Chapter 1

Theodore Boone woke up in a foul mood. In fact, he’d gone to bed in a foul mood, and things had not improved during the night. As a few rays of morning sun lit his room, he stared at the ceiling and tried to think of ways to avoid this entire week. Generally, he enjoyed school—his friends, the teachers, most of the classes, debating—but there were times when he just wanted to stay in bed. This was one of those times, the worst week of the year. Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, and running through Friday, he and every other eighth grader would be stuck at their desks taking a series of dreadful tests.

Judge knew something was wrong, and at some point had left his spot beside Theo’s bed and assumed his spot on top of the covers. Mrs. Boone frowned on the idea of the dog sleeping in Theo’s bed, but she was downstairs having her quiet time with the morning newspaper and wouldn’t know. Or would she? Occasionally she noticed dog hair on the covers and asked Theo if Judge was sleeping with him. Most of the time Theo said yes, but quickly followed the admission with...