Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	I Smell like Ham
	Author:	Hicks, Betty
	Date Published:	2002
	Genre:	Real Life
	Grade Level:	5 - 8
	Booktalker:	Susan Bartel

Booktalk:
“What did you learn in school today?” Don’t you think that should win the Stupid-Question Award? Dad asks me that all the time. “So, Nick, what did you learn in school today.” “Well, I learned that even if I practice every minute of every day I’ll never ever bring the ball downcourt without Carson Jones stealing it.” This, of course, wasn’t the answer dad was hoping for. He wanted to learn something interesting, like, “the number of atoms in a pound of iron is five trillion trillion.” Now that I was in sixth grade, I was determined to be point guard. I’d practiced all summer. I was ready. And besides I’d promised mom. She always called me her superstar. Then I’d say, “That’s Sir Superstar.” And she’d say, “Nick, my noble knight. Sir Superstar.” At her funeral two years ago I’d promised her I’d be a real superstar. A basketball superstar. What happens if you can’t keep a promise you’ve made to your dead mother? Then two weeks ago, my life took a turn for the worse. My dad married Miriam, that’s what I call her now that I don’t call her Mrs. Mitchell anymore. Worse than that, I have a dweeb, a total dork, the nerdiest nerd in the third grade for my brother. I call him Duh-wayne. How can I concentrate on the important things in life, like starting as the point guard on the basketball team or figuring out what to say to Ali or going with the guys who are more up to tricks than treats at Halloween when I’ve got this little dorky stepbrother trailing behind me? How can I get Duh-wayne out of my hair? You’ve heard the saying, “watch what you wish for, it just might come true?” You guessed it, now Dwayne is nowhere to be found, and it just might be my fault. Now what? And why is it that I smell like ham?