I want you all to decide who you want to be president of the class," Miss Shelly continued. "People who want to be elected are called candidates. If you want to be a candidate for president, you'll need to tell us all why. The class will be sharing these ideas all week long. May the best man win." Franny smiled to herself. It was more like may the best Fran win. Copyright © 2008 by Jim Benton Continues... Excerpted from The Frandidate by Jim Benton Copyright © 2008 by Jim Benton. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.