The Chaos King

by Laura Ruby Narrated by Renée Raudman

Overview

Georgie is special.

Not only is she the one person who can disappear at will, but since she found her parents, she's become The Richest Girl in the Universe. She may be special, but is she lucky? Her parents have forbidden her to vanish, her new school is full of snooty heiresses, she's had a growth spurt that makes her as graceful as a grizzly, and her best friend in the world, a belligerent boy named Bug, seems to have abandoned her.

But adventure is just around the corner, as a madman who calls himself The Chaos King has Georgie and Bug in his sights. In their efforts to save themselves from his insane plans, Georgie and Bug discover some of the amazing secrets of the city they love. Their journey will lead them to confront a pack of blasé vampires, a living lion of stone, a disgruntled teenage poet, a candy-loving sloth, The Second Richest Girl in the Universe, a fussy man named Mr. Fuss, and finally, the brink of the unimaginable....

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Another zany adventure unfolds in a startlingly odd alternate universe showcasing Ruby's humorous narration and including characters from The Wall and the Wing (2006.) Bug and Gurl haven't been close since Gurl became Georgie, "The Richest Girl in the World," and landed with a loving family. Bug won a city-wide Flyfest contest and has been doing one commercial after another to be independent of Sweetcheeks Grabowski, his criminal father. Bullied and teased by the "Second Richest Girl in the World," Georgie breaks her promise not to use her invisible powers and finds herself in deep trouble as the Professor's misplaced pen causes trouble. Hungry giant sloths called Kong, vampires who love bagels, Punk aka Mandelbrot, Mr. Fussy and crows who transform into book-club-attending old ladies are just some of the unusual characters who keep the action firing and the suspense building. Having read the first book isn't required, but would be encouraged, as this is definitely a sequel in tone and style. Grand amusement for the hip and clever. (Fiction. YA)

Chicago Tribune

Fun [and] fast-paced.

OCT/NOV 07 - AudioFile

Renée Raudman’s distinct voices make this sequel to THE WALL and THE WING a joyful listen. Raudman creates a full complement of unique voices for the range of characters—from timid Georgie, the only girl who can become invisible, to Bug, the boy who can fly. The story leads Georgie and Bug on the trail of vampires and crazy artists whose magic has gone amuck. Listeners will giggle at animal impersonations, including those of Noodle, the slightly supernatural cat, and Pinkwater, the incredibly verbal budgie. While the production’s sound quality could be crisper, Raudman’s varied and suspenseful delivery leaves nothing to be desired. C.A. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169729795
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	05/22/2007
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

The Chaos King

Chapter One

The Saddest Little Rich Girl in the Universe Her given name was Georgetta Rose Aster Bloomington, and she was, literally, The Richest Girl in the Universe. Most people would find this to be a pleasant situation involving lots of shopping and diamonds and yachting around the Mediterranean, but not Georgetta Rose Aster Bloomington. She didn't care much about having more money than everyone else.

But other people cared.

A lot.

People like Roma Radisson.

Roma Radisson was officially The Second-richest Girl in the Universe. And she was not happy about it. Roma was doing her very best to make sure that everybody, especially Georgetta Rose Aster Bloomington, knew it.

"I hope you all found the dinosaurs as fascinating as I did! Next up is the Hall of Primitive Mammals," said Ms. Storia as she led the girls of the Prince School through the American Museum of Natural History.

"Primitive Mammals," Roma repeated. "Well, Georgetta Bloomington should be right at home."

As the other girls snickered, Georgetta, or Georgie, as her parents called her, flushed angrily and looked down at the floor. She had been at the Prince School for just three weeks, but she had already spent many days flushing angrily and staring at the floors. And now, here she was, on her very first field trip, counting dots in the tiles while she tried to follow her parents' advice. Just ignore it. But just ignoring it wasn't going so well.

"I hear that those ancient mammals were giants, too," Roma said. "Maybe there's a giant monkey in there. Maybe it's your long-lost aunt."

You're the monkey, thought Georgie. Except thatwas too stupid to say. Also, an insult to monkeys. Dunkleosteus, a vicious sea predator with jaws so sharp they could cut through bone—now that was more like Roma. Georgie almost said so, but she knew that just saying the word Dunkleosteus would get her labeled the worst sort of egghead-nerd-freak. At the Prince School, it was not cool to know things.

"That's enough, Roma," said Ms. Storia, as if that was going to stop Roma. Roma had been keeping up a steady stream of insults since they came to the museum. Georgie was related to the walrus. Georgie was related to the squid, which Roma had wrongly called an octopus. (Georgie made the mistake of pointing out the obvious differences between a squid and an octopus, something that Roma said only proved her point.)

But this time Roma shrugged and flounced into the Hall of Primitive Mammals, her fire-red hair a beacon for the others. Wherever Roma went, the other girls of the Prince School quickly followed. The only one who didn't was the senior girl acting as a chaperone, who seemed to prefer the long-dead animals on display to the pack of princesses she was supposed to be chaperoning.

Georgie tried to hide in the middle of the pack, tuning out Ms. Storia's talk about how the platypus had so many primitive features it was called a "living fossil" and wasn't that just fascinating? Georgie wished she were back at home with her parents, discussing their plans for the day, the way they had all winter and into the spring. Some days, they went to one of city's many museums. Most days, they went to the library and picked out books for Georgie to read. Even though The Richest Girl in the Universe could have purchased every book in the city and still had enough left over to buy a few planets, Georgie thought it was lovely to be able to borrow any book you wanted, and then bring it back and exchange it for another.

Before you think Georgie a skull short of a full skeleton, you must understand that there were very good reasons for Georgie's lack of interest in the truly mind-boggling amount of money she had. You see, Georgetta Rose Aster Bloomington wasn't always The Richest Girl in the Universe. As a matter of fact, she wasn't always known as Georgetta Rose Aster Bloomington. Just six months before, Georgetta Rose Aster Bloomington was a girl named Gurl who lived in a miserable orphanage. There, she spent much of her time daydreaming about a happy life, a real life, without ever expecting to live one. But reality turned out to be more mind-boggling than any daydream. A half year ago, she learned a lot of things about her life, among them:

a) That she had been kidnapped by the gangster Sweetcheeks Grabowski when she was just a baby.b)That she was subsequently lost by the gangster Sweetcheeks Grabowski because of a special power she had, the power to turn herself invisible. c)That she was found by a homeless woman and given to an orphanage called Hope House for the Homeless and Hopeless.d)That Georgie escaped Hope House for the Homeless and Hopeless with the help of her good friend Bug, who turned out to be none other than the son of the gangster Sweetcheeks Grabowski.e)That her real parents were The Richest Couple in the Universe. And finally:f)That this was an awful lot for a person to take in and still remain sane.

But Georgie was doing her best to adjust to her new life as well as she could, and that included trying to ignore the snotty second-, third-, and fourth-richest girls in the universe and paying attention on school trips. Up ahead, Ms. Storia was yammering enthusiastically about the development of marsupials. At least that was better than the teachers at Hope House for the Homeless and Hopeless. The only animals they ever wanted to talk about were the ones that could fly.

"Next up," Ms. Storia said, "is the Hall of Flight! We'll see birds, of course, but also flying squirrels and insects! And we'll see how scientists are studying the evolution of human flight! Isn't that fascinating?"

Sigh.

"We are going to learn so many important things!"

The Chaos King. Copyright © by Laura Ruby. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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