Read Jamie Brown Is NOT Rich Online
Authors: Adam Wallace
Tags: #Children's Books, #humor, #Children's eBooks, #Literature & Fiction
Jamie Brown Is NOT Rich
Jamie Brown is
NOT
Rich
ADAM WALLACE
FORD ST
Jamie Brown is
NOT
Rich
Adam Wallace
Jamie Brown and his family have no money. None. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nix. Nachos. Then, when a letter from the mysterious Barnaby Von Barnabus arrives, everything changes.
The question is ... can the Browns handle their newfound fortune? Only time, and maybe the words in this book, will tell. When Jamie Brown and his family move from the poor streets of the Hovel to snobby Snootyville, classes clash with hilarious results.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Wallace is a qualified civil engineer and primary school teacher. He doesn’t do either of these things now because writing books for younger readers is much more fun and there are fewer reports to write.
Adam was never as poor as Jamie Brown is in this book, but one time he was sort of low on money so had rice with Vegemite in it for dinner. It tasted disgusting, and he never did it again.
Jamie Brown Is
Rich
is the first book Adam has fully illustrated.
ALSO BY ADAM WALLACE
Better Out Than In
Better Out Than In Number Twos
The Incredible Journey of Pete McGee
Pete McGee: Dawn of the Zombie Knights
Pete McGee and the Master of Darkness
How to Draw a UFO Dog
How to Draw a Balloon Kangaroo
How to Draw a Skateboard Gorilla
How to Draw a Ziggin’ and Zaggin’ Dragon
How to Draw a Bum Cat
And 9 other How to Draw books as well!
For the real-life Jamie Brown: one of the
coolest kids I know.
First published by Ford Street Publishing,
an imprint of Hybrid Publishers,
PO Box 52, Ormond VIC 3204
Melbourne Victoria Australia
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
This publication is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the publisher.
Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction should be addressed to Ford Street Publishing Pty Ltd, 2 Ford Street, Clifton Hill VIC 3068.
First published 2014
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Wallace, Adam, 1972- author.
Title: Jamie Brown is
not
rich / Adam Wallace.
ISBN: 978-1-925000-73-3 (ebook)
Target Audience: For primary school age.
Subjects: Wealth — Juvenile fiction.
Families — Juvenile fiction.
Life change events — Juvenile fiction.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Text, Illustrations & Mistakes copyright © Adam Wallace
Mr Wallace’s makeup & photography by Giselle
Production layout, page numbers and drop cap on P26: Grant Gittus
No animals were harmed in the production of this book.
May contain nuts.
Printed in China by Tingleman Pty Ltd
Electronic Version by Baen Books
CHAPTER 1
GREETINGS
Hi! I’m Jamie Brown. This is my family.
JAMIE BROWN
SKILLS: Mini golf,
imagining things, creating
TOP FIVE lists, circus skills,
card tricks, having FUN!
MARCUS BROWN
(My dad)
SKILLS: Fixing things,
acting like a kid, organising
street parties, being the
second most welcoming
person ever.
TRACEY BROWN
(My mum)
SKILLS: Making a feast
out of very few ingredients,
fixing clothes, being the most
welcoming person ever.
KATIE BROWN
(My sister)
SKILLS: Burping, eating
bugs, dancing.
So that’s us. We live on Hovel Street, and we live with 20 other families in the Grand Hotel … which isn’t a hotel anymore … and isn’t grand anymore either, so it’s really not a grand hotel, more a grungy, falling-down building.
If you haven’t guessed it, we’re kind of poor. We have one room between all of us, there’s barely any carpet on the floor, and we have to hide at least three times every year when the landlord comes knocking for the overdue rent.
So when I say kind of poor, I mean that if a rich person found some spare money under their couch, and they donated 99% of it to charity, and then they bought some take-away food (which we’ve
NEVER
done!), and they got some change, and they gave half that change to the hobo on the street, that hobo would have more than what Dad earns working two boring jobs he hates.
Yep, we live on the wrong side of the wrong side of the tracks.
*** This picture is to scale! The cockroaches are huge, and I’m guessing the money bags are too!
The thing is … I don’t care! I know Mum and Dad sometimes talk about how they would love to give me and Katie a better life, and it gets
really
cold in winter, and we never have a lot of food, but Mum can make a feast out of herbs, a carrot and a banana, and we sit close to stay warm, and it’s all I’ve ever known.
This street. This building. These people.
And they are
awesome
people.
These are my best friends, the Johnston Triplets. No one on Hovel Street but me can tell them apart, not even their parents! Can YOU spot the difference?
MAXY
SKILLS (left):
Mini-golf,
sultana
catching.
JOHNNY
SKILLS (middle):
Mini-golf,
sultana
catching.
TRAV
SKILLS (right):
Limited.
Very limited.
And this is Mr Kravoski.
MR KRAVOSKI
SKILLS: Circus skills, card tricks, eyebrow wiggling.
His real name is Igor Kravoski, but I call him Mr Kravoski. He’s a bit nutty, but he’s awesome, too. He’s about 100 years old and he uses a walking stick he found on the street and he was in a
Russian circus!
‘I was greatest card trickster in world for twenty-one year straight,’ he’d tell me in his Russian accent. ‘Not even Dosdonovic do that. People amaze at my skill. No one guess tricks!’
TOP FIVE REASONS
I BELIEVED HIM
1. He
was
BRILLIANT
at card tricks.
2. He
was big and hairy and scary and if you didn’t believe him he would swear at you in Russian.
3. No
one on Hovel Street could work out his tricks and they were always amazed at his skill.
4. He
taught ME to do his tricks.
5. I
wanted to.
He’d done everything in the circus, from card tricks to magic to clowning to trapeze, and he’d loved it all … except when he trained the monkeys back in 1957.
I sit with Mr Kravoski every afternoon after school and he teaches me circus skills. He’s taught me how to juggle and pull hankies out of my ears and do cartwheels and how to make people laugh just by wiggling your eyebrows (and maybe using some fake teeth).
