Queen of the Toilet Bowl

By Frieda Wishinsky

When Renata is chosen to play the lead role in the school musical, students who used to ignore her start saying hello and congratulating her in the hall. She enjoys her newfound acceptance at school until she realizes that Karin, a wealthy girl who expected to get the lead role, will go to great lengths to punish Renata for her success. Renata is not going to give up the role, but how much tormenting will she have to take?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Mar 1, 2005
• ISBN: 9781554696925

Frieda Wishinsky

Frieda Wishinsky is the international award-winning author of over seventy books. She writes picture books, chapter books, novels and nonfiction. Her books have been translated into many languages. Frieda lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Book preview

Machado.

chapter one

Why was I worried? Liz and I hung around together at school but going to her house made everything different. Going to her house made us real friends.

Sit down, said Liz. That is if you can find a place.

I looked around Liz’s room. There were mounds of clothes on her bed, a pile of shoes on her floor and books piled on her desk.

Where? I asked.

Liz shoved some clothes off her bed. Here, she said.

I plunked myself down on her pink and red flowered quilt. Great quilt, I said.

Liz pushed another pile of clothes off her bed and flopped down beside me. My aunt made it when I was ten. Liz patted her quilt like an old friend. It has a couple of holes and a mustard stain near the top, but I love it.

It’s beautiful, I said.

If you could see it, said Liz laughing. I always plan to clean my room, but things get in the way. It drives my mom crazy. She’s a neat freak.

It was true. The rest of Liz’s house looked like a movie set. There were sparkling mahogany antique tables, glass lamps and a marble coffee table with four perfectly lined-up glossy magazines on top. It looked like no one ever sat on or touched anything.

I bet your room is neat, said Liz. You’re so organized.

My tiny bedroom was more like a closet than a room. Liz’s bedroom was as big as our living room and kitchen put together. She had space to sprawl out. She had room to be messy, but even the smallest pile of clutter would make my room crowded.

I’m not that neat, I said.

I didn’t want Liz to think I was a neat freak too. Liz and I had known each other for four years, but we’d only become friends since we’d both started grade nine at High Road High. I didn’t want anything to spoil that.

Let’s listen to music, said Liz, pulling a CD player out from under her bed.

She popped in a CD and soon she was singing along with the music. She was also laughing and apologizing. I know my voice stinks, she said. I can’t keep a tune to save my life.

It’s not so bad, I said.

You don’t have to be nice, said Liz. I don’t care if I have a lousy voice. I love to sing.

I used to love to sing too, but I hadn’t sung in a long time. To my surprise, I belted out a song like Judy Garland singing Over the Rainbow. Liz stopped singing and stared at me. I didn’t know you could sing, she said.

I don’t usually, I told her.

But you should. Your voice is amazing. You should try out for the school play.

I couldn’t sing in front of a whole room full of kids and teachers.

Yes you could. Try, said Liz.

But I couldn’t. I didn’t want anyone pointing at me, noticing me, talking about me. It was hard enough being from Brazil in a school where almost no one else came from a foreign country. I wanted to be invisible.

I used to sing all the time in Sao Paolo, where I lived until I was nine. But here it was different. I couldn’t sing in public here.

Liz, called her mom. I have to go out for an hour. Who was that singing on the radio?

That wasn’t the radio. It was Renata, said Liz. Isn’t her voice amazing?

It’s beautiful, Renata, said Liz’s mom, standing at the door. Liz’s mom smiled warmly at me. She had a small, round face like Liz and short brown hair. Her black pants and white shirt didn’t have a single crease or wrinkle.

I wish you’d clean this room up, she told Liz. I don’t know how you can stand all this clutter.

It’s not clutter, insisted Liz. Everything in here is special. I’m a collector, Mom. I can’t get rid of my stuff. I need all of it.

There’s a fine line between a collection and a pile of junk, said her mother.

"How can you call my stuff

Reviews for Queen of the Toilet Bowl

[echslibrary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Renata is targeted by the queen mean girl at school when Renata wins the lead in the school musical. Unfortunately, her mom is the housekeeper for the mean girl's family and is about to suffer for her daughter's success.