ird School #2 My We Dan Gutman Pictures by Jim Paillot To Emma Contents 1 The Flying Principal 1 2 Big Trouble 5 3 The Principal Is Your Pal 9 4 The Present 21 5 My Big Mouth 27 6 The Chocolate Party 35 7 Teacher for a Day 43 8 Mr. Klutz Puckers Up 55 9 I Pledge Allegiance to Mr. Klutz 61 10 Mr. Klutz Is Getting Weirder 70 11 The Last Straw 77 12 A Hard Bargain 85 13 Poor Mr. Klutz 91 About the Author and the Illustrator Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher 1 The Flying Principal “Watch out!” somebody screamed. Mr. Klutz, the principal of my school, was tearing down the sidewalk on a skateboard! It was early morning, just before the school bell was about to ring. Mr. Klutz must have built up too much speed coming down the hill. He was 1 weaving in and around the kids and their parents, totally out of control. Most principals are really serious and dignified. They look like they were born as grownups! But not Mr. Klutz. He’s more like a grown-up kid. When he isn’t skateboarding to school, he rides his motorcycle, his scooter, or wears his in-line skates. “Runaway principal!” some kid shouted. “Run for your lives!” The skateboard must have hit a crack in the sidewalk, because the next thing anybody knew, Mr. Klutz was flying through the air like a superhero. Kids and their parents were diving out of his way. Dogs were running in all directions. Mr. Klutz crash-landed in the bushes at the front of the school. Luckily he was wearing a helmet, and he had knee pads and elbow pads on over his clothes. Everybody stopped for a second, because Mr. Klutz was just lying there in the bushes without moving. We weren’t sure if he was alive. “Good morning, Mr. Klutz,” said Mrs. Cooney, the school nurse, as she walked past. “Good morning, Mrs. Cooney,” he replied. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?” “Lovely.” Then Mr. Klutz got up, brushed himself off, and walked up the front steps, like it was totally normal for a principal to skateboard to scho