When Charlie McButton Lost Power

Illustrated by Mike Lester
Look inside
Charlie McButton likes computer games so much, he never plays with anything else. When a thunderstorm knocks out the electricity, his tech empire comes tumbling down, and his whole world loses power. Charlie needs batteries—FAST! But the only triple- A's he can find are in his little sister's talking doll. Will he resort to desperate measures and cause his sister to have a meltdown of her own? Or will he snap out of his computer craze long enough to realize his sister might be fun, even if she doesn't come with batteries? Collins and Lester team up for a hilarious and timely tale that will crack up young computer addicts and those who love them!
Since 1991, Suzanne Collins has been busy writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows. Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days. While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children’s author James Proimos, who talked her into giving children’s books a try. Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part fantasy/​war series, The Underland Chronicles. She currently lives in Connecticut with her family and a pair of feral kittens they adopted from their backyard. View titles by Suzanne Collins
Mike Lester is an illustrator and political cartoonist who often has cartoons in publications like Time magazine. The books he has illustrated for Random House include A Is for Salad, Cool Daddy Rat, and The Night Before the Night Before Christmas. He lives in Rome, Georgia. View titles by Mike Lester
A clever, humorous story in rhyme. (School Library Journal)

About

Charlie McButton likes computer games so much, he never plays with anything else. When a thunderstorm knocks out the electricity, his tech empire comes tumbling down, and his whole world loses power. Charlie needs batteries—FAST! But the only triple- A's he can find are in his little sister's talking doll. Will he resort to desperate measures and cause his sister to have a meltdown of her own? Or will he snap out of his computer craze long enough to realize his sister might be fun, even if she doesn't come with batteries? Collins and Lester team up for a hilarious and timely tale that will crack up young computer addicts and those who love them!

Author

Since 1991, Suzanne Collins has been busy writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows. Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days. While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children’s author James Proimos, who talked her into giving children’s books a try. Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part fantasy/​war series, The Underland Chronicles. She currently lives in Connecticut with her family and a pair of feral kittens they adopted from their backyard. View titles by Suzanne Collins
Mike Lester is an illustrator and political cartoonist who often has cartoons in publications like Time magazine. The books he has illustrated for Random House include A Is for Salad, Cool Daddy Rat, and The Night Before the Night Before Christmas. He lives in Rome, Georgia. View titles by Mike Lester

Praise

A clever, humorous story in rhyme. (School Library Journal)

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