Chapter 1

here's hank robot on the loose

CHAPTER 1 "Attention, all students," the voice on the school loudspeaker boomed. It was Principal Love. "We have just cleaned out the Lost and Found, and discovered thirty-seven single shoes," he announced. "A lot of you must be hopping home. If you are missing a shoe, please hop to Mrs. Crock's desk in the front office." I looked down at my feet. I'm the kind of kid who would lose a shoe, but this time it wasn't me. I'm proud to report that I had two matching blue shoes. Of course, my socks didn't match. One was yellow and one had stripes. I can only get so many things right at one time.

"We also found half a pickle," Principal Love went on. "But the owner does not have to come and pick that up." "Hey, Zip," my best friend Frankie Townsend said with a laugh. "I bet that's yours." Frankie has known me since we were babies. Anyone who's been around me that long knows that I am a huge pickle fan. My grandfather Papa Pete and I always share a pickle when we have something serious to talk over. He says pickles clear the brain. The recess bell rang, and we all got up and headed for the door. But then we realized that Principal Love had more to say. I should have known. He always has more to say. "Let me remind you that Friday is our Build- a-Robot competition," he announced. "This year, the competition is open to our second

and third-graders. We have made a special category for beginning builders. You can power your robots simply with a motor and a remote control. No need for computer skills. Isn't that exciting?" "It'd be more exciting if he said we could have the rest of the week off school," I muttered. "I'm looking forward to seeing all of your dazzling creations," Principal Love went on. "Until then, this is your principal and my pet frog, Fred, saying 'ribbit.' That is all." My other best friend, Ashley Wong, cracked up. She thinks it's so funny that Principal Love is always putting Fred on the loudspeaker. Principal Love thinks that just because he understands frog talk, the rest of us do, too.

Ashley, Frankie, and I ribbitted all the way down the hall. "I'm going to enter the Build-a-Robot contest," I said as we walked down the stairs. "You can't just enter," Ashley said. "You have to sign up on the bulletin board outside Principal Love's office." "Okay, I'll do it after recess," I said. "You better do it right now," Frankie answered. "I know you. And you know you. 'I forgot' is your middle name." We stopped outside Principal Love's office door. There was a bulletin board with a pencil on a string. I took the pencil and proudly wrote "HANK ZIPZER" on line 10. "It's official," I said to Frankie and Ashley. "I can hardly wait. I have some great robot ideas sitting right here in my mind, in between my phone number and last week's spelling words. All I have to do is build my little robot." "Hank, you're not being realistic," Ashley said. "That robot contest was announced a

month ago. All the other kids have been building their robots for weeks." "So?" I said. "I'll work fast. I'll just give it the old Zipzer attitude." "Hank," Frankie said. "The contest is on Friday. As in the day after tomorrow." "So I'll work extra fast." "You can't build a whole robot in a day," Ashley pointed out. "Oh yeah? Just watch me. I'm going to start collecting robot parts right now." We walked out onto the playground. I looked around at the swings and slides and handball court and sandbox and benches. I didn't see one thing that looked like a robot to me. What I did see was a kid I had never noticed before. He was sitting by himself on a bench along a fence. He looked like any other third-grader except he was wearing a tie and a vest, which was all buttoned up. The reason I noticed him, aside from his weird clothes, was that he was building a robot.