Petey Perfectpants and the Silly Sock Puppet Problem

[Storyline Online intro] Welcome to Storyline Online Brought to you by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation I'm Adam Brody and today I'm going to read Petey Perfectpants and the Silly Sock Puppet Problem Written by Jimmy Vee and illustrated by Gary Wilkinson Petey was perfect in every possible way. His room was pristine. His manners were impeccable. And his grades were perfection. The only thing Petey wasn’t perfect at was making friends. When he played games, Petey always followed the rules perfectly. When he ate lunch, Petey always used his napkin properly. On picture day, he always dressed professionally. But the other kids just said, “You’re too perfect, Petey Perfectpants!” So Petey decided to make the perfect pal. He grabbed, grafted, and glued. . . But his new pal didn’t look perfect at all. It just looked silly! “Forget it!” Petey sighed. Then he admired his perfectly clean room, pulled on his perfectly pressed pajamas, and climbed into his perfectly made bed. BUT WHEN TOMORROW CAME . . . AHHHH! The sock puppet was stuck on his hand! Petey rushed to pick up his room. But when he got to school, the bell gave him the bad news. RING RING Petey was no longer perfectly punctual. “Get off!” Petey grunted. “You’re messing up my life!” But the puppet wouldn’t budge. In class, the problem multiplied. “Stay down!” Petey pleaded. But the puppet kept playing peekaboo. Petey couldn’t wait for the lunch bell to ring. Petey sat alone with his perfectly prepared lunch. He ate politely, used his napkin properly, and then . . . BUUURRPP! Petey froze. “Stop it! You’re making me look silly!” But then he saw the perfect solution. “Trash time, troublemaker!” Petey shouted. But the silly sock puppet put Petey in his place. At recess, Petey tried to sit out as usual, but the puppet had other plans. Petey dashed and dodged, zipped and zoomed. All the kids screamed and scattered. He’d never played so hard at recess before. Petey perked up at test time. He flew confidently through the questions. Petey was punctilious about his tests. “Here you go, Ms. Stickler.” Petey’s eyes popped out when he saw his paper. So did Ms. Stickler’s! “Petey! To the principal’s office— PRONTO!” Petey was tired of the puppet poo-pooing his pursuit of perfection, so he took the puppet for a pit stop. FLUSH Petey grinned. “Let’s see if sock puppets can swim!” “Petey!” the principal said. “You have caused quite the kerfuffle, and your puppet pal has perpetuated a plethora of pranks. There’s a time and a place for everything. So I’m giving you . . .” “. . . this.” Petey’s reprieve was the perfect opportunity! The music played. Petey shook. The puppet gave Petey a squeeze. His sock puppet was silly, but maybe silly was just what Petey needed. “We’ve got this, pal,” Petey whispered. WHOOOSH! went the curtain. SNAP! went the spotlight. And together, they stepped onto the stage. They told jokes. They juggled. They jested and joshed. Petey and his puppet didn’t perform perfectly . . . but the crowd cheered anyway. When Petey got home, he was pooped! “Petey! Wash your hands for supper!” Mom called. Petey peeled off the sock puppet and paused. There was a time and a place for everything— even a silly sock puppet. As Petey put his puppet pal to bed, he whispered, “Thanks for a perfectly imperfect day!” Petey Perfectpants and the Silly Sock Puppet Problem The lesson in the book, which I like, is while it's good to have goals and strong goals and work your hardest to achieve them, at the same time, no less true, the world is imperfect and sometimes it can be very good to break out of your routine or even more so have a friend or another person who shows you another way to do things, to live, to enjoy life and to achieve. Thank you for watching Storyline Online. Make sure to check out all of our stories. Keep watching and keep reading. [end credits]