{"product_id":"worse-worser-wurst-2-isbn-9780515158342","title":"Worse, Worser, Wurst #2","description":"\u003cb\u003ePrincess Pulverizer may not be a knight yet, but she won't let that stop her from saving the day!\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere's trouble in the kingdom of Salamistonia! Ever since an evil wizard kidnapped Lester the jester, laughter and smiles have disappeared. Now Princess Pulverizer has the perfect opportunity to complete the next good deed on her Quest of Kindness: a rescue mission! With her friends Lucas and Dribble by her side, can Princess Pulverizer defeat the wizard, free Lester, and bring fun back to Salamistonia?\u003cb\u003eNancy Krulik \u003c\/b\u003e(she\/her) is the author of more than two hundred books for children and young adults, including three \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eBest Sellers. She is best known as the author and creator of the Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo; George Brown, Class Clown; How I Survived Middle School; and Magic Bone book series. Nancy lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser. When she's not writing, Nancy can be found reading, going to concerts, traveling, or running around Central Park with her crazy beagle mix, Josie. Follow her @NancyKrulik.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBen Balistreri \u003c\/b\u003e(he\/him) has been working for more than twenty years in the animation industry. He's won an Emmy Award for his character designs, and has been nominated for nine Annie Awards, winning once. His art can be seen in \u003ci\u003eTangled the Series\u003c\/i\u003e, for which he serves as Supervising Producer, \u003ci\u003eHow to Train Your Dragon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDanny Phantom\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFoster's Home for Imaginary Friends\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWander Over Yonder\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWild Kratts\u003c\/i\u003e, and many more. The Princess Pulverizer series is his first foray into book illustration. He lives in Pasadena, California, with his wife, Becca, and their two golden retrievers, Bombadil and Fatty Lumpkin.\u003cb\u003eChapter 1\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “AAAAAHHH! There’s a MONSTER in that tree!” Lucas cried out. “A hairy, creepy-crawly MONSTER!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The scared knight-in-training dropped the grilled cheese sandwich he’d been snacking on and ran off as fast as he could.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A \u003ci\u003emonster\u003c\/i\u003e?” Princess Pulverizer repeated. But she did not sound scared at all.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Nothing scared Princess Pulverizer.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Well, \u003ci\u003every little\u003c\/i\u003e scared her, anyway.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Y-y-yes,” Lucas answered from his favorite hiding spot—crouched behind his best friend, Dribble the dragon. “I hate things that creep and crawl!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I’ll defeat it!” Princess Pulverizer said, leaping to her feet.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “H-h-how?” Lucas stammered nervously. “You don’t have any weapons.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Sure I do.” The princess bent her arms to show off her muscles. “These!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Lucas and Dribble did not seem particularly impressed.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But that wasn’t stopping Princess Pulverizer. \u003ci\u003e“Watch out, monster! You are no match for me,”\u003c\/i\u003e she shouted.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Princess Pulverizer looked up into the tree. But she didn’t see a monster. She didn’t see anything other than the usual branches, leaves, and blossoms.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eHmmm . . . \u003c\/i\u003eMaybe the monster was hiding. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The princess leaped into the air and grabbed a tree branch. She pulled herself up and began climbing, searching for a monster hidden in the leaves.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But there was no monster anywhere.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Princess Pulverizer noticed a black, white, and yellow hairy creature creeping and crawling on a branch.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Wait a minute.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Hairy?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Creeping?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Crawling?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eOh brother.\u003c\/i\u003e Lucas hadn’t seen a monster at all. He’d seen a \u003ci\u003ecaterpillar.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Princess Pulverizer wasn’t surprised that Lucas was afraid of an insect. Lucas was afraid of \u003ci\u003eeverything\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The princess let the little caterpillar crawl onto her finger. She tucked him in her pocket and slid down to the ground.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Princess Pulverizer walked over to her friends and dangled the tiny creature in front of Lucas’s nose. “Is this your monster?”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Lucas shuddered. “Get that away from me!” he cried out.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Princess Pulverizer laughed.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Dribble looked from the caterpillar to Lucas and back again. He clenched his dragon lips together tightly, trying not to laugh. But he couldn’t help himself.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Ha-ha-ha-ha . . .” \u003ci\u003eSNORT!\u003c\/i\u003e Dribble laughed so hard, the ground shook beneath him.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “This isn’t a monster,” Princess Pulverizer told Lucas. “It’s a caterpillar.” She placed the stunned insect back on a low-hanging tree branch.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Lucas turned red with embarrassment. “I really hate things that creep and crawl,” he said timidly.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Aaaachoooo!” Suddenly, Dribble let out a loud, powerful sneeze.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Gesundheit,” Lucas said. “Are you getting a cold?”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The dragon shook his head. “It’s those apple blossoms. I’m allergic. Aaachoooo!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e That last sneeze was so strong, it blew Lucas over. He fell backward onto the ground.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Sorry,” Dribble apologized as Lucas scrambled back to his feet.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “It’s okay,” Lucas assured him.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The dragon looked down at the grilled cheese sandwich his friend had dropped. “What a waste of cheese,” he said. “It’s too bad you didn’t finish it. Gouda grilled cheese is my specialty.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I’m sorry,” Lucas apologized. “But it’s not a total waste. The ants seem to be enjoying it.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I’m sorry, too,” Princess Pulverizer grumbled. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from a creepy-crawly, hairy monster. Because that would have been a good deed.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A very good deed \u003ci\u003ein\u003c\/i\u003edeed,” Lucas agreed.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “But saving you from a caterpillar is not the same thing,” Princess Pulverizer said sadly. “Now I \u003ci\u003estill\u003c\/i\u003e need to do seven more good deeds before I can go to Knight School.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Lucas and Dribble knew what Princess Pulverizer meant. Before they had met her, she had spent her days with Lady Frump at the Royal School of Ladylike Manners, where she was taught to pour tea properly and dance the saltarello at royal balls. Things all princesses needed to know.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Only Princess Pulverizer didn’t want to be a princess.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e She wanted to be a knight.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e So she had begged her father, King Alexander of Empiria, to let her go to Knight School. Unfortunately, the king told her she \u003ci\u003ecouldn’t\u003c\/i\u003e go—at least not until she went on a Quest of Kindness and performed eight good deeds.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e So far, the princess had only completed one good deed—retrieving the Queen of Shmergermeister’s jewels from the evil ogre who had stolen them.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e That left seven more deeds to go. Which Princess Pulverizer was sure she could accomplish—especially since she now had Lucas and Dribble to help her.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e To an outsider, Dribble and Lucas probably didn’t seem like they would be very helpful. After all, Lucas was such a fraidy-cat, the other boys had nicknamed him Lucas the Lily-Livered and laughed him out of Knight School. And Dribble had been thrown out of his lair because the other dragons didn’t like that he used his fire for making grilled cheese sandwiches rather than burning villages.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But Lucas and Dribble were loyal.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And nice.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And really willing to help.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e They were just the kind of pals a girl trying to get into Knight School needed to have around.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “This place is boring,” Princess Pulverizer told her friends. She pulled a toothpick from her knapsack and used the thin sliver of wood to pick rye bread seeds out from between her teeth.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I don’t think Lady Frump would have liked to see you doing that,” Dribble teased her.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Princess Pulverizer laughed. “Lady Frump didn’t like anything I did. I was her worst student ever.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “But you’ll do great in Knight School,” Lucas assured her.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I won’t get to \u003ci\u003ego\u003c\/i\u003e to Knight School if we don’t find someone who needs my help,” Princess Pulverizer told him. “I’m ready for a new adventure.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “That makes one of us,” Lucas muttered under his breath.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Aaaachooo!” Dribble sneezed again.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The dragon’s powerful sneeze blew the caterpillar right out of the tree and onto the ground. That poor guy was not having a good day at all.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Come on!” Princess Pulverizer said as she started walking out of the forest.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Despite the fact that they weren’t looking for adventure, Dribble and Lucas followed close behind her.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Just as the princess knew they would.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e After all, nobody argued with Princess Pulverizer.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Well, \u003ci\u003ealmost\u003c\/i\u003e nobody, anyway.","brand":"Penguin Workshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302606819557,"sku":"NP9780515158342","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780515158342.jpg?v=1767744581","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/worse-worser-wurst-2-isbn-9780515158342","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}