Nadia Shireen - Hey, Presto!

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Copyright 2012 by Nadia Shireen
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, a division of the Random House Group Limited, London.
Knopf, Brozoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-inPublication data is available upon request.
eISBN: 978-0-307-97571-3
The illustrations in this book were created using pencil, ink, collage, and digital rendering.
Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and Celebrates the right to read. Presto and Monty didnt have much, but it didnt matter.

They were best friends and they were happy. Monty was good at singing, eating ice cream and making extremely silly faces, while Presto had a most unusual talent. With the help of a battered old hat and a slightly wonky wand he was a brilliant MAGICIAN.
One day, Monty saw a poster that made him very excited. Well put on a magic show and become famous! he hooted. So they packed up Prestos battered old hat and slightly wonky wand, and set off. I know! said Monty, bouncing up and down. I know! said Monty, bouncing up and down.

We should take turns being the star of the show. Ill go first. So Monty shouted in his loudest voice, Presto hid behind him and made sure all the magic tricks worked perfectly. Presto waited patiently for his turn to be onstage. But it never seemed to happen. It was Montys turn, night after night after night The magic show was a great success.

But something odd had happened to Monty. He had become bossy, rude and demanding. Presto wasnt enjoying himself anymore. Soon, thanks to Presto, Monty was famous. He was offered a big bag of money to put on THE BIGGEST MAGIC SHOW EVER. Im going to be a superstar! said Monty. Im going to be a superstar! said Monty.

And this time, Presto, youll even get to be onstage! But Presto didnt want to be sawn in half ESPECIALLY by Monty. He picked up his battered old hat and his slighty wonky wand, and left the carnival for good. The next day, it was Hey, Presto! Monty called. But his friend had disappeared. Humph, said Monty. Well, Im the star around here.