Tamaya didn’t believe half of what they said. The boys had been telling the girls about a deranged hermit who lived in the woods. “That is so disgusting!” exclaimed Monica, but from the way her eyes shone when she said it, Tamaya could tell that her best friend was just as excited as she was to have the attention of the older boys. Then they spit it out, and then he eats it.” “The guy can’t chew his own food,” said the first boy.

One of the older boys’ legs was only inches away from hers. She was sitting in the middle of a long table, eating lunch with her friends Monica, Hope, and Summer. Tamaya felt excited just talking to them, although, so far, she had been too nervous to actually say anything.

“He’s got this superlong beard,” a boy was saying, “splotched all over with blood.” Tamaya didn’t shriek, but she did gasp very quietly as she covered her mouth with her hand. Two hundred and eighty-nine kids, ages five to fourteen, crammed their mouths with Cheetos, made jokes about boogers, spilled milk, and shrieked for no apparent reason. Crystal chandeliers still hung from the ceiling, but these days the room permanently smelled of stale macaroni and cheese. The lunchroom used to be a grand ballroom, where elegantly dressed couples had sipped champagne and danced to a live orchestra. The kindergarten area had once been the stables. Tamaya Dhilwaddi’s fifth-grade classroom on the fourth floor had been the youngest daughter’s bedroom. Nearly three hundred students now attended school in the four-story, black-and-brown stone building where William Heath had lived from 1891 to 1917, with only his wife and three daughters. Woodridge Academy, a private school in Heath Cliff, Pennsylvania, had once been the home of William Heath, after whom the town had been named. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. “Holds as much suspense as fuel for discussion.” - Booklist, Starred the very fate of the world is at stake.” - The New York Times “The children are well-realized characters and agents within their immediate social worlds. What they uncover might affect the future of the world.įUZZY MUD is an imaginative and suspenseful story of the great lengths we’ll go to for friendship and family, the mishaps and breakthroughs that are made in the name of science, and the wonders of mud. Bigger trouble than anyone could ever have imagined. Tamaya, unaware of the reason for the detour, reluctantly follows. To avoid the conflict, Marshall takes a shortcut home through the off-limits woods.

But their routine is disrupted when bully Chad Hilligas challenges Marshall to a fight. From Louis Sachar, the multi-award-winning author of Holes, comes the New York Times bestseller that's been nominated for 13 state awards and counting!įifth grader Tamaya Dhilwaddi and seventh grader Marshall Walsh have been walking to and from Woodridge Academy together since elementary school.

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar