Tennis, Anyone?

Tennis Cvr BLAD

1/2/07

16:56

Page 1

And then he got a tennis racket.

Shane McG

Yesterday was Tom’s birthday! He got lots of great presents . . . Dad says tennis is a lot of fun.

Tenni s, Anyone ?

But Tom’s not so sure . . .

tCarolrhoda

Shane McG

To Paulipops—remember to bend your knees!

First American edition published in 2007 by Carolrhoda Books, Inc. Published in the United Kingdom by Templar Publishing, an imprint of The Templar Company plc Pippbrook Mill, London Road, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1JE, UK Copyright © 2007 by Shane McG All U.S. rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Carolrhoda Books, Inc. A division of Lerner Publishing Group 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McG, Shane. Tennis, anyone? / by Shane McG. — 1st American ed. p. cm. Summary: When Tom receives a tennis racket for his seventh birthday, he cannot figure out who to play with or what’s fun about it until his father helps him look at the sport in a new way. ISBN-13: 978-0-8225-6901-5 (lib. bdg : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8225-6901-9 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper) [1. Tennis—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.M47846213Te 2007 [E]—dc22 2006018746 Printed and bound in China 1 2 3 4 5 6 – CC – 12 11 10 09 08 07 eISBN-13: 978-0-8225-8772-9

, s i n n e T nyone? A Shane McG

t Carolrhoda Books, Inc.

Minneapolis • New York

Hi. I’m Tom Foley…

and I’m 7 years old.

WH

IR

R

BE

EP

BE

EP

I know this because yesterday was my birthday and I got lots of great presents. They’re amazing! They do lots of cool things, like BEEP and

R . R I H d n CRASH a W All except this one.

It doesn’t

DO anything.

Dad said it was a racket. You play tennis with it. He said it’s a lot of fun. I wasn’t convinced.

“WHO PLAYS

T E N N I S?”

I asked Dad. My sister, Ida, doesn’t play tennis. In fact, she doesn’t do ANYTHING. (Except lie in her bedroom all day talking to her friend Tania about boys and shopping.)

How boring is that?

e?” m r a e h u o y d i d , AD D “

WHO PLAYS TENNIS?

“

Mom doesn’t play tennis. All she wants to do is stand on one leg humming and doing her yogurt.” “I think you mean yoga,” Dad said.

Whatever.

It looks dumb.

“SO WHO PLAYS ” ? TE NNIS My cat, Smudgy, doesn’t play tennis. She spends her entire day eating... and passing gas.

“PHEW! Smudgy!”

My Best Friend, Kevin, doesn’t play tennis either. He spends all his time riding his cool new green bike. Without giving me a turn.

EVER. Actually, he’s my Sixth-Best Friend.

And my dog, Spike,

definitely doesn’t play tennis.

He’s way too busy chasing cars.

Poor ol’ Spike. He never catches them.

My cuddly blue croc certainly doesn’t play tennis. That would be crazy!

He’d trip over the ball.

I asked Dad one more time,

L A P Y O S H TENNIS? W “ HELLO…?

DAD…?

WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

I don’t think he was listening.

He was to o

bus y…

…hitting balls at me. I had to duck for cover. I thought about running away, but I’m not a scaredy-cat.

“Don’t worry,” Dad said. “When I hit the ball to you, you hit it back to me. Then I’ll hit it back to you. Then you hit it back to me.

Okay?”

“Okay.”

I took

a re

all y

BI Gs ng wi

… ball the at and fell over!

“You just need a little practice,” said Dad.

…

D N A

C I E T C A PR

is j us t wh at Id id!

On the way home, Dad asked me, “Who plays tennis, son?” I said, “That’s

easy-peasy, Dad.

EY PLAYS L O F M T ” E ! O N S N I T

My racket is

pretty cool after all.

It doesn’t beep or crash or whirr, but you CAN play TENNIS with it…

! R A T I U G C I

R T C E L E R O

…

Tennis Cvr BLAD

1/2/07

16:56

Page 1

And then he got a tennis racket.

Shane McG

Yesterday was Tom’s birthday! He got lots of great presents . . . Dad says tennis is a lot of fun.

Tenni s, Anyone ?

But Tom’s not so sure . . .

tCarolrhoda

Shane McG