It's New! It's Improved! It's Terrible!

It's New! It's Improved! It's Terrible! by Manes, Stephen. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780553156829.

What happens when a commercial steps out of your TV set and into your life? The ads on TV said the basketball shoes were New! IMPROVED! Amazing! NEAT! Arnold Schlemp just had to have them. He had to. That was all there was to it. But by the end of his birthday he had a lot more to handle than fancy new shoes. He had big red blisters on his feet. He had a broken TV set in the living room. He had an obnoxious kid who had come through the TV screen from the shoe commercial--with no idea how to get home. And he had to find a way to explain it all to his parents--fast! The author of Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! returns with the laugh-out-loud story of a boy who gets his wish--and wishes he could take it back. (Want to act this out? An excerpt from this popular book is dramatized for performance in Aaron Shepards Stories on Stage.) _______________________ Praise for Its New! Its Improved! Its Terrible! "An alien that looks like a boy and spouts a running patter of TV commercials . . . threatens to drive Arnold Schlemp and his buddies bonkers. . . pithy commentary on phony materialistic hype, well-laced with humor and insight . . . " --Booklist "An advertising-crazy kid who lives inside a sneaker commercial steps out of a TV set and turns Arnold Schlemps life upside down. . . . The plot is very original and the writing is crisp. . . . an A for imagination . . . "--Zillions magazine