The moment he walks through the door and sees the sharky grin on his older sister's face, Vin suspects Meg is hatching a plot. He's right. Worse still, he's central to the outcome. Meg tells him that their music teachers, parents-everyone-expect him to play her duet for trumpet and piano at the upcoming student concert. Vin is horrified.

Meg insists that his only escape route is to persuade another trumpet player to take his place. She has the hunky Brad Stewart in mind and challenges Vin to introduce her to him. Vin doesn't know Brad any better than Meg does, but she points out that Vin is in two classes with Brad's nerdy brother. Eyeballs Stewart is the last person Vin wants to befriend until Meg's promise of a David Beckham autographed soccer jersey changes the seventh-grader's mind. He has five days to accomplish his mission-Operation BS-before the concert practice schedule kicks in.

His game plan, thwarted by exploding fish tanks, magnetic compost heaps, man-eating bubble baths, and other disasters ultimately succeeds, but not exactly as Vin expects.

Maggie Lyons is a freelance writer and editor who was born in Wales and gravitated west to Virginia's coast. A career of writing and editing educational nonfiction for adults brought her a world of satisfaction but nothing like the magic kingdom she has recently discovered in writing fiction and nonfiction for children. Several of Maggie's articles, poetry, and a chapter book have been published in the children's magazines Stories for Children Magazine and knowonder!