I'm Going to Be Famous

Arlo Moore has resolved to break the world record for eating bananas—consuming seventeen in two minutes should be easy, right?

Arlo Moore’s favorite book of all time is TheGuinness Book of World Records, and as bananas are his favorite food, he has memorized the record for eating bananas. While gearing up to start his fifth grade year, Arlo suddenly has a crazy thought: He should break the world record for banana eating and become famous! His brother and sister think he’s crazy for even trying, and they bet Arlo that he can’t break the record in three weeks. Arlo hates when people tell him he can’t do something, and so he agrees. Soon, he will be a world champion.
 
It’s going to take all of Arlo’s concentration and all of his awesome banana-eating powers to break this record and win the bet—and maybe capture the attention of the pretty new girl in school, too. But when everyone starts betting on Arlo’s chances of beating the record, his principal forbids him from training at school. With everyone against him, can Arlo still succeed and become famous?

“Fast paced . . . Furiously funny . . . Built-in appeal.” —Booklist

As a kid, Tom Birdseye was decidedly uninterested in writing—or any academic aspect of school, for that matter—never imagining that he would eventually become a published author. And yet, nineteen titles later—novels, picture books, and nonfiction—that is exactly what has happened. His work has been recognized for its excellence by the International Reading Association, Children’s Book Council, National Council of Social Studies, Society of School Librarians International, Oregon Library Association, and Oregon Reading Association, among others. Combined, his books have either won or been finalists for state children’s choice awards forty-three times. Life, it seems, is full of who’d-a-thought-its. He lives and writes in Corvallis, Oregon, but launches mountaineering expeditions to his beloved Cascades on a regular basis.